# New York State: Ban Smoking In Public Housing Apartments And College Dorms **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [June 13, 2005, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-york-state-ban-smoking-in-public-housing-apartments-and-college-dorms/308138 "2005-06-13T19:54:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![JohnBckWLD](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d6d6ee/32.png) [@JohnBckWLD](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnBckWLD)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2005, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-york-state-ban-smoking-in-public-housing-apartments-and-college-dorms/308138/1 "2005-06-13T19:54:15Z")
Heads = Pit: So people can call me a goat felching asshole with an ashtray for brains. Tails = MPSIMS: So people can tell me I’m misguided, naive and need to learn the facts. Flips…Heads. 1st: Tax the living shit out of them so a low income smoker earning minimum wage has to work more than half an hour to pay the state and local taxes on a single pack of cigarettes 2nd: Ban cigarettes in all indoor public facilites including bars and seperate smoking rooms in restaurants. 3rd: Vote to ban smoking in all public _& private_ college dorms; as the New York State Ass embly [voted 110-27 to do](http://www.syracuse.com/printer/printer.ssf?/base/news-0/111839310631440.xml&coll=1) last week. 4th: Have the author of the [hands-free cell phone](http://drivingrules.net/Cell%20Phone%20Laws/Cell%20Phone%20Ban.htm) & [GPS for pervs](http://www.aim.org/media_monitor/3653_0_2_0_C/) bills: Felix Ortiz, craft legislation that [Bans smoking in public housing apartments (reg. req.) by 2010](http://www.nypost.com/news/regionalnews/45357.htm). This, in my opinion, is the best line from the story: > [@](#): > > (Ortiz is) concerned about the effects of secondhand smoke that seeps though the walls and ceilings into neighboring apartments. Mr. Ortiz, you sir have far too much time on your hands. I’d like to figuratively take one of the 2 cigarettes I smoke per day and extinguish it right in your smug, authoritarian face. But I shouldn’t fret - I don’t live in subsidized housing & I’ll wager this new regulation will take effect a year or so after cigarettes are banned nationally. Once again, the anti-tobacco nanny state crowd is over-reaching. Instead of requiring apartments on the lower floors to be smoke free and _allowing_ smoking on the top floors, politicians are once again digging in their heels and crafting absolutist regulations. ---
**Author:** ![LonesomePolecat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a88e57/32.png) [@LonesomePolecat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LonesomePolecat)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2005, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-york-state-ban-smoking-in-public-housing-apartments-and-college-dorms/308138/2 "2005-06-13T20:16:19Z")
The FHA requires organizations running rent-subsidized apartment homes for the elderly to prohibit smoking in the apartments. Yes, you read that right. If a church or other private organization is running a non-profit apartment high-rise, rent-subsidized for the elderly, the federal government requires them to forbid their tenants to smoke _in their own homes_. We’re not talking about nursing home patients with Alzheimer’s or something like that. We’re talking about responsible, competent adults. But I assume they can smoke all the pot and have all the hookers they want … We are rapidly reaching the point when tobacco will be, for all practical purposes, an illegal drug. ---
**Author:** ![UncleBeer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/977dab/32.png) [@UncleBeer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleBeer)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2005, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-york-state-ban-smoking-in-public-housing-apartments-and-college-dorms/308138/3 "2005-06-13T20:22:40Z")
> [@](#): > > We are rapidly reaching the point when tobacco will be, for all practical purposes, an illegal drug. Not likely. Too much tax revenue. Recently, here in Toledo, Ohio, we had an on-again/off-again (currently off) smoking ban in public places. During the periods is was “on,” while it was illegal to smoke in the bar, you could still purchase cigarettes from the maching in there. One of the more ridiculous absurdities I can think of. ---
**Author:** ![ParentalAdvisory](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/53a042/32.png) [@ParentalAdvisory](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ParentalAdvisory)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2005, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-york-state-ban-smoking-in-public-housing-apartments-and-college-dorms/308138/4 "2005-06-13T20:33:26Z")
They ought to ban Alcohol as well. I hate for them to be hypocrites. ---
**Author:** ![Troy\_McClure\_SF](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troy_mcclure_sf/32/4150_2.png) [@Troy\_McClure\_SF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Troy_McClure_SF)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2005, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-york-state-ban-smoking-in-public-housing-apartments-and-college-dorms/308138/5 "2005-06-14T01:33:26Z")
> [@LonesomePolecat](#): > > We are rapidly reaching the point when tobacco will be, for all practical purposes, an illegal drug. Cool. 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![Mockingbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c68b51/32.png) [@Mockingbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mockingbird)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2005, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-york-state-ban-smoking-in-public-housing-apartments-and-college-dorms/308138/6 "2005-06-14T01:46:30Z")
