Sorry Smokers! Add Pasadena To the List of Places Where You Soon Won't Be Able to Smoke in Apartments

Sorry smokers! Pasadena is working on an ordinance that would slowly phase out the ability to smoke in apartment buildings and units. The Pasadena City Council instructed the City Attorney's office to "draft a ordinance that would ban smoking in common areas of apartment buildings by the summer; ban smoking in all proposed multi-unit housing; require a disclosure of the law in rental, lease or purchase agreements by January 2012 and ban smoking in apartment units by January 2013," according to the Star-News.

Outlawing smoking in apartment buildings and individual units is a growing trend in the region. "The move makes Pasadena the fourth city in Los Angeles County to impose such a ban aimed at mitigating the effects of second-hand smoke," points out the Star-News. A similar ban went into effect in September in Santa Monica.

A draft of the ordinance is expected to be returned to the Pasadena City Council in 60 days. Many Pasadenians, including Pasadena Public Health Department director Eric Walsh, are in favor of such a law.