City apartment buildings consider going smoke-free

Mayor Bloomberg isn’t just blowing smoke!

The city’s stealth war onꦚ cigarettes is being waged in earnest, with five residential buildings — 513 apartments in total — being “educated” into banning smoking, The Post has learned.

An additional seven buildings containing 420 apartments are currently considering adopting smoke-free policies, according t🐠o the Partnership for a Healthier New York City, the nonprofit formed by the city Health Department to coordinate the federally funded smoke-free battle that’s part of a $300,000 health campaign.

“The goal of the work is to educate the general public so that people can make their own decisions,” insisted partnership 🥀director Earl Brown, whose group solicits community groups to do the grunt work.

To convince buildings to go smoke-free, the partnership’s contractors have conversations with tenants and building owners and managers to educate them about the harms of tobacco expoꦰsure — a process that can require “many meetings over a period of time,” Brown noted.

Buildings are “turned” by majority ꧑vote, and landlords have a legal right to ban smoking, ༺and must only change the language of the lease — once its term expires — to do so.

When it’s time to renew the lease, smokers can decide to stay and quit, or le🎶ave, according to real- estate lawyer Adam Leitman Bailey, who added that la🍌ndlords may not change the terms of rent-regulated tenants’ leases.

A total🦹 of 52 buildings have been approached so f🍸ar, said Brown, who would not identify the properties.

“Once it is clear that there is a strong interest in voluntarily adopting a smo🤡ke-free policy, the building owner or manager will usually si🔯gn a document stating that intention,” he said, adding that the buildings may include co-ops, condos or rentals, which decide individually how to implement the policy.

There are no laws stopping a landlord from banning butts.The community groups are paid $10,000 apiece out of a Community Transformation Grant fro🧸m the Centers for Disease Control, which besides smoking and junk food, also targets alcohol and exercise.

The work will stretch into next year, and already has the💎 blessing of Democratic mayoral nominee Bill de Blasio.

“When it comes to public health, the mayor has been a real leader, and if electe🍷d, [Bill] de Bl🔯asio would build on his work to improve the health of all New Yorkers,” de Blasio spokesman Dan Levitan said.

Smokers-rights ad🃏vocates were outraged by the campaign — which comes more than a year after Bloomberg and Health Commissioner Dr. Thomas Farley said there are no plan🔯s to institute cigarette bans in private residences.

“This is about educating the public about a discriminatory act, with the lie that it’s possible that someone smoking in their own apartment can cause harm to♌ somebody in another apartment,” said Brooklynite Audrey Silk, founder of Citizens Lobbying Against Smoker Harassment.

“This is a 🌱crusade that we ♑haven’t seen since Prohibition — it’s a hate campaign, not a health campaign.”