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AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY OF GLENDALE RELATING TO SMOKING IN PUBLIC PLACES AND COMMON AREAS OF MULTI-UNIT RENTAL HOUSING. (PDF) 

The City Council finds, determines, and declares that:

A. Extensive medical and scientific research confirms that tobacco smoke is harmful to smokers and non-smokers alike, triggering eye, nose, throat, and sinus irritation; hastening lung disease, including emphysema; and causing heart disease and lung cancer.

B. In 1992, the United States Surgeon General reported that involuntary smoking— by inhaling "secondhand smoke" (also called "environmental tobacco smoke")— can cause lung cancer in healthy non-smokers and poses a significant public health hazard.

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Smoke Stinks in a Slow Real Estate Market 

and home prices and soaring foreclosures signal that the housing crisis continues to deepen. When the real estate market is competitive, a home with a pungent odor such as cigarettes can make or break the deal. According to a 2008 Home Features Survey done by Zip Realty, 76% of respondents say that bad odors, such as cigarette smoke, would sway their decision against purchasing a home. Tobacco Free Florida wants to help Floridians maintain their edge in a competitive market and live healthier lives.

The stale, lingering odor of cigarette smoke seeps into and sticks on furniture, carpets, walls, curtains and just about every surface it comes in contact with. Household cleaners alone won't get the job done, therefore professionals need to be hired to deep clean the stubborn odors and remove stains. Smokers incur extra costs when selling a house that non-smokers do not. Homes may require new paint and professional carpet and drapery cleaning. For an average sized home this could run a homeowner approximately $3,000 in additional expenses.

Think smoking outside is the answer? "It is not," says Kim Berfield, Deputy Secretary of the Florida Department of Health. "Smoking outside helps reduce tobacco odor, but does not eliminate it. Clothes absorb the smell, dragging it back into the home and undoubtedly finding its way to closets and drawers. Quitting smoking is the only way to completely rid a home of the smell."

In addition to the effect that cigarette smoke can have to a home's interior, smoking inside puts others at risk of the dangers of second-hand smoke.

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Smoke Stinks in a Slow Real Estate Market 

As "For Sale" signs dot yards throughout Florida, plummeting sales and home prices and soaring foreclosures signal that the housing crisis continues to deepen. When the real estate market is competitive, a home with a pungent odor such as cigarettes can make or break the deal. According to a 2008 Home Features Survey done by Zip Realty, 76% of respondents say that bad odors, such as cigarette smoke, would sway their decision against purchasing a home. Tobacco Free Florida wants to help Floridians maintain their edge in a competitive market and live healthier lives.

The stale, lingering odor of cigarette smoke seeps into and sticks on furniture, carpets, walls, curtains and just about every surface it comes in contact with. Household cleaners alone won't get the job done, therefore professionals need to be hired to deep clean the stubborn odors and remove stains. Smokers incur extra costs when selling a house that non-smokers do not. Homes may require new paint and professional carpet and drapery cleaning. For an average sized home this could run a homeowner approximately $3,000 in additional expenses.

Think smoking outside is the answer? "It is not," says Kim Berfield, Deputy Secretary of the Florida Department of Health. "Smoking outside helps reduce tobacco odor, but does not eliminate it. Clothes absorb the smell, dragging it back into the home and undoubtedly finding its way to closets and drawers. Quitting smoking is the only way to completely rid a home of the smell." . . .

Tobacco Free Florida is stressing to Floridians that the decision to quit smoking is the only way to ensure a home will not be overlooked due to an odor and will play a major part in turning "For Sale" signs on front lawns into "Sold" signs. Free cessation assistance is provided by calling the Quitline at 1-877-U-CAN-NOW (1-877-822-6669).

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Mom challenges apartment smoking rules  

PICO RIVERA - One local mother wants the law changed - and she's not blowing smoke.

Yo Shen Chen moved to Pico Rivera when she got a job as a research scientist in the city. She rented a small, one-bedroom apartment to share with her 6-year-old son, Justin.

But soon after moving in (and signing a one-year lease) in May, she noticed a problem at her third-floor home at the California Villages on Carren Drive. The smell of cigarette smoke was everywhere. And her son, who suffers from a breathing condition, was coughing more and more at night.

"I fear going home, because I cannot protect anyone from this," Chen said.

Chen, 42, said she tracked the cause of the problem to downstairs neighbors who puffed away on their balcony, but they were unwilling to take their habit elsewhere. . . .

