Smoking Showdown Continues at Senior Housing Complex

Raised, angry voices emanated from a dining room at the Wednesday afternoon, where dozens of senior citizens were packed inside for a meeting.

What had the elderly residents so steamed? Management at the Laguna West senior living community announced plans to prohibit smoking there, those who attended the meeting said, just weeks after a proposed citywide ban on lighting up in apartment complexes . The move has pleased some residents, infuriated others, and left a third group saying more still needs to be done.

"When I moved here five months ago, I asked if smoking was allowed, and they said yes," fumed Nina Lineberger, 55, one of the smokers who said the new rule would affect her. "Now you're telling me I can't? Come on."

Complaints from Renwick residents who said neighbors' secondhand smoke was making them ill inspired the city council to . The 150-unit low-income apartment community is one of a growing number of complexes statewide to tighten rules on tenant smoking, said a representative of the Rental Housing Association of Sacramento Valley, a landlords' group.

Staff at St. Anton Partners, the Sacramento company that runs the complex, barred reporters from attending Wednesday's meeting and declined to comment. But the RHA's Cory Koehler, who advised St. Anton on the plan, shared details with Elk Grove Patch.

Current residents grandfathered in

Renwick Square will become non-smoking, with all new residents required to sign a lease saying they won't light up, said Koehler. Current residents will be permitted to smoke inside their units but not in any balconies or common areas, he said.

Residents who are bothered by cigarette fumes coming from a neighbor's apartment can file a complaint that could lead to consequences for the smoker up to and including eviction—though how and to what extent that provision would be enforced is unclear. One unanswered question is whether current residents who smoke would be allowed to renew their leases or would be asked to leave once they expire.

Tenants said they were told the new policy would take effect Thursday, and some welcomed the news.

"It would be nice," said Marian Homen, 80. Homen said her neighbors above and to the side of her smoked, and though she never complained, she didn't like it.

"It's not good for you, it stinks," she said. "Some days I go into my bathroom and my gosh, it feels like somebody's been in there smoking."

Some non-smokers still not satisfied

But Renwick resident Linda Vallez said banning smoking in common areas would do little to stop the smoke that wafts into her apartment from neighboring units, whose occupants would be grandfathered in under the new policy.

"It comes through the baseboards, it comes in through the plumbing, it comes in anywhere air flows," she said.

"It makes you sick to your stomach," added her friend Cherrie Grime, a leukemia patient.

The two were among a group of seniors that urged City Council members at a March 28 meeting to pass a far-reaching law banning smoking even within apartments, arguing that their meager incomes did not allow them to simply move away to escape the smoke. Council members declined to take action, but said they would facilitate a dialogue between Renwick Square managers and residents.

Vallez said that conversation never happened. "The City Council told them [Renwick management] to get together with Cory Koehler and us and come up with a policy," she said. "Instead, they decided on their own and basically dictated to us."

She and Grimes said they planned to continue lobbying at the state and county level for stricter anti-smoking laws and regulations.

Meanwhile, Koehler said he hears all the time from property owners who want to make the switch to non-smoking.

"If I were to look into the future five years, I would say the vast majority [of apartment complexes] are going to be non-smoking," he said.