Tobacco Articles: category real_estate

Should I design a tobacco firm’s new HQ? : In the first of a new series, Irena Bauman, author of How to be a Happy Architect, tackles your ethical dilemmas

Fri, 16 May 2008 04:00:00 GMT

A tobacco firm has asked me to design its new headquarters and the brief looks exciting. But I have ethical objections to its business. Should I accept the commission?

. . . My advice is: resist the vanity of the compliment and refuse the commission. Architects lack direct political or financial powers to shape society’s ethics. But we can help shape social values by deciding who we will or will not work for. In accepting commissions, we sign up to the values they represent.

Adjusting Vision of Waterfront Arts District to Include High Rises

peappl@nytimes.com (PETER APPLEBOME) — Thu, 15 May 2008 04:00:00 GMT

A 52-story tower will rise in place of this pile of bricks and rubble. Across the street from the hulking remains of the Hudson & Manhattan Powerhouse, which once provided electricity for what is now the PATH rail system, is a mountain of bricks and rubble in the middle of a sprawling vacant lot. Once it was the site of the Lorillard Tobacco and Snuff Manufactory, the largest tobacco factory in the country. Later it was a thoroughly magical warren for hundreds of artists, and the inspiration for an arts district envisioned as a way to revive a decrepit, forgotten warehouse district near the Jersey City waterfront. Current plans call for it to become a 52-story residential tower designed to look like a precarious stack of blocks. Whether or not you care to see Jersey City as New York's sixth borough, you could write a pretty interesting urban history centered on the 12 or so blocks now designated as its Powerhouse Arts District. . . . it was a bitterly contested decision by the City Council last month to approve a proposal by the giant home builder Toll Brothers to construct three residential towers of 30 stories or more. . . . In retrospect, that plan probably died with the pile of rubble at the old tobacco factory when the city -- facing lawsuits from the developer who owned the building, which had since been converted into artists' studios -- allowed him to knock down the building and build a high rise instead. "That was the first domino," said Mr. Kessler. "So now we have Toll Brothers."

Hawaii studies living-space smoke ban : Isle group pushing for ban on lighting up in condos, apartments

agomes@honoluluadvertiser.com (Andrew Gomes Advertiser Staff Writer) — Sun, 11 May 2008 04:00:00 GMT

The Coalition for a Tobacco-Free Hawai'i hopes to convince owners of residential rental and condominium buildings to prohibit smoking inside private living areas. The nonprofit group argues second-hand smoke emanating from the privacy of one unit may affect others when people live in close quarters. The state already bans smoking in restaurants, bars and within 20 feet of the entrances or windows of smoke-free buildings. "As laws like this become the norm, I think people are going to start thinking about how, about where we live," said Hye-ryeon Lee, chairwoman of Tobacco-Free Hawai'i and a University of Hawai'i speech professor. Smoke-free advocates say residential smoking bans deliver financial benefits to property owners through lower insurance costs because of reduced fire risk, reduced cleaning expenses and fewer problems between neighbors. But advocates for smokers' rights fume

Cigarette sparks fire that leaves 13 homeless: 13 people homeless after overnight fire

Mon, 12 May 2008 04:00:00 GMT

The fire department has ruled an overnight fire accidental. Thirteen people are looking for a new home after a cigarette sparked the fire at an apartment complex at 1917 Hearthstone just after 2 a.m. Monday.

Lauderdale Lakes: Cigarette may have caused fire that displaced 9 people

Fri, 09 May 2008 04:00:00 GMT

A fire that burned through an apartment and displaced nine people Thursday afternoon may have been ignited by a homeless man's cigarette, the Broward Sheriff's Office said. The American Red Cross assisted three adults and six children displaced by the flames. The fire may have been accidentally started by Henry Boykins, 54, who had been living in the electric utility room of a one-story building on the 3900 block of Northwest 30th Terrace, authorities said.

National Apartments.com Survey Reveals Renters Stance on Apartment Smoking Bans: As Apartment Smoking Bans Sweep the Country, More Than 1,000 Renters Share Conflicted Views on Renters Rights and Apartment Safety

tkotula@apartments.com (Source: Apartments.com) — Mon, 12 May 2008 04:00:00 GMT

Many nonsmokers support the right of smokers to light up in their apartments. While the majority of renters surveyed (62%) by Apartments.com do not smoke, opinions on whether or not to ban smoking in apartment communities were neck in neck. Leading with a slight majority, forty-five percent of renters surveyed do not believe that smoking should be banned in apartment communities while nearly forty percent support a smoking ban. However, this is not a black and white issue for renters as many seem conflicted by their desire to live in a smoke-free apartment community and the rights of the renter. Thirty-two percent of renters surveyed believe that their property management company should not be able to dictate whether or not they can smoke in the privacy of their own apartment

Comfort, value go up in a cloud of smoke : CONDOMINIUMS

realestate@tribune.com (MARK PEARLSTEIN ) — Sun, 11 May 2008 04:00:00 GMT

Q: I have owned a high-rise condo in Chicago for about four years. Recently, a new owner moved in and brought with him a ferocious smoking habit. . . . A: Submit a formal complaint to the board and ask for a meeting with the directors. Under the Smoke Free Illinois Act, the board has a valid basis to conclude that smoking is a nuisance to others. If the smoker does not take steps to minimize smoke infiltration, the board should adopt certain standards of conduct for resident smoking, such as the use as air purifiers and operation of kitchen and bathroom vents to minimize smoke transmission. The only valid means to eliminate smoking in the association is through an amendment to the declaration and bylaws.