I gave up smoking almost eight months ago. This is enough to tempt me back to it out of fucking spite. I did say _ **tempt** _. Still, this overbearing authoritarian control of a legal substance is disgusting. ---
**Author:** ![Argent\_Towers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e8c25b/32.png) [@Argent\_Towers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Argent_Towers)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2005, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-york-state-ban-smoking-in-public-housing-apartments-and-college-dorms/308138/7 "2005-06-14T01:55:19Z")
The overbearing authoritarian control over any substance is disgusting. ---
**Author:** ![Coffee\_Manic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b77776/32.png) [@Coffee\_Manic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coffee_Manic)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2005, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-york-state-ban-smoking-in-public-housing-apartments-and-college-dorms/308138/8 "2005-06-14T01:56:42Z")
What? You’re not now a rabid anti-smoker? Good on ya! And congratulations! ---
**Author:** ![kambuckta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/53a042/32.png) [@kambuckta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kambuckta)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2005, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-york-state-ban-smoking-in-public-housing-apartments-and-college-dorms/308138/9 "2005-06-14T02:24:45Z")
> [@](#): > > What? You’re not now a rabid anti-smoker? Good on ya! Nah, **Mockingbird’s** gets frothy at anybody…he’s an equal opportunity biter. 😃 {yeah, yeah, I’m running as fast as my nicotined blood vessels will allow me…gasp arghhhhh…) ---
**Author:** ![Mockingbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c68b51/32.png) [@Mockingbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mockingbird)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2005, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-york-state-ban-smoking-in-public-housing-apartments-and-college-dorms/308138/10 "2005-06-14T03:02:39Z")
> [@kambuckta](#): > > Nah, **Mockingbird’s** gets frothy at anybody…he’s an equal opportunity biter. > > 😃 > > {yeah, yeah, I’m running as fast as my nicotined blood vessels will allow me…gasp arghhhhh…) I may be somewhat infirm and need a cane, but after months of not smoking, _I can catch you_. And now for the torture of tweezer removal of scrotum hair. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Mockingbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c68b51/32.png) [@Mockingbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mockingbird)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2005, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-york-state-ban-smoking-in-public-housing-apartments-and-college-dorms/308138/11 "2005-06-14T03:05:57Z")
> [@Coffee Manic](#): > > What? You’re not now a rabid anti-smoker? Good on ya! > > And congratulations! I gave up smoking for health reasons. It isn’t as if I didn’t enjoy it and it isn’t as if I wasn’t choosing to smoke. Or at least I chose to start. Quitting was a bitch. Still, I believe in people retaining the rights and liberties to do things which are legal without some asshole politicians getting in the way. ---
**Author:** ![kambuckta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/53a042/32.png) [@kambuckta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kambuckta)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2005, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-york-state-ban-smoking-in-public-housing-apartments-and-college-dorms/308138/12 "2005-06-14T03:06:42Z")
> [@Mockingbird](#): > > And now for the torture of tweezer removal of scrotum hair. > > 😃 You’ll need more than a magnifying glass to see my _balls_, let alone any follicular growth on said appendages. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Mockingbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c68b51/32.png) [@Mockingbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mockingbird)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2005, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-york-state-ban-smoking-in-public-housing-apartments-and-college-dorms/308138/13 "2005-06-14T03:16:29Z")
> [@kambuckta](#): > > You’ll need more than a magnifying glass to see my _balls_, let alone any follicular growth on said appendages. > > 😃 Ohhh… So, instead it’s a combination torture of **Nad’s** and the _ **Epilady** _! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![davenportavenger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/5f8ce5/32.png) [@davenportavenger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davenportavenger)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2005, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-york-state-ban-smoking-in-public-housing-apartments-and-college-dorms/308138/14 "2005-06-14T03:19:32Z")
