I live downtown Toronto, in the heart of the gay community, I don’t swing that way, but you'll see why this is relevant later. I live in an apartment complex, 3 buildings, 15 floors each, probably 1200 units total.

We have a monthly newsletter. Last month, some hypochondriac fool wrote a piece about the “toxic wood smoke” permeating from a very famous restaurant on our street (btw, the garlic and wood smoke smell delicious!). I knew what was next…and sure enough, the next newsletter...

Dear smoking neighbours

Laws against smoking have been passed to the point that about the only legal place you can smoke is in your own home.

During the summer, most residents of City Park use their balconies frequently and, as I look around, almost all those people without A/C leave their door open most of the time.

I am having a terrible time because I sit in my apartment, trying to enjoy a movie or TV, the smoke from my downstairs neighbour drifts up, and into my apartment.

The only thing I can do is shut my doors and windows and suffer in the heat - that or choke!

Please have a little compassion for your neighbours and do your smoking inside, where it stinks up your place, not mine.

Name withheld for fear of retaliation.
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We all see what's going on here. I have a couple weeks to submit my response, any suggestions? We all know lies and hysteria rule nowadays. Could I be accelerating the issue? Should I tone it down? Even if they don't print it, I'm plastering it everywhere! Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Re: Dear smoking neighbours

Please, no more "Nanny State" letters

The point of that “letter” was obvious to anyone paying attention, so let’s end the madness before it begins:

First of all (and most obvious), smokers and their tolerant non-smoking friends pay rent for their apartment; which includes a balcony.

Secondly, due to the current mass hysteria (based on a non-existent threat*), many people smoke on the balcony because non-smoking occupants force them to!

Thirdly, would it be right if I told a neighbour to "stop cooking curry" simply because the mere scent of it makes me choke? Of course not, there are numerous “smells” that we may encounter every day that "drift" to the inside portion of our apartments from the outdoors and hallway. Other examples: Food; such as fish, garlic, popcorn fumes or "ethnic spices”, marijuana smoke, sun tan oils, flowers, pollen, cut grass, pesticides, various cleaning agents, paint, garbage, tar, general pollution, vehicle emissions and many other aromas that certain people find offensive. All of those smells take place on our property and are “caused” by one of us! The reason I use the term “smells” is based on the first basic law of toxicology (the dose is the poison), an individual's particular olfactory senses are irrelevant. A few scent molecules of tobacco smoke drifting up to your apartment every now and again amounts to nothing more than a "smell you do not like". Welcome to everyone else’s world.

Last but not least, in case anyone has forgotten, this community was built on the autonomy, freedom, and the civil liberties of fellow human beings, regardless of their "lifestyle". Smokers already face egregious social and financial discrimination, each and every single day. Enough is enough. Let's keep the "Nanny State" out of our newsletters, out of our homes, and out of the City Park community.

Name withheld for fear of retaliation.

(*Just one of many examples; by far, the largest study ever done on Second Hand Smoke: Enstrom/Kabat - American Cancer Society – 35,561 people, 1960-1999, from the British Medical Journal: "The results do not support a causal relation between environmental tobacco smoke and tobacco-related mortality")

What I'd like to know is why SHS seems to only go in one direction; into nonsmoker's homes.

I lived in an apartment building in which I had a balcony and a sliding door to get out to it. I kept that door open if I wasn't running my air conditioner.

My neighbor's below often grilled. Sometimes I could smell it, other times I couldn't. I don't recall ever getting upset over it and I sure as hell don't ever remember choking on it.

The only suggestion I have for your letter is to shorten it up a bit.

Don't forget to put in Perfume [there's perfume bans in Nova Scotia]

Did they ban the restaurant in the neighborhood from cooking with their fuel of choice?

Since you live in a 'Gay' area of town is there open display of affection in your buildings between same-sex? Is it accepted? If so you could throw that back at the anonymous writer.
Tolerance>>>For All>>>

Living in an urban area requires one to accept certain facts. Large groups of people from different ethnic backgrounds make up the population. Each is an individual with the same rights you enjoy. If you can not accept these consequences you have the freedom to move to the top of a mountain.

In this case, this tenant has the option to move to a building without balconies or they might invest in air conditioning.

Most residential buildings have a distinct odor in the halls because of the accumulation of cooking odors, smoking of various substances and just the burning of others. It is a fact of life. If you want to live in a high rise building you simply have to accept it.

quote:

I am having a terrible time because I sit in my apartment, trying to enjoy a movie or TV, the smoke from my downstairs neighbour drifts up, and into my apartment.

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Since the SHS contains nicotine,which is just about the most addicting substance on this planet,the downstairs party is just trying to prevent the person from having to go through the terrible problem of nicotine withdrawal.

The downstairs party should be thanked,not condemned!!

Gary K.

Thanks for eveyone's advice I am going to re-write the response, be back in a couple days.

Note* On the back of our newsletter, it acutally says "PLEASE, NO WHINING". Unreal.