Author: AdministratorSubject: Complaint fines for smoking in Coop City public places increased to $300
Posted: Mar 11 2016 at 5:22pm
Community complaint fines for smoking in Coop City interior public places increased to $300
A majority of Riverbay Board of Directors sent a message last week to Coop City residents and visitors who illegally smoke in Co-op City's interior public places that the unhealthy, unsanitary and unsafe behavior, a clear violation of New York City law since 2003, will no longer be tolerated in Coop City without the offender paying a hefty price.
At a meeting of the Riverbay Board of Directors on March 3, 2016, the Riverbay Board of Directors passed, by a vote of 10 to 3, a resolution to add a $300 administrative fee for any person caught smoking in an interior public area anywhere in Coop City. Interior public areas in which smoking is prohibited includes hallways, elevators, stairwells, lobbies and all interior areas of Co-op City's three community centers. The resolution will take effect within 30 days of the New York State Department of Homes and Community Renewal (DHCR) approving it.
The Co-op City
Riverbay Legal Department explained to the Co-op City Times earlier this week that since the increased fine will take the form of a community complaint fee, in the case of a violation, it will be the shareholder of record who will be assessed the fine regardless of whether he or she was the offending smoker. This means that Co-op City shareholders are responsible for the behavior of other family members or visitors in regards to smoking in interior public areas. Since the ban on smoking includes all areas of the community centers, then shareholders who host family parties or events in Coop City community center rooms will also be responsible for the behavior of their guests as far as having all guests adhere to the community wide ban on interior public area smoking or else be subject to the hefty fine.
Riverbay Board President Cleve Taylor was one of the main proponents of the resolution significantly raising the fines for violating the community's and the city's anti-smoking regulation.
Mr. Taylor, a retired New York City firefighter, said he has seen numerous times the devastating effects of illegal smoking in residential housing.
"Innocent people can and do lose their lives due to the irresponsible behavior of smokers in apartment building," Mr. Taylor said. "I have seen it. Many, many more innocent people have suffered serious injury to themselves and their loved ones due to this irresponsible behavior and billions of dollars in property damage has been caused by illegal smoking in the city. It is a clear violation of New York City Fire Ordinances, New York City health laws, as well as New York State health laws. It is a behavior that is dangerous and unhealthy for everyone, not just the smoker. It costs this corporation many thousands of dollars each month just to clean up our stairwells and hallways that are regularly used by smokers. If you smoke in an office building anywhere in New York City, you could likely lose your job for smoking in any of those buildings and for good reason. We have an obligation to enforce New York City''s anti-smoking laws in order to protect the general safety and health of everyone here, residents and visitors.
CCPD will strictly enforce these regulations. If you have to smoke, go outside."
Luis Salazar, Riverbay Director of Janitorial Services, said that Co-op City's porters regularly clean up after smokers and the damage that their highly addictive habit causes. He said that the damage is caused by smokers who use the walls to put out their butts, and who carelessly and dangerously leave their cigarette butts on the floors of the hallways, stairwells and elevators. He also said that the cigarette smoke damages and dirties the painted walls in hallways and stairwells, making cleaning necessary an in some cases, repainting frequent and costly. One janitorial supervisor took this reporter on a tour of the damage caused in just one building which included burn marks on the walls and burn damage done to the painted stairs due to smoldering butts burning through the paint. The supervisor said that most porters have to dedicate approximately two hours a week to cleaning up after illegal smokers, an estimate that when spread out over 65 separate buildings, accounting for Chevron and Triple Core Coop City buildings, comes to nearly 130 personnel hours per week, or the cost of more than three full time porter salaries.
Chief Frank Apollo said the congregation of smokers inside Coop City's stairwells and hallways, like other associated activities, such as drinking in public spaces, leads to other, more serious quality of life problems which, as some instances in the past, can escalate to criminal behavior. Chief Apollo said he was very pleased that the Co-op City Riverbay Board of Directors have approved the resolution adding the administrative fine.
"I applaud the Board of Directors on pursuing and implementing fine increases for Community Complaint violations," Chief Apollo said. "I particularly feel it will make a strong positive impact on quality of life issues in the community. By implementing this fine, it becomes an additional deterrent and can prevent certain anti-social behaviors, such as public consumption of alcohol and disorderly conduct from occurring."
Smoking in all interior public places has been illegal in New York City since 2003 under the direction of then Mayor Michael Bloomberg, a staunch anti-smoking advocate. The smoking ban also includes many outdoor public areas where people congregate in close quarters, such as outdoor cafes, beaches, parks, pedestrian plazas and amphitheaters.
The unhealthful effects of second-hand smoke on non-smokers, particularly children who grow up in the household of a smoker, has been widely known for more than three decades now in that it almost equally exposes smokers and non-smokers to the deadly effects of prolonged tobacco smoking if a non-smoker is regularly in close proximity to smokers. These scientific findings into the deadly effects of second-hand smoke, particularly on innocent non-smokers, led to a vast expansion of anti-smoking laws throughout the nation over the past century, laws that have likely saved thousands of lives in the United States in recent years and will continue to do so.
In addition, for several years now, the New York City Health Department has been producing numerous difficult to watch, but effective public service announcements for television which illustrate the terrible physical and emotional effects of diseases caused by the highly addictive, deadly habit of smoking on both the smoker and their loved ones.
By Bill Stuttig
Co-op City Times is
now online
