A.G. Gancarski
In late 1968, a book that would eventually called A Quiet Revolution was published. The first edition by Richard Martin, “Consolidation: Jacksonville-Duval County,” discussed the early days of consolidation and what led up to it.
In 1993, a substantial update was made, providing the history of the quarter-century since the first book.
From Hans Tanzler climbing the Welcome to Jacksonville sign to Tommy Hazouri getting rid of the tolls, it was all there.
In 2008, a 40th anniversary version emerged.
And for 2018, guess what some power players in Jacksonville want?
Yes, a new edition.
Community stakeholders want the city of Jacksonville and Jax Chamber to underwrite the production of this book, which likely would be distributed to libraries and public officials, and sold in some small batch quantity through the Jacksonville Historical Society.
Two names have been floated for writing the volume. One of them, I can recommend without reservation: namely, Chris Hand, the tireless former chief of staff for the Alvin Brown administration.
Hand, the longest serving chief of staff in at least recent Jacksonville history, would be ideal for this role.
As those who know him know, Hand (like so many in Jacksonville’s political history) transcends the partisan back and forth. He is a policy wonk, as anyone who discussed budget, pension, and so many other city matters with him over the past four years can attest.
He is also a student of history. As someone who has known Hand for a quarter century, I can attest that he has a unique ability to detach himself from the contemporaneous drama of events and document them with facts at the forefront and ephemeral partisan passions firmly fixed in the rearview mirror.
I asked Hand whether it would be a project of interest to him.
Short answer: yes.
“As someone who strongly believes in our consolidated form of local government and thinks it is a model for other communities, I would be honored to help commemorate the soon-to-be-50th anniversary of Jacksonville’s historic consolidation. Jacksonville has a great consolidation story to tell, with a lot of lessons learned over just the last 10 years since the last edition of the book,” Hand said.
Hand, the co-author with former Sen. Bob Graham of America, the Owner’s Manual: Making Government Work for You, understands how government in this city has evolved and understands how to put a book together. There certainly are other strong candidates locally (Matthew Corrigan at University of North Florida comes to mind). Yet the unique value add that Hand brings to the table is his familiarity with the primary sources, the players, and the evolution of historical arguments on matters of local import.
It’s rare that later editions improve on the first. If anyone locally could make that happen, however, it would be Chris Hand.
