Report: City To Offer 'Bounty' To Ban Smoking In Apartments

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- Smoking has been banned in New York City restaurants since 1995, in bars since 2002, and in parks and beaches since last year.

Now, as 1010 WINS' Gary Baumgarten reported, the city is reportedly offering community boards rewards of $10,000 to convince landlords to ban smoking in apartments.

1010 WINS's Gary Baumgarten reports

The New York Post reported the community boards would work with property managers and tenants to adopt voluntary smoke-free policies.  In exchange, community groups would collect the $10,000 "bounty" which would be paid out of a Centers for Disease Control grant.

For-profit entities, including landlords, do not qualify to receive the funds.

Audrey Silk, founder of Citizens Lobbying Against Smoker Harassment, said the voluntary ban is just the first step.

"They want us to believe that this is not eventually going to be legislated – I mean, it will be eventually legislated no matter how much they protest otherwise right now," Silk said.

Silk said this is a rights issue, and that people should have the right to smoke in their own apartments. She called the under-the-radar bounty "sneaky."

But the Post reported some would like to see a ban in buildings, as it would eliminate smoke complaints.

Co-ops and condos that decide to ban smoking would need about 66 percent of tenants to vote in favor of approval, a real estate attorney told the Post.

And rent-regulated tenants would not be affected, as landlords in those cases are stuck with the original leases they signed with the tenant, and which do not ban smoking, the Post reported.

Learn more about the efforts of The Partnership For A Healthier New York City.

Do you support this move, or a ban on smoking in apartments? Leave your comments below...