Bono’s Burning Issue

Maybe the rich aren’t so different, after all.

In recent weeks, when not trotting the globe scolding G8 nations for lagging on support of developing nations, U2 frontman and global do-gooder Bono has taken up the struggle for clean air – at least in his own home.

And one of his formidable opponents in the battle of San Remo, the opulent and historic Manhattan co-op? None other than ’80s rocker Billy Squier, according to the New York Times.

The Grey Lady detailed a dispute over chimney smoke rising from lower floors, including Squier’s apartment, wafting uncomfortably close to the Bono family’s penthouse duplex. The smoke has triggered both complaints and rebukes from other occupants of the building that is so exclusive it rejected Madonna as a resident in 1984.

Bono lives in the duplex with wife Ali and their four kids when they’re not in Ireland or their other home in the south of France, and the drifting smoke is of special concern because one of the children has asthma, the paper said.

So Bono went to the co-op’s board and aired his grievances – politely and with a great willingness to do what he could to resolve the problem, sources told the paper. However, neighbors who want to keep using their fireplaces were rankled.

Squier has a third-floor apartment with a working fireplace. A friend identified as a tour manager told the paper the Hewsons (Bono’s family name) might have seen smoke heading toward their loft, but that did not constitute smoke inside Bono’s house.

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

About 40 of the 135 units in the co-op, which dates to 1930, have chimneys and the ventilation problems cannot be satisfactorily repaired without possibly running afoul of the city’s Landmarks Preservation Commission. And apparently many of the residents, who aren’t used to being told "no you can’t," refuse to stop using their fireplaces despite having been ordered to do so by the building’s co-op board.

The San Remo is home to many of New York’s most famous full- and part-time residents, including Steve Martin, Steven Spielberg, and producers James L. Nederlander and Scott Rudin.

It’s also the home of "Sing Along With Mitch" maestro and former Mercury Records A&R man Mitch Miller, now 95 years old and having none of the neighborly squabbling.

"If people want fireplaces, let them go live in the country," Miller told the Times.

A representative for Bono told the paper he was in Germany to lobby G8 leaders for more African aid. Messages left with Squier’s assistant were not answered, the Times said.

While the tale of woe has nothing on "The Great Gatsby," there are revelations to be gleaned from the battle of San Remo. One, Mitch Miller is not only alive but apparently very well. And, two, Billy Squier has an assistant.