Jump to full article: Santa Monica (CA) Lookout, 2009-11-11
Author: Jonathan Friedman Staff Writer
Intro: A group of residents that successfully lobbied the City Council to ban smoking in common areas of apartments and condominiums wants the prohibition expanded to balconies and patios.
Santa Monicans for Non-Smoking Renters Rights also wants the creation of non-smoking sections for multi-family residential buildings, including units. And the group says landlords and condo owners should be forced to disclose smoking and non-smoking units to potential tenants and buyers.
"When someone smokes on a balcony or patio, the smoke is pulled into neighboring units because of the difference in air pressure," said group member Myra Morris, who called this "an intrusion."
A press release issued by the group claims that once secondhand smoke has drifted into a unit, it attaches to walls, floors, furniture and rugs and outgases back into the room, even if no one is smoking. The group looks to an article from January of this year in the journal Pediatrics as proof of the existence of what is called "third-hand smoke."
"If smoke is coming into your unit on a regular basis, you are at risk for illness," group member Barbara Bronie said "Cities have a responsibility to protect the public's health."
Jump to full article » |