Ban Smoking in Apartments!

My son has been sleeping for going-on four hours straight now, and I have been awake for almost all of those hours. The one night he stops waking up every hour and a half and I have insomnia. It is brutal. I just can't stop thinking. There is way too much going on in my head.

First, I got up to go to the bathroom and our hallway smells like smoke. I am beyond pissed. I haven't called the landlord yet, even though this is a smoke-free building, because I actually don't have his phone number. I never realized it until now. It's not on the lease, and he doesn't live in this building. There are no by-laws stating that smoking in multi-unit dwellings (apartments, complexes, what have you) is illegal, so its up to the landlord to make sure that this stops. I need to get ahold of him, and I don't think I want to wait until he comes by to collect the rent check. That is too far away. No amount of second-hand smoke is safe, especially for my baby. I need to protect him from that Trashy Loud Bitch.

After tossing and turning for hours, I scooped up our swaddled Baboo and padded out to the living room where The Hubbs sleeps on Monday nights because he has to leave for class at the crack of dawn the next day. I curled up beside him on the futon, with Baboo tucked into my chest, and told him I couldn't sleep. We talked about the smoke problem, and how much its stressing me out, and he had a wicked idea.

He thinks that tomorrow night if I wake up and smell smoke, I should pull the fire alarm. Stroke of genius. Pure, unadulterated brilliance. I'm sure if a bunch of firetrucks showed up here she would get the hint. Maybe that is a bit of an extreme measure, but honestly, the woman is clearly unstable. I wouldn't be surprised if she burned the building down. Earlier this week the smoke alarm in her apartment kept going off, and lately it hasn't been. . .I wouldn't be surprised if she disabled it.

But before resorting to such extreme measures, I am going to do everything I can to find the landlord's number. I am going to see if there is some kind of landlord database--if memory serves, I think there is.

Aside from just TLB's smoking, though, is a greater issue. This is a human right's violation. The fact that I cannot afford a house should not mean that I have to live with someone else's second hand smoke. It is ridiculous, and I think there should be laws protecting tenants of apartment buildings. This person can just as easily step out onto her balcony. Her right to not be inconvenienced does not trump my right not to die.

I am going to do something about this. A petition is now in the works and I'm looking into what it would take to write a by-law. More to come.