Existing comment:
Limited Home Rule: 1973-present:
Through the tireless, strategic work of Rev. Walter Fauntroy and many others, Congress passed the Home Rule Act of 1973. As the broadest, most comprehensive form of self-government in the city's history, it called for an elected mayor and thirteen-member city council, including a chairman elected at-large, four at-large members, and one council member from each of the city's eight wards. District voters ratified the measure. As a result, Walter Washington was elected as the District's first mayor and Sterling Tucker as the Council's first Chairman in 1973.
In 1995, when many cities were in financial distress, Congress approved a chief financial officer, appointed by the mayor, and a financial control board appointed by the President. Many citizens questioned this abrogation of limited home rule. By 2001, after a series of balanced budgets, local officials regained control of some functions stipulated in the Home Rule Charter. Yet, court-appointed guardians still supervise operations of some city agencies.
As a more recent example of the limits of self-government, in 2008 the Supreme Court overturned a gun ban that was passed shortly after the Home Rule Act. Congress plans to draft a bill that would overturn gun-registration requirements. Even in the period of Home Rule, the fight continues for full voting rights and the right for elected officials to make decisions in the best interests of their constituents.
"... the people of the District will be forced to realize that if somebody gives you your freedom at their pleasure, they can take it away from you at their pleasure."
-- Julius Hobson, 1974
"I am still fighting for full representation in Congress and full budget autonomy, so District residents will enjoy the same rights as all Americans."
-- Mayor Adrian Fenty, 2008
Chronology:
2005:
Governor Shepherd's statue is returned to Wilson Building. Council Chair Linda Cropp, Council members Jim Graham and Jack Evans, Mayor Anthony Williams, and DDOT Director Dan Tanghelini respond to campaign of the Association of the Oldest Inhabitants of the District of Columbia to bring Shepherd home to our seat of government (January 29).
2007:
A plaque honoring the life of Maurice Williams is placed outside the Press Room. A plaque placed earlier was lost during Wilson Building renovation (March 12). |