What can I do about a suspicion of apartment neighbor's drug use?

[quincy]

Thank you for taking time to reply, quincy and CdwJava. I really want to try everything I can, but I understand what the police can do and can't do, I will look for other options. I still can't throw away an idea to find a drug detecting dog service, but even I somehow find it, I don't think they will show up in the middle of the night.

Thank you for the link, quincy. I will study it and find what I can do. I totally forgot that I contacted the state child health department or something like it when a smoke issue started. A person who answered me was very responsive and she contacted a related county department to get information for me. Sadly, she is no longer there, but I will contact that department, too.

I'm glad I found this forum. I have received many suggestions and information. Thank you again for taking time to reply my post.

I am happy you are finding this forum helpful. We all appreciate the thanks.

We will be interested in hearing what happens so, if you have the chance, please return with updates.

Good luck.

 

[PAPP]

Thank you for giving me a warm welcome to the forum, quincy. Even though my SO agrees with the smell in the hallway, he thinks I am over thinking and some of my opinions are just far fetched. I bet some (or many ) of what I wrote here sounds ridiculous, but the members took time to reply my post to offer not only the information and the suggestions, but also many different angles to see and to think to my issue and to general things. I really appreciate you all.

I absolutely will keep you posted. We will keep working to improve the issue. If you happen to come across some information related to my post, I would really appreciate if you could let me know.

Thank you, again. Have a nice weekend!

 

[PAPP]

Thank you for guiding me, quincy. I'm sorry I didn't think throughly about posting a question.

This post is not an update about the issue. I received nice suggestions here, so I thought I should ask a question related to the issue to search for more options for us.

I'm looking for some options to resolve a smoke issue in our apartment without suing the landlord. We moved in the present apartment in 2015. The lease has had a no smoking clause since then. In 2016, a long time resident started to smoke in his unit. It seemed that the long time resident had never signed the lease with the no smoking clause, so he just smoked in his unit. It created an issue that the other residents who singed the lease with the no smoking clause started to smoke in their units, too. Eventually, the long time resident moved out in 2017, but some residents kept smoking in their units. We tried many things to improve the issue, but we couldn't have our apartment management take appropriate action.

Our city initiated a multi units dwellings smoking ban since January. However, there is no enforcement at this moment. Even the ordinance kicked in, we still haven't had the apartment management take any action. We have contacted the city department which deals with the no smoking ordinance and they sent a letter to the apartment management to comply the ordinance, but so far nothing.

We contacted our city's bar association and had a consultation about the issue in this summer. We did a few suggested things by an attorney and a couple of things are left undone. One of the undone things is suing the landlord. One of our friends in another state who happens to be a lawyer, went through the same issue in her apartment. When we asked her some advice, she said she didn't recommend to sue the landlord because we would have difficulty when we rent an apartment in the future. We don't have a plan to buy a house near future, so we are looking for other options.

Thank you.

 

[PAPP]

I wish I could do a nice update, but sadly I have a new question about the smoke issue. I would really appreciate your help.

We finally had our apartment manager send a no smoking reminder to the residents, today. However, he mentioned two places in the apartment premises as designated smoking areas which were not complied the city's ordinance at all. Especially one of them is a place which is supposed to be a completely smoke free area. It affects units facing there greatly. I really feel bad for them. I already sent an email to point it out to the manager. But I don't know if he will straight it out after his day off.

The other smoking area works if he put the required sign and receptacles for cigarette butts. However, it affects sidewalks where school kids walk. Our apartment is located a couple houses away from a high school and two other schools are along the same sidewalks. I found state law about smoking marijuana - Smoke cannabis or cannabis products within 1,000 feet of a school, day care center, or youth center while children are present at the school, day care center, or youth center, except in or upon the grounds of a private residence or in accordance with Section 26200 of the Business and Professions Code and only if such smoking is not detectable by others on the grounds of the school, day care center, or youth center while children are present. https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?sectionNum=11362.3.&lawCode=HSC

Our apartment is definitely within 1000 feet of the high school. I'm wondering if we can ask the manager not to set up a smoking area which is close to the sidewalks?

 

[PayrollHRGuy]

You can ask whatever you want.

 

[PAPP]

Thank you for your reply, PayrollHRGuy.
Sorry, I was very upset and angry last night and my mind was in a spin. My question is if I can stop him to set up a designated smoking area using the state law - smoking marijuana ban near a school.

