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NICO-FIEND TENANTS FUMING OVER PROPOSAL

No butts about it – the proposed no-smoking law targeting the city’s housing projects shouldn’t pass, say those who live and smoke in them.

“If I’m paying rent, I should be allowed to smoke in my own home,” fumed Maritza Schelmetty, a 33-year-old resident of Brooklyn’s Red Hook Houses.

The huge housing complex is situated in the district represented by Assemblyman Felix Ortiz, who is sponsoring the anti-smoking measure. Residents told The Post that the proposal should get snuffed out. “It’s a silly law that won’t get passed,” said Schelmetty, who admits to smoking since age 8.

Her advice: “If you don’t want people to smoke, then make cigarette sales against the law.”

James Aston, 68, thinks the law is going to go down in smoke.

“It’s a good thing, smoking can kill you,” he noted. “But you can’t tell a person what to do in their own home.

“People aren’t going to quit. It won’t stop me. It’s not fair,” said Aston, a smoker for more than 30 years and a resident of Red Hook Houses.

Julia Perry, a smoker for 60 of her 73 years, thinks the proposed law is “ridiculous. I don’t think they’ll be able to enforce it.”

Another project resident, who refused to give her name, laughed when she heard about law.

“Stop the drugs out here before you stop the smoking,” she suggested.