I can kind of see the logic in this. Once a room is smoked in heavily, it becomes a “smoker’s room”–that has happened at hotels where people smuggled in cigarettes and “ruined” the NS rooms. Since smoker’s rooms can only be taken by smokers or people who don’t care about the smell, they are less desirable than rooms that have never tasted smoke, since some people are picky and want a pristine, virginal room. It makes sense that colleges wouldn’t want to limit the amount of rooms they can open to NS-only people. Fact is, smokers are a minority in this country and their numbers are getting smaller every year. Why “ruin” a room with smoke when you might not have the future numbers to fill that room? Same with public housing: in most cases, a person’s spot in PH is not permanent, so why should they be allowed to do something that will affect the future desirability of the house? ---
**Author:** ![kambuckta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/53a042/32.png) [@kambuckta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kambuckta)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2005, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-york-state-ban-smoking-in-public-housing-apartments-and-college-dorms/308138/15 "2005-06-14T04:27:02Z")
> [@continuity eror](#): > > … Same with public housing: in most cases, a person’s spot in PH is not permanent, so why should they be allowed to do something that will affect the future desirability of the house? Then why not ban smoking in ALL housing, whether public or private? ---
**Author:** ![Ashes\_Ashes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/db5fbb/32.png) [@Ashes\_Ashes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ashes_Ashes)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2005, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-york-state-ban-smoking-in-public-housing-apartments-and-college-dorms/308138/16 "2005-06-14T04:42:28Z")
Not to be picky, **continuity eror** , but it’s not only pickiness that makes me want a non-smoking room. It gives me a migraine to be around cigarette smoke for more than a few minutes, and stale smoky rooms used to do the same (I can avoid them now). All I can think is that this is a bit like food stamps. The idea that if you accept help from the government, it has a right to dictate terms. Not saying that it’s right or wrong. As for banning it in private colleges and subsidized housing, huh? They’re private! ---
**Author:** ![kambuckta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/53a042/32.png) [@kambuckta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kambuckta)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2005, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-york-state-ban-smoking-in-public-housing-apartments-and-college-dorms/308138/17 "2005-06-14T04:51:28Z")
> [@Ashes](#): > > All I can think is that this is a bit like food stamps. The idea that if you accept help from the government, it has a right to dictate terms. Not saying that it’s right or wrong. As for banning it in private colleges and subsidized housing, huh? They’re private! Why should that _right_ be resticted to public housing tenants? ---
**Author:** ![JohnBckWLD](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d6d6ee/32.png) [@JohnBckWLD](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnBckWLD)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2005, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-york-state-ban-smoking-in-public-housing-apartments-and-college-dorms/308138/18 "2005-06-14T04:53:49Z")
> [@kambuckta](#): > > Why should that _right_ be resticted to public housing tenants? Because you’ve forgotten the golden rule: He who has the gold, makes the rules. ---
**Author:** ![kambuckta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/53a042/32.png) [@kambuckta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kambuckta)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2005, 5:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-york-state-ban-smoking-in-public-housing-apartments-and-college-dorms/308138/19 "2005-06-14T05:36:59Z")
> [@](#): > > Because you’ve forgotten the golden rule: He who has the gold, makes the rules. Yeah, OK, um…but wouldn’t that _right_ be equally applicable to private landlords who rent their properties to tenants…they’ve got the ‘gold’ and they can make the rules as lax or as stringent as they like. JFTR, many private landlords in Australia make a ruling agianst pets being kept on the property. Why shouldn’t they be allowed to then make such prohibitions against smokers? ---
**Author:** ![duffer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duffer/32/1026_2.png) [@duffer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/duffer)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2005, 5:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-york-state-ban-smoking-in-public-housing-apartments-and-college-dorms/308138/20 "2005-06-14T05:41:58Z")
Back in my college days, I had a neighbor in my building from Pakistan. His wife cooked many a meal for me as I can’t get enough of that style of food. However, it left a rather powerful smell that few besides me could stand. You caqn bet the smell permeated the walls and carpet. At what point do we start banning things like cooking certain foods because a future tenant doesn’t like the smell? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-york-state-ban-smoking-in-public-housing-apartments-and-college-dorms/308138.md?page=2)