Move the Ash Stash

PETITION TO CALL A SPECIAL MEETING

ON THE REMOVAL OF THE ‘ASH STASH’ FROM OUR COURTYARD

PURSUANT TO Section 4. Special Meetings, of the Bylaws:

“(a) The President shall call a special meeting of the Unit Owners Association if so directed by resolution of the Board of Directors or, after the termination of the period of declarant control, upon a petition signed and presented to the Secretary by Unit Owners of not less than twenty-five percent of the aggregate Common Element Interests. The notice of any special meeting shall state the time, place and purpose thereof…”

Regulatory Resolution No. 2014-1, effective August 2, 2014, provides for the following policy of the Owners Association:

“WHEREAS, it is the finding of the Board of Directors that cigarette, cigar and/or pipe smoke constitutes a nuisance to residents of the condominium and thus an offensive use of the condominium property; and,

WHEREAS, societal trends continue to move in the direction of creating an increasing number of sanctuaries for the majority non-smoking segment of the United States’ population (e.g. airline no-smoking restrictions, rental car policies, motel no-smoking room restrictions, governmental and private building smoking bans, restaurant smoking bans, or restricting smoking sections, etc.);...”

The ‘Ash Stash’ in our courtyard area was placed there in violation of the rules for special meetings, and also in direct violation of the bylaws against smoking, promulgated just over one year ago.

The Board administration has stated that, in fact, the ‘Ash Tray’ was placed there not in accordance with the rules and bylaws, but at the request of one resident, who was apparently, able to override the rules and the bylaws.

The bylaws clearly state the correct position concerning smoking and secondhand smoke.

Further, after some very hard years, first a blizzard that destroyed most of the shrubbery, and then of drought, which further destroyed plant life, and then a number of trees that needed to be removed as a result of old age and/or disease, our courtyard is only now returning to its true beauty.

We have a beautiful courtyard, which has, at the direction of one resident, now been made less so with the injurious placement of the ‘Ash Stash’ smoking station. The smoking station has become just that, as opposed to a gathering place for all residents. All of us need to navigate a cloud of smoke, that harms our health, and fouls the smell of our clothing, which carries into our apartments.

We need your support for this petition, so that we may have the needed signatures that will allow us to begin the process of having this anachronism to our beautiful courtyard removed.