Smoking at Bellevue Place and Lincoln Square

I recently sent a letter to the company that owns Bellevue Square and Lincoln Square in Bellevue, WA, complaining about smoking around the elevator and stairway in the parking garage that links the two malls. If anyone else has run into this and been annoyed by it, send them a note at:

Kemper Development Company
575 Bellevue Square
Bellevue, WA 98004

I am writing to complain about the smoking that takes place at Bellevue Place and Lincoln Square, especially on the sky bridge linking the two malls, and outside the Piano Bar in Bellevue Place. The smoking occurs at all times of the day, but gets worse in the evening, and is a real problem during the family dinner hours (roughly between 5pm and 8pm).

This is especially noticeable to me now that I have a young child and need to use the elevator and sky bridge as I move around the mall with my 1 year-old in her stroller. As you know, the Bellevue Collection is a very popular destination for families with young children, and most of them that park in the Bellevue Place parking structure will need to use the elevator to get to the third level which provides the main access to the three malls.

A large number of smokers tend to congregate right outside the Piano Bar entrance, which is directly in front of the elevator and not more than ten feet from the stairway. Even families with older children that use the stairway are thus exposed to unacceptable levels of second-hand smoke.

A similar problem occurs on the sky bridge between the malls in the evening, when smokers from the various bars and restaurants congregate on the bridge. Crossing here is like running the gauntlet through a smoker’s den.

I doubt the Washington State and King County smoking regulations are being followed in the above scenarios. At the very least, there should be no smoking within 25 feet of elevators and stairways that are commonly used.

I hope you can find a way to encourage smokers to find a place to go that is not directly in the path of the majority of the non-smoking public, and does not expose children to second-hand smoke.