With yesterday’s announcement by the White House that President Obama’s limousine will be rigged with “Taxation Without Representation” license plates during his second term, D.C. officials are looking forward to Monday’s inauguration.
And today, Mayor Vince Gray and other officials and voting rights advocates showed off the reviewing stand from which local leaders will watch next Monday’s inaugural parade. And the cost of constructing the hastily, but sturdily built structure, made from drywall, plexiglass and wired for heating and electricity (including a pair of flat-screen televisions)? About $342,000, though Gray spokesman Pedro Ribeiro said that sum will eventually be reimbursed by either the federal government or Presidential Inaugural Committee. Ribeiro added that even though the stand will have a short life span, it still needed to meet the Department of Regulatory and Consumer Affairs’ building regulations.
However, the District will absorb the cost of one feature of the shelter that now abuts the front of the John A. Wilson Building: An awning with a pro-statehood protest message that Obama and other dignitaries marching in the parade will roll past.
“A More Perfect Union Must Include Democracy in D.C.,” the sign reads.
“It says to America there is not full democracy,” Gray said at a press conference inside the terraced structure. “There are people who think we are simply part of the federal government.”
Officials said the stand’s occupancy is 151 people, though Gray said that with the mayor’s office and D.C. Council’s guest lists, more than that many will pass through on Inauguration Day. The stand is lighted and heated, and will also contain some light refreshments for guests. Gray, however, said he will deal with Monday’s forecasted cold temperatures as he is slated to walk in the parade.
Aside from the banner hanging out front, Gray and Council Chairman Phil Mendelson said that there won’t be any additional pro-statehood demonstration during the parade. “It’s an opportunity for us to demonstrate the District’s wherewithal,” Gray said.
As for D.C. budget autonomy’s—much less full statehood’s—outlook in Obama’s second term goes, so far the White House has only adopted license plates. Still, Gray, Mendelson and others took comfort in the symbolism, calling the presidential limousine’s new tags a major step on the road to full jurisdictional equality.
“I’m ecstatic,” Mendelson said. “It’s a huge victory. I hope it’s step one.”
James Jones, a spokesman for the pro-statehood group D.C. Vote, called yesterday’s license plate announcement, which was prompted by a petition his organization posted on the White House’s website, one of the biggest advancements for the District’s interests since 1973. “It’s perhaps the strongest presidential statement granted since home rule,” he said.
It took contractors about a month to build the stand, but it will only take a few days to tear it down following Monday’s festivities.
