No smoking in condo

Oh my... it just got better...

Belmont Considers Nation's Toughest No Smoking Law  

BELMONT -- Hoping to pass what would be the nation's most far-reaching ban on smoking, the City Council asked its staff to draft an ordinance that would outlaw tobacco use everywhere except inside single family homes.

 

While details of the proposed law still need to be worked out, city councilors said Tuesday they want it to be as comprehensive as possible and to give police the option of ticketing people caught smoking on the street or in their cars.

 

"We need to pass as stringent a law as we can. I would like to make it illegal," said Councilman Dave Warden.

 

The city initially planned to pursue a smoking ban similar to ones passed recently in two other California cities, Calabasas and Dublin. Those laws made secondhand tobacco smoke a public nuisance, a move designed to make it easier for residents to sue neighbors who puff with impunity.

 

Instead, council members voted unanimously to see if a complete ban was enforceable and would survive legal scrutiny. Belmont, population 25,000, is located 22 miles south of San Francisco.

I currently live in a no-smoking building - says so right in the lease.  However, my downstairs neighbors smoke like chimneys.  Unfortunately, their smoke travels through the heating and ventilation system, and makes my apartment smell like a poolhall.  If you signed on the dotted line, agreeing to a no smoking apartment or housing arrangement prior to moving in, then stick to it or go find an apartment that allows smoking.

What a TIMELY thread. My chainsmoking neighbor just returned from Canada for the season, and because our condo complex is older than Ghandi, the a/c systems are ancient. Every time that @#$%^ lights up, our unit smells like a stale ashtray. Can I just tell you how much i love coming home from work, and having to open all the doors, windows, spray febreeze everywhere, light candles....Every time the a/c comes on, her smoke blows in through my vents. I can't stand it. I hope she chokes on her cigarette.

I don't know if I'd outlaw smoking in your own home, even as much as I LOATHE my neighbor, but at least require all apartments or condos to have a good, working ventilation system to ensure smells don't come through the vents.

I agree. That's not what happened in this case, however. The HOA was changed after they lived there.

In my condo, when I had downstairs neighbors who smoked, I could smell it pretty strong traveling up the bathroom vent systems.  I kept the bathroom door shut and tried to avoid using it (luckily had another).   I have my condo for rent and I say no smoking in the condo - but I don't rule it out on the porch (hopefully they wouldn't be the "flicker" types and flick the butts onto the courtyard below like some other neighbors of ours have done).  Living in a condo is communal, the property value is tied to the community more tightly than a single family home, and there have to be rules.   I can see a smoke-free condo building - I can only imagine the meetings leading up to the ruling - yikes! 

Now it says not that they cannot smoke, but that the smoke cannot leave their unit.   If people want to smoke and install some system to isolate the smoke, then go for it - light up.

As long as you don't smoke a spliff in the ATM line.

Seems like there should be a grandfather clause. Some somking condo owner would have a pretty good case for a lawsuit, methinks.

You should totally be allowed to get baked while you bake your bits and pieces.

We live in a condo.  Fortunately, it's a townhome, and each unit has its own ventilation, heating and cooling.  But, it seems, my neighbors who smoke aren't allowed to smoke inside their homes either (probably by a spouse), so they go out back and smoke on their respective patios.  

In the summer, this makes me crazy.  Where we live, open windows are the #1 source of cooler air in the evenings, and that just means their smoke comes floating up into my bedroom when I'm trying to sleep.  Gag.

But there's nothing I can do about it except shut my window. 

I'm sure they do.  As well as rules about how high your flowers can grow (no higher than the fence), what type of bird feeders you can use, where your satallite dish can go, where you can park, how long your garbage bin can sit out, etc.

Rules, rules, and more rules. We get a nasty-gram from our CCNR-nazi about once every three months.  If we don't hear from her, then we start worry about her.   

As long as you share, I'm okay.   

Oh, but that's just it. We do live in the 'hood. Our condo complex (where we just rent) is surrounded by pretty sketchy apartment complexes. On the weekend nights, and sometimes the weeknights, we are awakened by people having screaming matches in the street behind our unit. The "worst neighborhood in Santa Rosa" is just 2-3 blocks west of us, and we hear the sirens and police helicopters all the time.

Eric sometimes talks about buying our unit from the landlord (because it really is a nice unit), but I have to remind him that the neighborhood isn't going anywhere.

And the stories I hear from other Condo Owners about their CCNRs make ours seem liberal.