QUOTE
D.C. Gets 25 Cents' Worth of Respect
District Will Finally Get Its Own Quarter From Mint
By Mary Beth Sheridan
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, December 20, 2007; A01
The District has no vote in Congress, its laws can be trampled by federal legislators and even its streets can be closed by the feds on a moment's notice.
But after nearly 10 years of fighting, the city finally won a new mark of respect this week.
It will have its very own quarter.
The measure, tucked into a giant federal spending bill, puts the District on the same level as the 50 states, at least when it comes to the popular coins showcasing home-state icons such as mountains, birds, race cars and fiddles. The D.C. quarter is due in 2009, with a design yet to be determined.
"Can you believe it? How many years have I tried to get that?" exulted the city's congressional delegate, Eleanor Holmes Norton (D), who has repeatedly introduced bills to get the District a place on the quarter's flip side.
Despite Norton's vigorous lobbying and arm-twisting, it was not the District's quest for equality that ultimately carried the day.
It was Puerto Rico's.
Rep. Jos¿ E. Serrano (D-N.Y.) inserted language into the spending bill to provide quarters for his native Puerto Rico, as well as the District, Guam, the U.S. Virgin Islands, American Samoa and the Northern Mariana Islands.
Serrano became chairman this year of the House Appropriations subcommittee on financial services, which oversees important agencies such as the U.S. Treasury. That gave him the power of the purse, or at least the quarter.
"I said 'Ah-ha!' " Serrano recalled. "So I said, 'Puerto Rico will get a quarter. But it shouldn't be just Puerto Rico; it should be all the territories.' "
Not that the District is a territory, he quickly pointed out. "But it's certainly treated that way."
The District and the territories were left out when a law establishing the nationwide quarters program was passed in 1998. The U.S. Mint began issuing the coins the following year, rolling them out in the order that states were admitted to the union. The program was to wind up next year; so far, about 30 billion coins have been minted.
To legislators, not including the District was simply an oversight. But to city residents, it was one more indignity, on top of not having a voting member in Congress and having its spending and local laws subjected to federal review.
"We get snubbed, disrespected, belittled, forgotten, overshadowed and minimized in every way," said WTOP radio political commentator Mark Plotkin, a virtual thesaurus of how the city is disparaged, denigrated, underrated and calumniated.
"At least we'll be on the quarter," he said. "There's so much more to go. But it's a metaphor for our status, our standing in the world."
Mayor Adrian M. Fenty (D) called the chance to highlight the city's identity on a quarter "a very exciting opportunity."
The triumph came the same week that Norton won back the D.C. postmark for the city, which lost its philatelic identity after the 2001 anthrax attacks. Since then, the city's mail has been sent to suburban Maryland for processing, and much of it has carried Maryland postmarks.
Symbolic victories? Perhaps.
But symbols matter, said D.C. Council member Jim Graham.
"They particularly matter when you're left out," the Ward 1 Democrat said. "So we're glad to be in."
The design of the District coin is up to the local government, Serrano said. "Maybe they'll put the new Nats stadium on it?" he ventured.
Fenty said the selection of the design would involve "maximum resident input." In a city where activists have launched their own Olympic curling team and tried to get RFK Stadium renamed Taxation Without Representation Field, there is no shortage of ideas.
Paul Strauss (D), the city's shadow senator, suggested avoiding federal icons such as the Capitol and choosing a truly local symbol.
"I don't know if we could put Ben's Chili Bowl on there," he mused.
Council member Harry Thomas Jr. (D-Ward 5) suggested that the quarter feature Benjamin Banneker, the African American scientist who helped survey the District in the 1790s, or the city flag. "The D.C. flag must have 51 on it, for the 51st state," he specified. Alas, the rules for the quarters prohibit state flags.
The city has already used its license plates, stamped "Taxation Without Representation," to trumpet its lack of voting rights. Some have speculated the city might try to put that motto on its quarters.
If so, the city might get a less-than-enthusiastic reception from the U.S. Mint. And Mint officials have to approve the design, Serrano pointed out. "Why do I think the Mint will say, ' Guys!' "
Plotkin said the coin should feature a prominent Washingtonian, such as anti-slavery leader Frederick Douglass or civil rights lawyer Joseph L. Rauh. The quarter program doesn't allow busts of historic figures, but Illinois's coin features a head-to-ankle image of Abraham Lincoln inside an outline of the state.
"Not a monument," Plotkin insisted. "A human being, since we're neglected, ignored, overlooked, diminished in every other way."
Not a panda? No cherry blossoms?
