It seems like every few weeks, a new ordinance is enacted somewhere that limits what we can or cannot do in public places. No smoking in restaurants? Cool, I like to actually savor my food anyway. Bars? No problem, your bedroom won't smell like an ashtray the next morning from the pile of clothes on the...
It seems like every few weeks, a new ordinance is enacted somewhere that limits what we can or cannot do in public places. No smoking in restaurants? Cool, I like to actually savor my food anyway. Bars? No problem, your bedroom won't smell like an ashtray the next morning from the pile of clothes on the floor or in the hamper. Public recreational areas? Of course not, there are children there!But in recent years, a new movement has emerged to ban smoking in apartment units and condo/co-ops, as examined in a recent New York Times article. In most cases, the decision to prohibit smoking in multifamily residences isn't being mandated. Rather, individual apartment owners are banning it in some of their properties primarily due to concerns over the effect of second-hand smoke.(Full disclosure: I used to smoke. I still do enjoy a cigarette on an occasional basis. But I despise smoking indoors, so I share the same anti-smoking sentiments that many non-smokers do.)In major markets across the country, a handful of firms have made the move to ban smoking in on or more of their apartment properties, not only inside units and common areas but also on terraces and patios: Pan Am Cos., Related Cos., Archstone, AMLI Residential, McCaffery Interests and Trammell Crow Residential, among others.Kenbar Management in New York has taken it one step further; at one of its newest buildings, 1510 Lexington Ave., smokers can't even use the sidewalks that wrap the property, which takes up almost an entire city block. (Now, what the management is going to do about passersby lighting up is another question.)Even the Department of Housing and Urban Development has recommended that public housing agencies bar smoking in housing projects; to date, about 50 agencies have forbidden smoking in their buildings.Some municipalities have even mandated that smoking be banned in shared housing. In Richmond, CA, for instance, an ordinance was passed in July 2009 outlawing cigarette smoking, and in Belmont, CA, a smoking ban was passed two years ago and went into effect this month for units with shared floors or ceilings-effectively, all multifamily properties.The City of Calabasas, CA near Los Angeles has a proposal on the table to ideally ban smoking in 80% of multifamily properties by 2012 (which conjures up images of Warsaw ghetto-like communities for the other 20% of otherwise ostracized properties). Officials in Menlo Park in Northern California are debating a similar proposal.Aside from the health benefits, the smoking ban is helpful in other ways. Some firms are using it as a marketing tool for their residences; there's even a website where such properties can be listed on the Smokefree Apartment House Registry. It limits the risk of fire from smokers who may fall asleep with a butt in their hands, or who haphazardly dispose of their cigarettes. There's also the cost issue-it's easier and cheaper to clean a non-smoking unit when it comes down to turning it over to a new tenant.And for some firms, limiting residents' smoking improves indoor air quality, which is one of the factors taken into consideration when aiming to achieve LEED status on their projects. Trammell Crow Residential this week unveiled the second phase of its Alexan CityView on the Peninsula at Bayonne Harbor, touting the New Jersey project as an example of healthy living and green building practices.While this movement is a breath of fresh air for non-smokers, for those who oppose, it has become a civil liberties issue worthy of calling in the ACLU. After all, smoker or not, apartment tenants do pay rent to live in their homes, and condo or co-op residents own their residences outright.Regulating whether one can or cannot partake in a legal activity in one's home is a sticky situation, and there are concerns that limiting what people may do in their own residences is a slippery slope to navigate. What's next? A ban on cooking cabbage, fish or curry indoors? Taking it a step further, can a landlord ban loud music because it disturbs others? How about a colicky, crying baby in the middle of the night? Or an obese tenant whose heavy footsteps make his downstairs neighbors feel like they're in an earthquake?
[IMGCAP(2)]
No residents over 300 lbs permitted on upper floors!! Crying prohibited after 10 pm!! Malodorous foods banned!!
(Okay, now I'm getting silly, but you get my point.)Centers for Disease Control and PreventionAnyone who is familiar with a smoker knows that the smell lingers, permeating one's clothes and body.PS:While doing research on this topic, I came across some other questionable activities apartment tenants partake in.Do you know what your tenants are doing?
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Anyone who is familiar with a smoker knows that the smell lingers, permeating one's clothes and body. PS: While doing research on this topic, I came across some other questionable activities apartment tenants partake in. Do you know what your tenants are doing? 
