DC Gets A State Quarter! (and Guam, Puerto Rico, etc...)

[slowly but surely]

My former town has finally earned the respect for which it has so long struggled.

 

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/conte...ml?hpid=topnews

 

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.

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"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 yet 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.

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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. 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.

[Dockwalliper]

Here it is. Tucked away in the omnibus government appropriations bill. pg. 103

 

DIVISION D - FINANCIAL SERVICES AND GENERAL GOVERNMENT APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2008

SEC. 622. Section 5112 of title 31, United States

Code, is amended by adding at the end the following new subsection:

REDESIGN AND ISSUANCE OF CIRCULATING QUARTER DOLLAR HONORING THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA AND EACH OF THE TERRITORIES.-

 

1 "(1) REDESIGN IN 2009.-

"(A) IN GENERAL.-Notwithstanding the fourth sentence of subsection (d)(l) and sub-

section (d)(2) and subject to paragraph (6)(,quarter dollar coins issued during 2009, shall

have designs on the reverse side selected in accordance with this subsection which are em-

blematic of the District of Columbia and the territories.

"( FLEXIBILITY WITH REGARD TO

PLACEMENT OF INSCRIPTIONS.-Notwithstanding subsection (d)(l), the Secretary may

select a design for quarter dollars issued during 2009 in which-

"(i) the inscription described in the

. second sentence of subsection (d)(l) ap-

pears on. the reverse side of any such quar-

ter dollars; and

"(ii) any inscription described in the third sentence of subsection (d)(l) or the

designation of the value of the coin appears on the obverse side of any such quarter dollars.

"(2) SINGLE DISTRICT OR TERRITORY DE SIGN.-The design on the reverse side of each.

1 quarter dollar issued during 2009 shall be emblematic of one of the following; The District of

Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico,Guam, American Samoa, the United States Virgin Islands, and the Commonwealth of the

Northern Mariana Islands.

"(3) SELECTION OF DESIGN.-

"(A) IN GENERAL.-Each of the 6 designs required under this subsection for quarter dollars shall be-

"(i) selected by the Secretary

after consultation with-

"(I) the chief executive ofthe District of Columbia or the territory being honored, or such

other officials or group as thechief executive officer of the District of Columbia or the territory may designate for such purpose;

and

"(II) the Commission of

Fine Arts; and

"(ii) reviewed by the Citizens Coinage Advisory. Committee.

[Art]

Probably just a new page for my Dansco.

[TreasureGirl]

I think we should all get free folders/pages for this...

[Scottishmoney]

If anything it will bring more attention to these last of the USA's colonial possessions around the world, most of which people are not even aware exist.

 

Puerto Rico should either become independent or become a state, but the Commonwealth government there benefits from all sorts of tax breaks for US companies based there, all the whilst taxing the bejeebers out of it's citizens since they do not pay Federal income tax.

[tabbs]

If anything it will bring more attention to these last of the USA's colonial possessions around the world, most of which people are not even aware exist.

What? Will there be extra quarters for Iraq and Guantánamo? Seriously, the D.C. quarter makes a lot of sense - but the others, well, I don't know. Will be interesting to see the design proposals though. And yes, of course I gotta get them too ...

 

Christian

[Dockwalliper]

The 2009 mint sets are going to be HUGE!!

 

8 cents

2 nickels

2 dimes

12 quarters

2 half dollars

10 dollars

 

36 coins...........so far.

[Dockwalliper]

And 18 coins in the proof sets.

[Dockwalliper]

Anyone wanna buy a "Dansco 2009 Album"?

[28Plain]

What? Will there be extra quarters for Iraq and Guantánamo? Seriously, the D.C. quarter makes a lot of sense - but the others, well, I don't know. Will be interesting to see the design proposals though. And yes, of course I gotta get them too ...

 

Christian

 

I can't agree that a state quarter for the Den of Criminals makes any sense whatsoever. DC is not a state and was never intended to be one. Those asinine license plates of theirs which read" taxation without representation" are the silliest thing I'd ever heard of until this imbecilic decision to issue a state quarter for the most crime ridden city in the US. In fact, the residents of DC are the only people in the US whose interests are directly addressed by the thieves who pretend to represent the rest of us. If they have a complaint, that is it and they should state it as such, rather than whining that they have no representation. Anyone who doesn't want to live where they have no congressman or senators ruling them can simply move 5 miles in any direction and live in a state, but few would be willing to give up their exclusive welfare privileges in order to do so.

 

 

DC was established as a state neutral area for federal government to meet. Under the US Constitution, states hold sovereign control over everything within their boundaries, therefore there was a need for a small piece of federally controlled terrritory for the seat of the federal government. To vest in that city the powers of a state would be a grave mistake.

 

The best image for a DC quarter would be a scene depicting a heroin dealing street corner watched over by the loving gaze of Congress and the crack and welfare addicted politicians who keep the city in a constant state of advancing decay.

 

What a cruel joke this is on the rest of the country.

[Scottishmoney]

The best image for a DC quarter would be a scene depicting a heroin dealing street corner watched over by the loving gaze of Congress and the crack and welfare addicted politicians who keep the city in a constant state of advancing decay.

 

How about a cocaine snorting Mayor?

[Kristofer]

Yeah, D.C. has always been kind of an anamoly. I would never move their because I prefer not having conflict, and having an identity is nice too. You wouldn't think that could happen in America.

[willieboyd2]

The state quarters have been a big moneymaker for the mints and treasury.

Why not let the territories get theirs also?

[Kristofer]

I think it's great that they're recognizing the territories. DC has gone through heck just trying to get the basic rights that states have, including voting which they got on the 23rd amendment, but they can't have more votes than the least populous state.