Smoking Ordinance Takes Effect in City

A Cambridge ordinance banning smoking in public areas took effect yesterday and there were no complaints lodged against smokers violating the law, city officials said.

"We received a number of calls from businesses seeking help answering questions, but received no complaints of unwillingness to comply with the new laws," said Commissioner of Health and Hospitals Dr. Melvin H. Chalfen '50, who is responsible for enforcing the new ordinance, one of the strictest in the country.

City officials said that although Cambridge will investigate any complaint about violations of the law, enforcement will be left up to the owners of each building that falls under the ban.

At Harvard, which must ban smoking in lecture halls, House common rooms, libraries, hallways, other public areas, and private offices that share air vents, the ban was heralded with the posting of thousands of signs across campus. House dining halls will permit smoking only in designated areas, but five plan to enforce the ban completely. Dudley House, Eliot, Kirkland, North and Winthrop will not allow smoking.

City Councilor David Sullivan, a co-sponsor of the bill, said he feared Harvard had not completely prepared the University community for the ordinance by not issuing campus-wide rules for compliance.

"We gave them 90 days; it seems to have been enough for every other business in the city," he said.

Other city councilors expressed satisfaction with Harvard's reaction to the ban.

Mayor Walter Sullivan, who smokes and voted against the ordinance said, "Harvard is enforcing it really. They went overboard in my estimation."

Smoking members of the Cambridge City Council were grinning and bearing the new ordinance, although Councilor Alfred E. Vellucci said, "I know a lot of people who drink heavy whiskey and are destroying their livers, who want to tell other people not to smoke."

Cambridge yesterday formally instituted a mechanism to enforce the new law, officials said.

The Health Commissioner's office will investigate complaints, acting with the assistance of the police and the city manager, said Chalfen, adding that he expected few enforcement problems. "People have demonstrated that they want to work in compliance with the ordinance."

In answer to each complaint, he said his office will "bring the issue up with the responsible people at the particular business and if that does not work we will examine their policy and help them come to a resolution."

The commissioner's office will also "conduct systematic inspection of private businesses to make sure they have adhered to the law," Chalfen said. The random checks will be made twice a year, according to city officials.

At Harvard, administrators have left compliance up to individual departments on campus instead of setting University-wide rules.

Employees in academic departments contacted yesterday said they are not yet sure how to enforce the ordinance or who will be charged with that duty, but they said that they anticipate few problems.

History department administrator Geri Malatesta said that a regular meeting of department administrators is scheduled to address the issue on Wednesday.

She said she was not yet sure which private offices in Robinson Hall would fall under the smoking ban because their ventilation systems circulate air into the rest of the building.

"I'm waiting to hear at this meeting how we're going to enforce it, [but] I don't see it as a serious problem. There aren't many people smoking in the building anyway," she said.

As various administrators develop plans to deal with the smoking ban, the committee in charge of overseeing the University's compliance with the smoking policy is likely to inspect how well the departments follow the law, said Jim Dezieck, the Harvard personnel department's director of health and fitness. However, Dezieck said there is no procedure now for such inspections, and that he did not know what standards would be applied.

"If two departments have very different policies, as long as they're in compliance with the law, the University will not intervene to make those policies the same," he said.

"Essentially, we're trying to handle it the way we would handle any complaint," Dezieck said.

"I don't expect this to become a police matter," said Vice President for Administration Robert H. Scott. "It's not that the police aren't going to enforce it; it's that it'll be carried out by administrators," he said.

Harvard police officials have said they will not be responsible for enforcing the new law. Cambridge's smoking ordinance took effect yesterday and this type of behavior is now legally banned in all public places. No complaints were made against those violating the law.