Some Apartments May
Be Out of Bounds for Smokers
By Jessica Garrison
Times Staff Writer
November 20, 2003
Lighting up a cigarette in your own home could become illegal in Los
Angeles if you move into a new apartment built with the city money.
A City Council committee gave preliminary approval Wednesday to a
proposal that at least half of all multifamily housing units built
with money from the city's Affordable Housing Trust Fund be "smoke
free."
The city attorney's office must now draft an ordinance for the full
council to consider.
Health advocates crowded into City Hall to support the plan, which
was proposed by council President Alex Padilla. No one spoke against
it.
Henrilee Long, who lives in a skid row housing project, said he is
plagued by secondhand smoke. "They smoke in the elevators," he
said. "It is very difficult for me to breathe. I would appreciate
it if you would help with this."
Officials said the proposal could affect more than 1,000 apartment
units each year.
Existing apartment complexes would probably not be affected and officials
stressed that the proposed law would no be intended to punish smokers.
Apartments where smoking is allowed would still be built, the said.
The law would simply give nonsmokers the option of living in a smoke-free
area.
L.A. has been a pioneer in smoking bans and pushed some of the first
laws that prohibited lighting up in restaurant, theaters and workplaces.
"We need to look no further than hotels and motels in the city
of Los Angeles," Padilla said, to see that it is possible to create
smoke-free environments in buildings with multiple family units.
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