Tonight the D.C. City Council will debate a topic they have batted around for the better part of two years –- the possibility of imposing a smoking ban or some similar legislative measure upon the restaurants and bars of the District. While many issues faced by the City Council attract attention and provoke debate, few others may have as immediate and obvious an impact on the city’s growing youthful populace as a ban on smoking. Consequently, residents have lined up on either side of the debate, touting either the health benefits of smokefree workplaces or chiding the possibility of further controls on traditional social behavior.

The City Council first took up the issue in 2003, where it faced a hostile mayor, an active and aggressive restaurant lobby, and few nationwide precedents. Two years late the political terrain has changed — a number of large cities have imposed smoking bans without the consequent loss of business, members of the Council have traded political barbs and allegiances have shifted, and D.C. Mayor Anthony Williams has offered a tepid endorsement of the proposal. But will this be enough to convince a majority of Council-members to side with a ban, or will the differing proposals (some banning smoking outright in all indoor public places, others offering financial incentives for providing smoke-free establishments) divide the votes and freeze the forward momentum?

DCist editors and writers shared in a spirited debate on the matter this morning, discussing the possibility of an outright ban or market-based alternatives, the pros and cons of smoke-free bars and restaurants, and where the line between health advocacy and an over-protective nanny state should exist. There was no consensus on “Yes” or “No,” with different writers expressing positions and sympathies that were in some cases expected, in others surprising.

What do DCist readers think? Is the District going to emerge from tonight’s marathon Council session smoke-free, or will opponents muster the votes to shelve the proposal for another two years? Health nut, libertarian, or something in between?

>> Gothamist on a smoke-free New York City
>> DCist on the debate over a smoke-free District
>> Smokefree DC and BreatheEasyDC
>> Ban the Ban!