To the editor:

The mission: Allow smoke-free environments for all employees.

The prediction: Sales would not be affected.

You were wrong! That is unless, of course, your bar or restaurant has the functionality to add on a patio or deck to the building, which unfortunately the bar I work at does not.

So my question for the City Commission is this: Who will supplement the income I have lost to help pay my bills? My husband and I work full-time and I work two nights a week bartending. It used to be enough. I have now had to pick up another shift and am still not covering what I made prior to the smoking ban.

How many small businesses do you think this isn’t affecting? It will eventually not just be the bars and restaurants that will feel the effect. If we can’t make money we can’t spend it. So what will you tell local downtown merchants when their business drops? Or will your solution to the lost revenue be to raise property taxes, which are already among the highest in the state?

I am not opposed to compromise here, but it doesn’t appear our “four” fathers will allow it. Four people decided for all of us. Amazing.

For those employees whose health we have saved: Are you happy you can breathe better, or are you now choking on the mound of bills you cannot pay?

And finally, I have calculated that I have lost an estimated $2,200 in income since July 1. Which of you commissioners would like the bill?

Emma Kolvek,

Lawrence