Alternative currency moves onto Route 1 scene

Thursday, Aug. 10, 2006

Click here to enlarge this photo This is a sample of ‘‘Anacostia Hours,” a new currency the Gateway towns and parts of Hyattsville could see in circulation in the near future.

In In Mount Rainier, Brentwood and North Brentwood, and in parts of Hyattsville, it’s no different, but the approach is something very unusual.

Anacostia Hours Inc., of Mount Rainier, proposes money fashioned like the play money in the board game Monopoly, complete with bright colors and bold designs.

‘‘We hope it will kind of bring the community together and keep the money circulating in this area,” group member Betty Scholten said.

Modeled on the Ithaca (New York) Hours alternative currency, the money will be available to all residents who express an interest.

There will be three bills:

* 1 hour equals $10 and will feature Frederick Douglass.

* 1⁄2 hour equals $5 and will feature Rachel Douglas.

* 1⁄4 hour equals $2.50 and will feature a Native American of Anacostia.

The bills are as valid as U.S. dollars and are taxable. They are called ‘‘hours” to remind people about the value of their time and that the people are the source of money’s value.

In that vein, the bills don’t boast the headline, ‘‘In God We Trust,” as American dollars do. Instead they say, ‘‘In Each Other We Trust.”

‘‘By emphasizing trust in each other, we are fostering an essential component required of a successful local currency – community,” Anacostia Hours group member Sandy Smiroldo said. ‘‘We have to trust each other so that we can make a community while making a living.”

Smiroldo said Anacostia Hours will bring face-to-face relationships back to economics and encourage interaction with each other.

‘‘The hours system promotes the circulation of a local currency that will remain in the area and directly enhance the communities through which it circulates,” she said. ‘‘Utilizing Anacostia Hours rather than dollars reinforces community trading and expands commerce that is more accountable to local community concerns.”

Businesses that accept hours won’t be accepting them for 100 percent of goods⁄services rendered. Anacostia Hours, Inc. suggests that each business only accept an amount of Hours close to what it can spend.

There will be some type of bank and only paper bills will be issued, group member Sayuri Miyazaki said. It was her idea that spawned Anacostia hours and she’s happy with what the group has done.

‘‘There are a lot of successful stories (about alternative currency) around the world,” she said, adding that her work began about two years ago.

Ithaca, New York has one of those stories. Designed in 1991 during one of the country’s deepest recessions, the Ithaca program was originally geared to keep commerce local and promote growth from the inside out.

Paul Glover, the currency’s designer, discovered the history of local currency and took a leap of faith for Ithaca.

British industrialist Robert Owen circulated hour notes in 1847, but they were usable only at Owen’s company store. Owen’s work was based on Josiah Warren’s ‘‘Time Store” notes of 1827.

Through conversations with other Ithaca residents Glover’s work began. In Ithaca, over 900 participants now accept hours.

Smiroldo thinks Anacostia Hours can grow to the size of the Ithaca project.

Part of the Anacostia work is loans offered with zero interest. Smirolodo said nothing is solidified for the loans.

‘‘We have a lot of steps to go through, such as monitoring the demand and distribution of hours before we advance to the lending industry,” she said.

Residents interested in using Anacostia Hours can get the rogue greenbacks by offering a service and being registered in the Anacostia Hours directory or being a Friend of Anacostia Hours and purchasing them.

Also, businesses can pay employees in the Hours and accept full or partial payment for goods and services.

The bills will be printed on recycled paper, but measures are being taken to sidestep potential counterfeiting, Smiroldo said.

Using a $1,500 grant from the Gateway Community Development Commission, the Hours group is working with two printers to ensure the quality and integrity of the bills. Each will have special blue ink on its edges. This ink cannot be copied.

Serial numbers will be stamped onto the bills, adding to a more realistic look and feel.

The Anacostia Hours work group plans to hold an information meeting at 7:30 p.m. Aug. 19 at the Nature Center in Mount Rainier, 4701 31st Place, to explain how the alternativecurrency works. Carl Feuer, a labor and community activist who has been involved with Ithaca Hours, will be the featured speaker and will discuss Ithaca’s most successful stories.

For more information, call Anacostia Hours Inc. at 301-927-6216.

E-mail Sarah Nemeth at snemeth@gazette.net.