One-Place Study: Jacksonville, Florida

The Duval County Local Government Study Commission continued its report with its definition of the purpose of government, that is: to meet the needs of the people, with responsiveness and adaptability.  Jacksonville's mayor-council-commission form had been designed around checks and balances, but the system had become unbalanced, and failed to serve that basic purpose of meeting the needs of the citizens.   The commission dissected the basic ills of county government, finding that the county in Florida was basically "an adjunct of the state."  The county had little authority to act independently, and was dependent solely on ad valorem taxes for revenue.  The failure of that arrangement was brought painfully home when the county's high schools were disaccredited for lack of funds for proper operation.   The city had more authority and more sources of revenue.  In addition to ad valorem taxes, there were license fees, cigarette-tax rebates from the state...

 The Duval County Local Government Study Commission saw six needs that would have to be met by any form of government that was to replace the outmoded, cumbersome, and confusing Mayor-Council-Commission form that had not been able to deal with the problems faced by Jacksonville. (Blueprint, 6-7) 1.  A governmental structure that is responsive to all of the area's citizens. 2.  A governmental structure easily understood by the citizenry and that encourages citizen participation in the local government process. 3.  A structure that simplifies citizens' ability to discern where they needed to interact with the government to present their problems and grievances.  Such simplification would make the citizens' votes more meaningful and effective. 4.  Maximum service from government agencies and officials with a minimum taxpayer burden; a streamlined administrative structure that emphasizes economy and efficiency. 5.  A structure better suited, with capabilit...

 Aside from the disaccreditation of the county's high schools, there were several other pressing problems facing Jacksonville and Duval County separately: 2.  A high degree of water and air pollution.  I can testify to this.  I was in Los Angeles with a group, and we were gathered on a hill in Hollywood looking out over the L.A. Basin at the smog.  Some of the members of the group commented on how awful it was.   "Take a sniff," I told them.  That was met with puzzled looks.  I repeated, "Take a sniff.  Smell the air." The group could detect no foul odors. "That's right," I said.  "Where I'm from, not only can you see the pollution in the air, you can smell it."  Then I explained to them that we had several very smelly industries in Jacksonville: Jefferson Smurfit, makers of cardboard boxes; St. Joe Paper Company, the product in the name; a couple other odor-generating companies the names of which I don't remember . . .   There...

 Jacksonville has what is probably the most quirky, offbeat, unique historical landmark around. It is 20 feet tall, holding a very large legbone with one hand.  It has red eyes that light up, short arms, a white belly, and a mouth full of sharp teeth.  It is located at 10150 Beach Boulevard, in front of an unprepossessing strip mall.  The mall used to be the site of a wacky entertainment called Goony Golf.  Goony Golf provided wonderful entertainment in the heyday of the miniature golf course craze.  Mini-golf was big fun; I played a lot of it when I was a kid, and I played some of it at Goony Golf. Goony Golf was the most fun, because there was this huge orange dinosaur, an ersatz Tyrannosaurus Rex, that everyone came to know as Rex.  Rex would lift the bone with his left hand and open a door in which your golf balls would be collected at the end of play.  Rex was a hit, and won the affection of Jacksonville citizens.  When Goony Golf was d...

 It came as no surprise to anyone that the first item in the Duval County Local Government Study Commission's list of specific problems requiring a rethinking of the form of government was the disaccreditation of the county's schools. I was a senior at Alfred I duPont Junior-Senior High School in Duval County in the 1964-1965 school year.  I and my college-bound classmates were anxious over our prospects of being accepted at the college of our choice.  Here's why: 10 November 1964, the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools informed Duval County School Superintendent Ish Brant that, as of 30 November, Duval County's public schools would be stripped of their accreditation on the basis of inadequate financial support for the schools.(Marbut, Daily Record )  This inadequacy resulted from a determined and deliberate assessment of county properties for tax purposes at about 40% of the legally-mandated fair market value.(Walter v. Schuler, 81)  The resulting sho...