"Exactly the opposite," Plotkin said.
District Will Finally Get Its Own Quarter From Mint
By Mary Beth Sheridan
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, December 20, 2007; A01
The District has no vote in Congress, its laws can be trampled by federal legislators and even its streets can be closed by the feds on a moment's notice.
But after nearly 10 years of fighting, the city finally won a new mark of respect this week.
It will have its very own quarter.
The measure, tucked into a giant federal spending bill, puts the District on the same level as the 50 states, at least when it comes to the popular coins showcasing home-state icons such as mountains, birds, race cars and fiddles. The D.C. quarter is due in 2009, with a design yet to be determined.
"Can you believe it? How many years have I tried to get that?" exulted the city's congressional delegate, Eleanor Holmes Norton (D), who has repeatedly introduced bills to get the District a place on the quarter's flip side.
Despite Norton's vigorous lobbying and arm-twisting, it was not the District's quest for equality that ultimately carried the day.
It was Puerto Rico's.
Rep. Jos¿ E. Serrano (D-N.Y.) inserted language into the spending bill to provide quarters for his native Puerto Rico, as well as the District, Guam, the U.S. Virgin Islands, American Samoa and the Northern Mariana Islands.
Serrano became chairman this year of the House Appropriations subcommittee on financial services, which oversees important agencies such as the U.S. Treasury. That gave him the power of the purse, or at least the quarter.
"I said 'Ah-ha!' " Serrano recalled. "So I said, 'Puerto Rico will get a quarter. But it shouldn't be just Puerto Rico; it should be all the territories.' "
Not that the District is a territory, he quickly pointed out. "But it's certainly treated that way."
The District and the territories were left out when a law establishing the nationwide quarters program was passed in 1998. The U.S. Mint began issuing the coins the following year, rolling them out in the order that states were admitted to the union. The program was to wind up next year; so far, about 30 billion coins have been minted.
To legislators, not including the District was simply an oversight. But to city residents, it was one more indignity, on top of not having a voting member in Congress and having its spending and local laws subjected to federal review.
"We get snubbed, disrespected, belittled, forgotten, overshadowed and minimized in every way," said WTOP radio political commentator Mark Plotkin, a virtual thesaurus of how the city is disparaged, denigrated, underrated and calumniated.
"At least we'll be on the quarter," he said. "There's so much more to go. But it's a metaphor for our status, our standing in the world."
Mayor Adrian M. Fenty (D) called the chance to highlight the city's identity on a quarter "a very exciting opportunity."
The triumph came the same week that Norton won back the D.C. postmark for the city, which lost its philatelic identity after the 2001 anthrax attacks. Since then, the city's mail has been sent to suburban Maryland for processing, and much of it has carried Maryland postmarks.
Symbolic victories? Perhaps.
But symbols matter, said D.C. Council member Jim Graham.
"They particularly matter when you're left out," the Ward 1 Democrat said. "So we're glad to be in."
The design of the District coin is up to the local government, Serrano said. "Maybe they'll put the new Nats stadium on it?" he ventured.
Fenty said the selection of the design would involve "maximum resident input." In a city where activists have launched their own Olympic curling team and tried to get RFK Stadium renamed Taxation Without Representation Field, there is no shortage of ideas.
Paul Strauss (D), the city's shadow senator, suggested avoiding federal icons such as the Capitol and choosing a truly local symbol.
"I don't know if we could put Ben's Chili Bowl on there," he mused.
Council member Harry Thomas Jr. (D-Ward 5) suggested that the quarter feature Benjamin Banneker, the African American scientist who helped survey the District in the 1790s, or the city flag. "The D.C. flag must have 51 on it, for the 51st state," he specified. Alas, the rules for the quarters prohibit state flags.
The city has already used its license plates, stamped "Taxation Without Representation," to trumpet its lack of voting rights. Some have speculated the city might try to put that motto on its quarters.
If so, the city might get a less-than-enthusiastic reception from the U.S. Mint. And Mint officials have to approve the design, Serrano pointed out. "Why do I think the Mint will say, ' Guys!' "
Plotkin said the coin should feature a prominent Washingtonian, such as anti-slavery leader Frederick Douglass or civil rights lawyer Joseph L. Rauh. The quarter program doesn't allow busts of historic figures, but Illinois's coin features a head-to-ankle image of Abraham Lincoln inside an outline of the state.
"Not a monument," Plotkin insisted. "A human being, since we're neglected, ignored, overlooked, diminished in every other way."
Not a panda? No cherry blossoms?
"Exactly the opposite," Plotkin said.