Activists want to target secondhand smoke from private patios and balconies in multifamily complexes. That could put them at odds with a renters rights group.
Jump to full article: Los Angeles Times, 2010-02-03
Author: Martha Groves
Intro: But after the couple made several $100 trips to the emergency room because their infant daughter was gasping for air, they pleaded with the neighbor to stop smoking outdoors, to no avail. Now, contending that secondhand smoke poses a health hazard, they have joined other activists who are pushing the city to snuff out smoking on private balconies and patios in multifamily dwellings.
It's an effort that puts Santa Monica in sync with a growing number of other California cities and counties that have hit smokers where they live. Yet, in the liberal-leaning beach community, the debate takes on added freight because of the political clout of Santa Monica's tenants rights advocates, who contend that landlords would welcome an excuse to evict longtime tenants in rent-controlled units.
The fight might come down to whether such a sweeping smoking ban bumps up against the civil rights of renters. . . .
But a prohibition on smoking on private patios and balconies marks a line that local politicians seem reluctant to cross for fear of offending the influential Santa Monicans for Renters' Rights group in an election year.
Even without an election, said Councilman Kevin McKeown, the issue is especially potent in Santa Monica, where about 70% of residents are renters.
"Do we even have the legal right to disallow smoking within someone's home?" McKeown said. "Can we legislate the breeze?"
Santa Monicans for Renters' Rights has been a political force for 30 years.
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