 In 1966, problems and needs in Jacksonville had reached critical mass, and something had to be done to find solutions to these necessities.  Crime was high, the schools had been disaccredited, waste and corruption threatened the city and its population.  The Duval County Local Government Study Commission was created in 1966 to study the situation and provide recommendations.  In the letter of transmittal attached to the report, the commission suggested that the solution was to "abolish all existing local governments . . . [and] provide a modern redesigned governmental structure to meet the needs of our entire county."  Such a government would be "based on the traditional separation of powers . . . [with] strong emphasis placed on checks and balances."  The commission also promised delivery of a new city charter "on or before February 1, 1967," and recommended a vote by the electorate on the issue, suggesting the election be held in May of 1967.(Blueprint ...

  Proponents of consolidation in 1933 took to heart the lessons of the failed 1923 effort, and enlisted the aid of the Jacksonville Bar Association in supporting consolidation.  The Bar Association signed on, and appointed a committee to study the idea. The committee reinforced the notion that a constitutional amendment was necessary to allow Jacksonville to consolidate with Duval County.  The committee also supported the contention that consolidation would save money and improve efficiency by eliminating duplication in many areas. (Towers, 67) The Bar Association then wrote the text of a Joint Resolution to be proposed in the state legislature, that the state's constitution be amended to allow Jacksonville and Duval County to become one municipal entity, with proposed wording for such an amendment.  The resolution was passed in May of 1933, and signed by the Governor 25 May, 1933.  Then it was up to the voters of Duval County. The final obstacle, passage of co...

  1968 was not the first time Jacksonville had considered consolidation.   There were two efforts before that year: a proposal in 1923 and another in 1933.  The initial effort to effect a consolidation of the city and county governments was in 1923.  Lack of political effort doomed that move.  Proponents of consolidation failed to realize that they needed to mount a campaign of public education covering the entire state of Florida for the proposal to succeed. (Towers, 64)  A key element in that public education was that an amendment to the state constitution would be necessary for the city and county to consolidate.  People in the other counties in Florida who had no stake in events in Duval County would be hard-pressed to care, and may have been suspicious that "any movement started in one section of the State might spread and eventually include their county." (Towers, 64)  The specter of change often engenders resistance.  Jacksonvill...

Nearly fifty-seven years ago, on 1 October 1968, Jacksonville and Duval County became one, with the implementation of Consolidation of the two governmental entities into one.  I was a student at Florida State University, majoring in government, and the prospect of consolidation of the city and its county had been a hot topic in my class on local government.  I was born in California, but have lived in Jacksonville or nearby since 1954, and I consider it my home town.  I obtained and read a copy of the report of the committee that had been appointed to study the issue and present its pros and cons, and decided that, in my opinion, consolidation would be a good thing.  I wrote a letter to the editor of Jacksonville's morning newspaper, the Florida Times-Union , expressing my support for the proposition.   That got me a nasty phone call from someone who was against the idea.  I was neither intimidated nor swayed.  I was also not impressed when the ca...

About noon, 3 May 1901.   The Cleveland Fiber Company, makers of mattresses using Spanish moss as stuffing, had laid out bundles of moss on outdoor drying racks.  From a humble abode nearby, sparks from a wood-burning cookstove drifted up out of the chimney and landed on the drying moss.  It ignited, and soon a Cleveland company storage shed filled with dried moss caught fire.  Workers made a vain attempt to extinguish the fire, but wind defeated them when the roof of the shed fell in, generating a shower of burning moss and sparks that ignited the wooden roofs of the nearby houses in the low-income neighborhood.  The weather was an ally of the fire, the temperature that day reaching 93 degrees Fahrenheit.  Since March 27, there had been barely one and one-half inches of rain.  The area was considered to be in the grasp of a drought.  Northwest winds drove the flames south and east.  The resulting huge columns of smoke could be seen i...