Bono: Dismantle Smoke Bomb

Wed., May. 16, 2007 3:17 PM PDT by Josh Grossberg

It's not the unforgettable fire that's got Bono worried. It's the smoke.

Taking time out from saving the world, the U2 frontman has launched a new campaign literally more close to home—i.e., to rid his Manhattan penthouse from the unwelcome, potentially toxic plumes wafting in from neighbors' fireplaces.

Bono, whose real name is Paul Hewson, owns a spacious duplex at the San Remo, the landmark 1930-era apartment building whose twin towers rise high above Central Park West and the New York residence of such stars as Steven Spielberg and Steve Martin.

But, per the New York Times, the "Vertigo" crooner and his wife, Ali, who live in the north tower, have become concerned about the ill effects of smoke drifting from the lower chimneys, especially since one of their kids has asthma. So they approached the co-op board to enforce the ban instituted a year earlier prohibiting property owners from using fireplaces due to inadequate ventilation.

The building's smokestacks top out perilously close to Bono's penthouse and tests have purportedly turned up high levels of pollution.

"Bono was so nice," Leni May, the wife of board member Peter May, told the Times. "He said, 'Listen, whatever I can do to get these things working, but it's emptying into my apartment and I can't have smoke like that.' "

According to the Times, not all of Bono's neighbors are keen about the no fire policy, notably fellow musician Billy Squier. The former hitmaker, known for such '80s ditties as "The Stroke" and "In the Dark," resides on the third floor and reportedly believes his fire-stoking rights are being wrongly impeded by Bono.

"It was just assumed that because they could see the exhaust, that would present a problem to their children," an unidentified tour manager of Squier told the Times.

A publicist for Principle Management, the company that manages U2, told the newspaper that the 47-year-old rocker-activist's grievances was not the act of a spoiled pop star, but a very serious matter.

"This is not a Bono issue," the rep said. "It's a building issue. It's about health and safety regulations."

Bono reportedly bought the $14.5 million penthouse from Apple CEO Steve Jobs in 2003. The singer, his wife and their four kids, ranging in age from 18 to five, divide their time among residences in the Big Apple, the South of France and their native Dublin.

When not stuck in a smoke cloud he can't get out of, the Nobel Peace Prize nominee continues to petition world leaders for African aid. This week he has been in Germany attempting to hold G8 officials to the pledges they made two years ago, after the Live 8 concerts.

Bono cited statistics from his nonprofit group, DATA—Debt, AIDS, Trade, Africa—showing that aid given by the world's most powerful countries has fallen short by an estimated $3 billion, to $2.3 billion instead of the $5.4 billion promised at the Gleneagles, Scotland, conference in July 2005.

"It's a trend at this point but we have made such a fuss about it and now they know that the world is interested in the minutia of how these promises are being kept," he told Reuters.

U2, meanwhile, is expected to soon head back into the studio with noted producer Rick Rubin to begin work on the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame band's 12th studio album.