City Where It's Now Illegal to Smoke in Your Own Home

AOL ^ | 11-20-13 | Alan Farnham

[TurboZamboni]

The town of San Rafael, Calif., has passed a ban on smoking that city officials have called the most stringent in the nation. The new ordinance makes it illegal for residents to smoke in their own homes if they share a wall with another dwelling. The ban applies to owners and renters alike, and it covers condominiums, co-ops, apartments and any multi-family residence containing three or more units.

Rebecca Woodbury, an analyst at the San Rafael City Manager's office, helped craft the ban, which took effect Nov.14. "We based it on a county ordinance," she told ABC News, "but we modified it, and ended up making it the strictest. I'm not aware of any ordinance that's stronger." Cities with similar but less severe smoking restrictions include Cambridge, Mass., and other California cities, including Walnut Creek and Tiburon.

[TurboZamboni]

Years ago, he said, when restrictions on smoking were first introduced, "the spirit of the legislation was supposedly to protect people who did not want to be exposed to smoke." Today, he said, the motivating spirit had changed: People disapprove of the habit, and wish to restrict it whether or not it affects them directly.

[Responsibility2nd]

So. The solution here is to step outside on your porch or balcony and smoke away.

Ooops. I’m sure they have laws against that too.

[IYAS9YAS]

I guarantee you this will only be enforced on white, middle-class taxpayers. Can you see them trying to enforce it on the illegals living in those types of dwellings?

[forgotten man]

If they try to prohibit the smoking of marijuana there will be hell to pay.

[JRandomFreeper]

It's much easier in today's world to just be a criminal.

/johnny

[Born to Conserve]

I can’t imagine living in a “house” that shares walls.

[The Antiyuppie]

It’s much easier in today’s world to just be a criminal.

/johnny

It certainly is. You and I are probably breaking several right now.

Wasn’t there a thing about “ex post facto” laws in this country, something like that?

[Responsibility2nd]

The ordinance cites such studies, plus a 2011 study by UCLA that found that California property owners paid up to $18 million a year to clean apartments vacated by tenants who'd smoked.

Boo freaking hoo. I'm sure the owners collected twice that amount in forfeited damage deposits when the smokers moved out. If not - then its their own fault.

[Gabz]

Today, he said, the motivating spirit had changed: People disapprove of the habit, and wish to restrict it whether or not it affects them directly.

That has ALWAYS been the motive behind the bans.

[Paine in the Neck]

The Left's "lifeboat" conception of healthcare will lead to an infinity of such interventions into our private lives. If "everyone" is paying for healthcare then "everyone" has a stake in how you conduct yourself and, thus, has a "right" to tell you what you can and can't ingest, what you can and can't weigh, how much sun you must or must not get, what medications you may or may not have, what surgery you may or may not receive, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera,... Universal healthcare is the key to universal control.

[Star Traveler]

A a Duplex is shaped like an ordinary house (sometimes converted from a one-family house) and so it does share walls with another tenant.

[Obadiah]

Does San Rafael have any housing projects where we can expect enforcement?

Seriously, while I’m not a smoker, I’d take it up and dare them to come and get me. Yet people will not do anything and simply surrender their Consitutional right and allow the government to encroach on legal activity within their own home.

When do they start cracking down on home Bible studies?

[BunnySlippers]

You cannot smoke within 15 feet [I think that’s the amount] of a window or door. The smoke blows right in.

[listenhillary]

Three Felonies A Day: How the Feds Target the Innocent
http://www.amazon.com/Three-Felonies-Day-Target-Innocent/dp/1594035229/

[TurboZamboni]

Here in MN, leftists are tring to ban e-cigs as well.

They just look like smoking.

[BunnySlippers]

Townhouses, condominiums.

[TurboZamboni]

Home: No place for Bible study

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2256793/posts

guess that state...

[Gabz]

The leftists and their big Pharma backers are trying to get the e-cigs banned in the U.S. period.

[Secret Agent Man]

when govt makes everything illegal, eveyone’s a criminal.

since law-abiding people haven’t voluntarily turned into criminals so govt can come after them,

they have forced govt to make more and more things illegal so they have a pretext to go after them.

law isnt used for justice anymore.

[TurboZamboni]

IIRC, Phizer makes Chantix and a type of e-cig.

They’re probably paying off legislators.