So, she turned to the city, first sending a letter then reading it at Tuesday's City Council meeting.

According to Neighborhood Outreach Coordinator Raymond Chavez, he is handling the situation by looking at how the city can better work with apartment managers and owners to create smoke-free spaces for tenants who need it.

"It will take a collaborative effort with owners, and that's what our approach is going to be."

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• Anti-smoking grant for condo group 

PROVO - How to make a Pleasant Grove condo complex smoke-free: Ask for and get nearly $5,000 in federal grant money.

Utah County commissioners have agreed to award a $4,225.12 grant to the Gateway Village Homeowners Association. It will be used to craft, promote - it includes holding a support-building barbecue for residents - and distribute a policy banning smoking in the 136-unit development.

But the price tag - it includes $550 in attorney fees - had commissioners wondering.

"I hope they can find some attorney to craft this out of the goodness of his heart," Commission Vice Chairman Larry Ellertson said.

The county's tobacco-prevention specialist, Tyler Plewe, said the cost is justified because it pays for writing a lawsuit-proof policy.

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Fire blamed on smoking  

Careless smoking is being blamed for the fire that displaced nearly 100 tenants from an eight-story high-rise at the Sherman Hills apartment complex early Sunday morning.

The apartments at Sherman Hill's suffered a fire on Saturday night leaving the entire building's residents without a place to stay.

The four-alarm fire forced nearly 100 tenants, most elderly or physically disabled, from their Parkview Circle apartments shortly before 2 a.m.

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Clearing the air on smoke-free buildings 

It's not surprising that smoke-free buildings are in demand. Surveys, including the 2007 Canadian Tobacco Use Monitoring Survey conducted by Stats Can and Health Canada, show that about 75 per cent of all Canadian households, including smokers who reside in those households, no longer smoke inside the homes.

"It's not a huge shift to formalize what most people are already doing," says Pippa Beck, a policy analyst with the Non-Smokers' Rights Association who chairs the Canadian Smoke-Free Housing Group.

There are also business reasons for smoke-free buildings. According to the Non-Smokers' Rights Association Smoking and Health Action Foundation, landlords report that it typically costs two-to-three times as much to turn over a unit where heavy smoking has occurred as it does for a non-smoking unit.

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Law stops smoking 

Nearly a year ago this week, the Belmont City Council began taking steps to approve one of the country's toughest smoking bans and now it's counting down the three and a half months until it goes into effect.

On Nov. 8, 2007, the council officially passed the law prohibiting smoking in condominiums and apartments and their patio or yard areas. The wide-reaching law gave apartment owners and condominium complexes 14 months to come into compliance. The day to put the butts out in Belmont is Jan. 1, 2009.

The city is hosting a public meeting next month to help residents as well as property and business owners understand the new law and how to come under compliance.

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• No-smoking housing catches on in Dallas-Fort Worth 

Welcome to the latest no-smoking frontier: private homes. Smoke-free housing could become as common as no-pet policies.

Nationwide, more landlords are barring tenants from lighting up to reduce neighbors' exposure to secondhand smoke, joining a long list of cities, companies and hotels that have done the same. The Smokefree Apartment House Registry features about 300 listings nationally, up from 11 when it began in 2001. . . .

California is the leader in smoke-free apartments, with 17 cities, including Santa Barbara and Sacramento, having passed policies.

In North Texas, smoke-free housing is scarce. But a handful of new apartment complexes offer smoke-free or partially smoke-free living, reflecting a budding trend.

Owners and managers of local smoke-free properties say they attract more people than they scare away. In addition to health benefits, smoke-free policies lead to lower maintenance costs, increased fire prevention and potential insurance discounts.

Monterra Village at Interstate 35W and North Tarrant Parkway claims to be the first totally smoke-free rental community in Texas.

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Tenant leaves £5k mound of junk food cartons and cigarette butts in flat  

A DIRTY tenant turned his home into a rubbish tip by cramming it with more than 1000 burger and Kentucky Fried Chicken cartons.

Landlord Chris Dowling couldn't believe his eyes, or nose, when confronted with the squalor the man had left behind. . . .

And when Chris made it to the bathroom, he found that the tenant had left a giant heap of cigarette ends on the sink.

Chris, 57, said: "In 15 years of running properties I've never come across anything like this - and we see all sorts.

"The tenant had also been smoking without opening windows and there were nicotine stains dripping from the walls.

"It smelled like a giant ashtray.