State Senate bill would allow landlords to ban smoking in rentals

Editor@HanfordSentinel.com (Steve Lawrence Associated Press Writer) — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 04:00:00 GMT

California apartment complexes could be declared smoke-free zones under legislation that's scheduled to be considered this week by a state Senate committee. Sen. Alex Padilla says his bill would ensure that owners of rental housing have the option to ban smoking. "The way the law is (currently) written..., it's not explicit for landlords to declare smoke-free housing units without being sued," he said. "We're trying to make the law a little more clear, a little more explicit." The bill, scheduled to be heard Tuesday by the Senate Judiciary Committee, would allow landlords to ban smoking on all or a portion of their property, including in any building on the site.

Bill opens door to smoke-free apartments

Sun, 27 Apr 2008 04:00:00 GMT

California apartment complexes could be declared smoke-free zones under legislation that's scheduled to be considered this week by a state Senate committee. Sen. Alex Padilla says his bill would ensure that owners of rental housing have the option to ban smoking. "The way the law is (currently) written ... it's not explicit for landlords to declare smoke-free housing units without being sued," he said. "We're trying to make the law a little more clear, a little more explicit."

Bill would allow landlords to ban smoking in Calif. rentals

Sun, 27 Apr 2008 04:00:00 GMT

Public Housing Smoking Ban Eyed

Thu, 24 Apr 2008 04:00:00 GMT

State Fire Marshall John Dean and the Smoke-Free have introduced a statewide initiative would ban smoking in apartment houses.

Outdoor smoking areas not addressed under Florida statute

CAMquestion@cfl.rr.com (RICHARD WHITE) — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 04:00:00 GMT

Q. At a recent meeting, the board decided to ban smoking at the outdoor pools and near the clubhouse. They said Florida law does not allow smoking at a public place. Is a condominium pool considered a public place? Can the board elect to do this by themselves? —D.B., Sanford A. There is a Florida statute concerning indoor smoking, FS 386, but it does not cover outdoor areas. In past columns, I have recommended that the board set aside a smoking area and a nonsmoking area. Maybe the board establishes a nonsmoking near the clubhouse and a smoking area on the outside of the pool deck. What some smokers do not realize is that their second-hand smoke can be hazardous to some people. I have volunteered at a village that brings terminally ill children and their families to Central Florida for a week and provides tickets to the theme parks.

San Carlos condo smoking debate is still burning : Smoker calls ban on smoking inside units violation of rights

mabramson@dailynewsgroup.com (Mark Abramson, MEDIANEWS STAFF) — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 04:00:00 GMT

A smoldering controversy regarding smoking in a San Carlos condominium complex has reignited, months after one resident took the homeowners association to court over the issue and lost. Susie Parano, 55, and Jane Clusin, her friend and fellow Brittan Heights condominium complex resident, took their smoking complaints to their homeowners association last week by submitting a petition against allowing residents to smoke inside their units and on their balconies and patios. The two women said the petition forwarded to the homeowners association board Wednesday was signed by about half of the residents in the more than 400-unit complex. However, the board did not take any action. Parano lost a small claims case against the homeowners association last November in which she sought $7,500 in damages that she said was caused by her downstairs neighbor Oleg Gitin's smoking.

Landlords Hail Smoke Ruling

Fri, 18 Apr 2008 04:00:00 GMT

The province's landlords say they're relieved that the courts have upheld a landlord's right to prohibit smoking on their premises. CORPIQ spokesman Hans Brouillette says it's not a matter of discrimination against smokers, but of protecting other tenants from smoke wafting into their apartments. There's also the issue of the high cost of cleaning and restoring an apartment vacated by a smoker.

Revise leases to deal with smokers, landlords urge: Court rules against tenant. Standard Quebec rental board form needs updating, owners' group says

mailto:rteague@thegazette.canwest.com (JAN RAVENSBERGEN, The Gazette) — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 04:00:00 GMT

A court ruling that orders a Montreal woman not to smoke in the flat she rents could change the way leases are written in Quebec, if a provincial landlords' association has its way. The Quebec Court verdict, issued Thursday, overturned a Quebec rental board decision and has sparked a request from the province's largest landlords' lobby for changes in the standard Quebec rental board lease. The landlords' group, the Corporation des propriétaires immobiliers du Québec, urged yesterday that the standard lease should include boxes to be marked to allow or ban smoking in any dwelling that is being rented. The standard lease form has been largely unchanged since 1994. "We are studying the implications," Jean-Pierre Le Blanc, a spokesperson for the provincial Régie du logement