To the editor:
It was interesting in the Journal-World article about the financial troubles of the Hereford House that the most obvious reason for its financial difficulty wasn't mentioned: a new steakhouse across town. It was also interesting that the city was blamed because it failed to allow a Wal-Mart to be built across the street, always a feeder for a high-end restaurant.
The hospitality business is a very competitive, high-turnover proposition, with today's hot property being tomorrow's closure. Management always needs an excuse for failure, but until the referendum vote on the city's clean-air ordinance is completed, every failure will be blamed on the indoor smoking ban. It is true that in any cultural change there will be winners and losers, but the true measure of its economic effect on the community is total sales, as objectively documented by excise tax revenues -- and it is good to remember that this particular cultural change will save literally thousands of lives of Lawrence citizens over the coming decades.
Experience in communities making this transition before us shows that it is completed in less than a year, and the growth of the hospitality business rebounds better than ever. In the end, we will have a healthier and a more prosperous community.
Dr. Steven C. Bruner,
Lawrence
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