Apartment complex to snuff out smoking

Proposed ban angers some residents

Wednesday, Dec. 6, 2006

A Silver Spring high-rise apartment complex will no longer allow smoking after the first of the year, and while some residents say the ban is unfair, a spokeswoman for the complex’s management said the decision is the interest of tenants’ health and safety.

The decision will affect all residents of The Blairs, a 27-acre, 1,400-unit complex bordered by East West Highway and Eastern Avenue. It will be the first apartment building in Montgomery County to implement a comprehensive smoking ban, said Mary Anderson, a spokeswoman for the county Department of Health and Human Services.

Letters were sent to tenants in November alerting them that their apartments will transition to smoke-free effective Jan. 1.

Elizabeth Lisboa, a spokeswoman for the Tower Companies, which owns The Blairs, said the change in policy was triggered by an incident in April 2005 when an elderly couple died in a fire caused by improperly discarded smoking materials.

Resident Elnora Harvey doesn’t smoke but said the ban is not fair to longtime residents.

‘‘I don’t think it’s a proper way to do things,” Harvey said. ‘‘I don’t think it’s American.”

Harvey is also concerned with a portion of the addendum residents will be required to sign that requires tenants to report, in a written statement, any incident in which they smell cigarette smoke coming from inside the apartment complex.

‘‘Smoking is a minor problem as far as I’m concerned,” Harvey said.

Residents who do not sign the addendum will not be able to renew their lease.

D.C. Hughes, a 10-year resident of The Blairs, said he was going to fight the ban. Hughes would not say whether or not he was a smoker, but said it was a violation of rights and set a precedent with which he was not comfortable.

The letter sent to tenants in November by Ray Jordan, the property manager for The Blairs, stated that management wanted to create a healthier community, decrease indoor pollution and avoid fires. It also said a survey taken last year showed that only 4 percent of residents at The Blairs smoke or have guests in their apartments who smoke.

‘‘There was a decision by the owners that they would make it a non-smoking facility and if folks wanted to smoke, they could go outside,” Lisboa said. ‘‘It would be safer and healthier.”

She also said they rejected an idea to create designated smoking areas within the apartments because of the safety hazards and to prevent smoke from traveling to neighbors who would not want smoke in their apartments.

Residents interviewed for this story said they had never seen a survey about smoking. When asked about the survey given to residents, Lisboa said she had no knowledge of one, but did say she has received plenty of positive feedback from tenants about the smoking ban.

‘‘Obviously you can’t please everyone,” Lisboa said. ‘‘We’re trying to do the right thing.”

Some residents have checked with county officials about the legality of the ban. Hughes contacted County Councilman George L. Leventhal (D-At Large) of Takoma Park, and Leventhal wrote back that ‘‘smokers are not a protected class” and ‘‘it is not illegal to create a smoke-free building.”

County law protects groups of people from discrimination, on the basis of things like race, sex, physical or mental disability, or sexual orientation.

Many jurisdictions have banned smoking from public places. Montgomery County banned all smoking inside eating and drinking establishments and public buildings in 2003.

Hughes said that while smokers are not a protected class, the ban leaves a lot of potential groups of people whose behavior or activities also could be prohibited.

‘‘There is nothing the county can do to stop [landlords] from making this place alcohol-free,” Hughes said.

Vance said that while she doesn’t agree with what is being done to smokers at The Blairs, she has signed the addendum agreeing not to smoke and to report other smokers.

‘‘I had to sign it in order to stay and I don’t agree with it,” Vance said. ‘‘There are a lot of other things that should be managed instead of policing the smoking ban.”