Bartenders and anti-smoking advocates packed into a Baltimore City Council committee hearing Wednesday and tucked into a lengthy debate on a proposed smoking ban in bars and restaurants.

Advocates hung signs from the balcony and passed stickers out in the crowd. City Health Commissioner Joshua Sharfstein ticked off health problems linked to even the slightest level of exposure to second-hand smoke.

“The freedom to light up and smoke anywhere you please is not so sacred ... that restaurant and bar patrons alike must tolerate the chronic ailments” associated with it, Councilman Robert Curran said in an interview before the hearing. He sponsored the bill that would restrict smoking in many enclosed public places.

Curran, D-3rd District, and others tried to pre-empt concerns about a negative impact on area businesses, citing reports they said showed no such fallout came of similar bans that passed in other cities. But Ron Furman, who owns Max’s Taphouse in Fells Point, was unconvinced.

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“They’re going to put the little places out of business,” he said, standing outside the hearing. “Will the restaurants survive? Yeah. Will the steakhouses survive? Yeah.”

Curran estimated he is a few votes short of getting his bill passed. He predicted a vote would take place in January. City Council President Sheila Dixon hasn’t taken a stance yet on the issue, a spokeswoman said, and turned up at the hearing to hear it debated.

Joy Martin, who owns Club Charles, said in an interview that the proposed ban amounted to government meddling.

Her customers would be forced outside, she said, and “it’s a heck of a lot more dangerous out on the street in Baltimore City than smoking.”

kcullinan@baltimoreexaminer.com