Smoking foes bring the fight to apartment buildings
By Sanjay Bhatt
Seattle Times staff reporter
A year after a statewide smoking ban took effect at workplaces, restaurants, bars and other public places, a new battlefield over secondhand smoke is emerging: apartment buildings.
Spurred on by nonsmoking tenants and public-health leaders, more private landlords are considering restricting smoking inside their rental units. And local public-housing agencies are also looking at banning smoking in the units of some buildings.
Since the ban took effect, people have gotten used to going out in the community and not being exposed to secondhand smoke, and that's prompted some to ask, "Why do I have to take it in my home?" says Roger Valdez, manager of the tobacco-prevention program for Public Health Seattle & King County, which enforces the smoking ban here.
"We've been surprised by the increased level of interest to make their apartments smoke-free," he said.
A year ago last month, the voter-approved Initiative 901 took effect. It prohibits smoking in work settings and public places from offices to bowling alleys and within 25 feet of their front doors, or a "reasonable" distance, to keep smoke from wafting indoors.
Compliance has gone well, according to the health department. The first month, the department received 168 complaints and found 16 violations. A year later, the numbers were down last month to 18 complaints, with the department finding just one violation.
"When you think of the thousands of businesses in King County, everyone did what they were supposed to do," Valdez said. "What we've heard now is about people smoking in condos and apartment units."
While the state ban prohibits smoking in the common areas of private apartment buildings, such as hallways, community rooms and libraries, residents may smoke inside their units unless the landlord prohibits it.
But smoke from one unit can seep through ventilation shafts and doorways into other units, and the ban has emboldened some nonsmoking tenants to complain about that to their landlords.
By Sanjay Bhatt
Seattle Times staff reporter
A year after a statewide smoking ban took effect at workplaces, restaurants, bars and other public places, a new battlefield over secondhand smoke is emerging: apartment buildings.
Spurred on by nonsmoking tenants and public-health leaders, more private landlords are considering restricting smoking inside their rental units. And local public-housing agencies are also looking at banning smoking in the units of some buildings.
Since the ban took effect, people have gotten used to going out in the community and not being exposed to secondhand smoke, and that's prompted some to ask, "Why do I have to take it in my home?" says Roger Valdez, manager of the tobacco-prevention program for Public Health Seattle & King County, which enforces the smoking ban here.
"We've been surprised by the increased level of interest to make their apartments smoke-free," he said.
A year ago last month, the voter-approved Initiative 901 took effect. It prohibits smoking in work settings and public places from offices to bowling alleys and within 25 feet of their front doors, or a "reasonable" distance, to keep smoke from wafting indoors.
Compliance has gone well, according to the health department. The first month, the department received 168 complaints and found 16 violations. A year later, the numbers were down last month to 18 complaints, with the department finding just one violation.
"When you think of the thousands of businesses in King County, everyone did what they were supposed to do," Valdez said. "What we've heard now is about people smoking in condos and apartment units."
While the state ban prohibits smoking in the common areas of private apartment buildings, such as hallways, community rooms and libraries, residents may smoke inside their units unless the landlord prohibits it.
But smoke from one unit can seep through ventilation shafts and doorways into other units, and the ban has emboldened some nonsmoking tenants to complain about that to their landlords.
