Nashville Apartment Staffers Forced To Stub Out Cigarettes With Residents In Smoking Ban

The first private apartment complexes to accept the Metro Health Department’s challenge to ban smoking say it’s going pretty well. No one has packed up and left yet. But going smoke-free has been hard for those trying to quit.

“Oh it’s rough. It’s rough,” says Todd Rife who manages the Fallbrook Community on Dickerson Pike.

Fallbrook and Riverwood Towers in Madison, both owned by Memphis-based Alco Management, implemented a curb-to-curb policy banning smoking anywhere on their premises, including outdoor common areas. That means after January 1, even staffers like Rife had to at least consider kicking the habit.

“This is not just a bunch of non-smokers in management positions telling smokers they can’t smoke,” he says. “We’re in the same boat as well.”

The Health Department surveyed residents before the policy was implemented. Rife says he was surprised how many smokers were supportive and saw the smoking ban as motivation to stop.

As long as there’s no mass exodus, Rife expects the policy could save the apartment complex money. It costs thousands of dollars to replace carpet and paint walls when a smoker moves out. He says in one case, he had to replace the drywall because the smoke had penetrated so deeply.