Lessons for Lenny Curry from “A Quiet Revolution”

Recently, I had the pleasure of re-reading “A Quiet Revolution” by former Jacksonville Times-Union writer Richard Martin. Published soon after Consolidation in the late 1960s, the book documents how the pro-Consolidation forces overcame their opponents, most of them entrenched in one of two governmental structures: the city of Jacksonville’s city government, or Duval County’s then separate government.

The case for Consolidation was made, as Martin’s recounting makes clear, by the Consolidation forces managing to overcome the staunch opposition to consolidated government. They were helped along by supportive local media, as Martin makes clear, but many of the best retail politicians were on the other side.

Nonetheless, Consolidation carried, and part of the reason was because proponents were able to overcome strong arguments toward regional self-interest from opponents. There was opposition in the urban core areas because locals determined that a consolidated government would dilute their political power. At the Beaches folks fretted that Consolidation would remove their local governments.

Compromises carried the day. Minority-access City Council districts in the former case, and retaining local governments in the latter, creating interlocal agreements with those communities that are still a source of contention on issues running the gamut.

As a candidate, Lenny Curry made the sale to both of these disparate constituencies. He spent time in the Northwest Quadrant, addressing issues ranging from public safety to dilapidated infrastructure, which served to undermine the Alvin Brown vote total to some degree. He routed Brown at the Beaches, a process helped along by the former mayor’s poor performance at the Beaches Forum debate, where he had very little to point to as evidence of his commitment to the beach communities from the preceding four years.

The conventional wisdom is that Curry will be hard to beat in 2019. His political operatives are not in City Hall, but they are not too far away either, and they are quick to countermessage when needed. Compared with previous mayors, Curry is conscious of the reality of the perpetual campaign. A mistake Brown made was that he functioned as if he was going to run against Mike Hogan again. Curry won’t make the mistake of underestimating his competition.

Re-election, of course, isn’t Curry’s ultimate goal. He’s made his priorities clear. Public safety. Uplift for at-risk youth, via Jacksonville Journey initiatives and other dedications of resources. Infrastructural renewal. If these promises are kept, especially in the urban core, the Northside, and Northwest Jacksonville, Curry will have gone a long way toward fulfilling the promises that helped sell Consolidation in those areas a half century ago.

In a vacuum, there would be money for all of those projects. In reality, the financing has to be worked out, given the twin pressures of unfunded pension liabilities and of Jacksonville’s dredging project. With the global economy showing signs of slowdown, time is of the essence. As is lobbying Tallahassee and D.C. for help.

Last week, Curry made a point that boiled down to great cities make billion-dollar deals. Jacksonville’s identity crisis for decades now has been the aspiration to being a “great city,” yet not quite measuring up to Orlando, Miami, Atlanta, and the Tampa/St. Petersburg area.

Curry made his bet during the campaign on aggressive growth being the ticket to moving Jacksonville to that level. His “unprecedented” moves to remove those from boards and commissions whose visions don’t accord with his own fit into that framework. People have pointed to the reality of his contributors and supporters being appointed to take their place. What would the alternative be? To appoint people who might stand in the way of his agenda.

In six or seven years, Jacksonville residents will have a good idea of what Curry’s legacy will end up being. The implicit bet that seems to have been made has been an embracing of the consolidated government vision, with a concomitant push to renew Jacksonville’s position as a driver for Northeast Florida development.

Ultimately, it is all about efficiency.

The bet that has been made is that the model will prevail. Fifty years ago, Jacksonville’s consolidated city/county government was lauded as the future, as revolutionary. No one looking at Jacksonville’s government in 2015 says much about revolution. In 2023, if Curry has succeeded, that concept may recur again though. Stay tuned.