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• D.C. law expands no-smoking area around buildings  

Building owners and property managers in D.C. as of Tuesday will be allowed to post signs barring smoking within 25 feet of their outer walls, but many may choose not to participate as the new statute is unenforceable and may spark confrontation with stubborn smokers.

Language adopted by the D.C. Council authorizes property owners -- commercial or residential -- or ground-floor commercial tenants to post signs on their properties stating that smoking is not permitted on public space within 25 feet from the building wall or the distance to the far side of the adjacent public sidewalk, whichever is less.

In a message to its members ahead of the D.C. law's implementation, the Apartment and Office Building Association (AOBA) of Metropolitan Washington spelled out what the measure means -- little more than subtle discouragement of the smoker, or often the pack of smokers who crowd a building's entryway. There are no fines associated with violating a "no smoking" sign, no mechanism for a police officer to write a ticket and no authority for a security guard to move a smoker along.

"Thus, a property owner may elect to post a sign prohibiting smoking outside its building but, by law, the District could not impose any fines or penalties

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