 

[quincy]

Thank you for your reply, PayrollHRGuy.
Sorry, I was very upset and angry last night and my mind was in a spin. My question is if I can stop him to set up a designated smoking area using the state law - smoking marijuana ban near a school.

It's worth a try - but your landlord does not seem to be overly concerned about tenant activities.

 

[PAPP]

Thank you for your reply, quincy.
I'll try very hard to make it happen. My son has developed severe migraines and secondhand smoke is particularly not good for his migraines. I really want to improve the situation for him.

Our apartment manager is actually a hard working nice guy. He has maintained the apartment very well. Whenever we ask a repair work, he quickly shows up and work done. We really appreciate his hard work. However, about the smoke issue, we feel like we are dealing with a totally different person. We can't figure out why he hasn't taken appropriate action about the smoke issue.

Oh, about the mothball smell, we contacted some state and county health and environment departments following your suggestions. We also contacted local indoor air quality specialists. They can analyze the regular tobacco and marijuana, but not unidentified smell. My SO heard about gas chromatography from a friend of his. It seems it can analyze the air thoroughly. I sent an inquiry to a couple of companies.

Thank you again for taking time to reply my post. I hope I can do a happy update soon.

 

[quincy]

Thank you for your reply, quincy.
I'll try very hard to make it happen. My son has developed severe migraines and secondhand smoke is particularly not good for his migraines. I really want to improve the situation for him.

Our apartment manager is actually a hard working nice guy. He has maintained the apartment very well. Whenever we ask a repair work, he quickly shows up and work done. We really appreciate his hard work. However, about the smoke issue, we feel like we are dealing with a totally different person. We can't figure out why he hasn't taken appropriate action about the smoke issue.

Oh, about the mothball smell, we contacted some state and county health and environment departments following your suggestions. We also contacted local indoor air quality specialists. They can analyze the regular tobacco and marijuana, but not unidentified smell. My SO heard about gas chromatography from a friend of his. It seems it can analyze the air thoroughly. I sent an inquiry to a couple of companies.

Thank you again for taking time to reply my post. I hope I can do a happy update soon.

Your landlord is probably a smoker.

We would like to hear a positive news update anytime - but I am sure not nearly so much as you want some positive news to report.

Good luck.

 

[PAPP]

I know what you mean, quincy. Such is life. I just keep doing whatever I can.

I would like to thank you all to put up with my English. I know it's full of grammatical mistakes and foreign accents in my writings. My son just peeked at what I wrote here and pointed out some errors. I truly appreciate that you take time to reply my posts!

 

[quincy]

I know what you mean, quincy. Such is life. I just keep doing whatever I can.

I would like to thank you all to put up with my English. I know it's full of grammatical mistakes and foreign accents in my writings. My son just peeked at what I wrote here and pointed out some errors. I truly appreciate that you take time to reply my posts!

Please do not have your son peek at what I write. Haha.

 

[PAPP]

I have no problem my son peek at what you write, quincy. This forum members are very nice. I searched for the forum to find related posts to my issues. I haven't seen no bad words or no ugly dramas. I can recommend my son to read the forum to learn about life!

 

[PAPP]

Hello, again. I have a tiny update. Also, I have a new question.

The tiny update is our apartment management company decided to shuffle their stuff. A new apartment manager will come in a few months. I hope the new manager will be tough on smoke issues.

The situation itself has not been changed. Actually, it got worse. The same mothball smell is often filled with another hallway. I found a former professor who received a government grant to research for DMT and he confirmed with the smell of DMT, but I still can't convince anybody including my SO about the smell. Well, I think it's time for me to invent a DMT tester.

I have a question about changing the rules of the city ordinance. I'm wondering if a city can change some rules of the ordinance easily. I don't expect anything is easy and quick to change the ordinance and the law. However, I'm guessing if someone wants to change the ordinance itself, it has to go through the city council to change it. But if someone wants to have some minor tweaks to the rules, I'm assuming it might be a different procedure.

Someone suggested me to contact to my city's council members to improve the city's no smoking ordinance and I'm working on it now. I'm also looking for the right procedure to make some changes happen. I have never done anything like this, so I have no idea what I need to do. I would appreciate your help.

 

[Zigner]

However, I'm guessing if someone wants to change the ordinance itself, it has to go through the city council to change it. But if someone wants to have some minor tweaks to the rules, I'm assuming it might be a different procedure.

A "minor tweak" is a change.