First of two parts
[img]1915|right|Mehaul O'Leary||no_popup[/img]Sometime next month the City Council is expected to declare a smoking ban in multi-unit housing throughout Culver City, prompting the intriguing question:
How will City Hall know whether it is being obeyed?
Easy, said Councilman Jim Clarke, freshly returned from a European holiday with family.
“The vast majority of people will voluntarily comply with these regulations and thereby help to solve the problem they are intended to address.”
Early indications, according to other Council members, have been that once the ordinance is passed, it will be up to fellow tenants to spot the lawbreakers and make a case for small claims court.
If the city cannot face-to-face control enforcement of the new law – because of understaffing – why bother formulating a law?
“That is a lot of assumptions,” Vice Mayor Mehaul O’Leary said this morning. “I don’t necessarily know if we are going to enforce by neighbor. That does not make any sense.”
Mr. O’Leary took away a different understanding from the Council discussion of an ordinance that currently is being created.
“My understanding is we will be giving tools to property owners, how and what they can do to make a tenant drop their (smoking) habit.”
How will that work? Will the landlord be empowered to make a verbal or written statement to the alleged violator?
“I imagine landlords will have to get involved by putting something in writing,” Mr. O’Leary said.
(To be continued)