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• It’s Open House at Last at Altria’s Midtown Home  

Somewhat overlooked in all of this corporate churn has been the tobacco company’s grand, but also quirky, former headquarters building in New York, which is directly opposite the main entrance to Grand Central Terminal.

In the early 1980s, the company built a lavish new skyscraper at 120 Park Avenue, at 42nd Street, which was initially called the Philip Morris Research Center and Headquarters. The building was designed in the International Style by the prominent New York architect Ulrich Franzen and constructed on the site of a low-rise building known as the Airlines Terminal Building..

Until this year, the company was the sole occupant of the 26-story, 650,000-square-foot tower. So, although the building sits at a highly visible crossroads in Midtown Manhattan, its interior largely remained a mystery in real estate and business circles.

But that changed this summer, when brokers began leading tours through 120 Park Avenue, where 440,000 square feet of office space is available for rent. Altria and Philip Morris International have leased back the fifth through eighth floors, around 100,000 square feet altogether. The lower four floors hold the lobby and public spaces.

Most floors from the ninth up are exactly as Altria left them, including the ceiling fans to accommodate smokers in the days before strict antismoking laws.

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Daly gets grief about S.F. anti-smoking plan 

Supervisor Chris Daly was about to alienate one of his own: tenants in the Tenderloin.

Daly said his far-reaching anti-smoking proposal, which is up for a vote at the Board of Supervisors today, is intended to snuff out secondhand smoke by banning smoking in places like farmers' markets, restaurant patios, taxicabs, and lines for the ATM and movies.

But tenant activists were irate over the part to ban smoking in all common areas of apartment buildings, condos and residential hotels - and specifically at the provision making smoking a nuisance, meaning a landlord could legally boot a tenant for lighting up just once.

That would have made it easier to evict smokers than it is to kick out prostitutes or drug users, according to Ted Gullicksen, manager of the San Francisco Tenants Union.

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Subsidized housing residents in smoking dispute 

At first glance, the Star Thistle Apartments in Ashland look clean and well maintained. . . .

Hanson and other residents of the apartment complex met this week to discuss the smoking problem with a representative of the property manager, Grants Pass- based Options for Southern Oregon Inc., a private nonprofit. . . .

Smoking has long been a problem for Options, which has had to scrape the walls of some apartments after chain smokers moved out, said Miller.

Another Star Thistle resident, Steve Weiner, said smoke comes through the ventilation system into his apartment.

Most of the residents in the apartment complex don't smoke inside the buildings, but three of the residents are still allowed to smoke because they were living there before the rules took effect about four years ago. . . .

Kim Miller, executive director for Options, said the issue of smoking in these government subsidized units is not limited to Star Thistle.

"We're very sympathetic and doing what we can," he said.

Options provides 77 units of affordable housing in Jackson and Josephine counties. The organization offers counseling, case management, education support, work support and crisis resolution, and it also has a gambling addiction center. It has a budget of $12 million annually, and serves about 4,800 people a year.

Even though other residents are supposed to smoke away from the building, planters filled with cigarette butts sat on a table under a window that was open to the lobby Thursday.

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• Suites without smoking 

The local public health unit is urging landlords to go smoke free.

"In the Chatham-Kent area, we don't have any apartment buildings that are entirely smoke free," Jiwan Bhardwaj, an inspector with the Chatham- Kent Public Health Unit, said Thursday.

She said the agency receives complaints from tenants about secondhand cigarette smoke in local buildings.

That's why the health unit started an initiative to encourage landlords to consider making their multiunit dwellings smoke free, she said.

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• Warner Center Homeowners Demand Smoke-Free Living 

Homeowners at The Met, a popular condominium located at the Warner Center in Woodland Hills have begun a process of petitioning to restrict smoking in both private and common areas at the complex. The campaign to make The Met smoke-free began after multiple claims of unwanted secondhand smoke coming into units went unresolved by the HOA.

Brian Meert, a homeowner at The Met stated, "The homeowner below me had a medical marijuana license and when he smoked, the unwanted secondhand smoke would rise into my condo. I tried working with the HOA multiple times to find a solution, but their response was that it is just the way the building was designed."

"The issue of smoke traveling to other units has been one of the major concerns at The Met," states Meert. "If the buildings are unable to restrict smoke from traveling between units, I believe the smoking policy should be a decision that the homeowners make as it directly affects their health and potential property value."

An official website for The Met Smoke-Free campaign has been posted online at http://www.TheMetSmokeFree.com.

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