To the editor:

I am writing in response to recent discussion in the Journal-World regarding the Red Lyon Tavern’s request to alter its facade to accommodate its smoking customers.

It seems to me that the city of Lawrence passed the smoking ban without sufficient warning or any collaboration from local taverns, and the result is a policy that is harming local businesses and encouraging the spread of suburban chain restaurants that can afford to build patios (the 75th Street Brewery, On the Border, etc.).

The city can and should develop a policy that allows downtown taverns to remodel to accommodate a smoking area. The argument that it would harm the historical integrity of downtown is a red herring. If the taverns go out of business and are replaced with chain stores like the Gap, etc., is the “integrity” of the architecture and the culture of downtown Lawrence really being protected?

The commission should develop a set of guidelines, in collaboration with tavern owners, that will allow appropriate alteration of structures.

We need to support locally owned businesses, taverns included. The smoking ban has the potential to render many of these establishments bankrupt.

Allowing local taverns the flexibility to secure their livelihood is only fair, given the amazingly bad and undemocratic process the commission used to pass this ban in the first place.

Laura Routh,

Lawrence