Free Republic

LOS ANGELES -- The City Council in Calabasas plans to discuss a proposal Wednesday on whether to extend its anti-smoking law to some homes. Council members may consider a law that would prohibit renters from lighting up inside apartments. Current resident smokers would be exempted from the ban as long as they stayed in the same apartment. The law would require all new buildings with at least 15 units to be smoke-free; the law would cover condominiums, as well as apartment buildings.

Calabasas makes it illegal to light up in public spaces, with fines up to $500. Some residents breathe easier, but others just fume. As a pioneering public smoking ban went into effect Friday in Calabasas, enforcement came from a higher authority: Mother Nature. A pouring rainstorm snuffed out renegade smokers' cigarettes and sent them scurrying for cover as security guards began issuing warnings at the town's main shopping center. Calabasas, an upscale suburb perched on the western edge of the San Fernando Valley, was generating international attention for what appears to be the nation's first ban on smoking in all...

Because it's getting hard to keep track of all the places where you're not allowed to smoke, the city council of Calabasas, Calif., decided to start over from scratch and make things simple. "Smoking is prohibited everywhere in the city," says a Calabasas ordinance that takes effect on March 17, "except as otherwise provided." The exceptions are private residences, up to 20 percent of hotel rooms, "smokers' outposts" in shopping-center parking lots, and "any outdoor area in which no nonsmoker is present and... it is not reasonable to expect another person to arrive." The smoke-free areas, a k a "everywhere...

A smoke-free, family-friendly atmosphere of moralistic intolerance Because it's getting hard to keep track of all the places where you're not allowed to smoke, the city council of Calabasas, California, decided to start over from scratch and make things simple. "Smoking is prohibited everywhere in the city," says a Calabasas ordinance that takes effect on March 17, "except as otherwise provided." The exceptions are private residences, up to 20 percent of hotel rooms, "smokers' outposts" in shopping center parking lots, and "any outdoor area in which no non-smoker is present and...it is not reasonable to expect another person to arrive."...