Via WJXT's Twitter...
QuoteTHIS JUST IN: Former #Jacksonville Mayor Hans Tanzler has passed away at the age of 86.
He was the mayor from 1967 to 1979.
8:53 AM - 25 Jul 13
Unforgettable... 8)
(http://jaxhistory.com/tanzler-1968-a.JPG)
Hanz was before my time, but I do remember hearing about him quite often while growing up. The image you posted really is unforgettable! May he rest in peace.
He was before my time as well but always seemed like an interesting guy.
And the best part of that picture might be the old guy in the bottom left getting an eyeful.
One of the greatest mayors in the city's history. Hans was responsible for completely gutting the buried utilities downtown and laying in modern systems for a great city. He was of course, the mayor during consolidation and a warmer soul has never occupied that seat. Tanzler was a devout Christian and a former athlete he was a walk-on for the 1946-47 Florida Gators men's basketball team, and averaged nearly 11 points per game. He became a stand-out player, scoring in double figures all four years, and was named third-team All-SEC in his senior year, when he became the first Florida basketball player to pass 1,000 points in his college career.
And speaking to the man below the sign, if you ever stood next to Hans, you'd feel like he DID NOT NEED A LADDER TO SEE OVER THE TOP!
Tanzler agreed to run for mayor of the consolidated city, after having just won as mayor of the unconsolidated city. His willingness to do that, and his endorsement of consolidation was very important to it's passage. Being Mayor during the period in which consolidation occurred had to be very difficult too. The city owes him a great deal.
Something of significance should be named in his honor.
QuoteRick Mullaney, founding director of the Jacksonville University Public Policy Institute, former Jacksonville mayoral candidate, former chief of staff to John Delaney 1995-96 and former general counsel for the city who represented consolidated government between 1997-2010, offered the following statement regarding the passing of former Jacksonville Mayor Hans Tanzler:
"Hans Tanzler made an enormous contribution to the city of Jacksonville and is one of the great unsung heroes of consolidation. He was a true statesman. Jacksonville would not have consolidated government today if Hans Tanzler had been opposed to it."
Mullaney is available for further context and comment, at cell (904) 955-1857.
Phillip J. Milano
Director of News and Publications
Jacksonville University
pmilano@ju.edu
904-256-7042
This is very sad. He was one of Jacksonville's best and leaves a long and positive legacy behind him.
Of all the great things Hans Tanzler did for the City of Jacksonville, he is ALWAYS portrayed in that ridiculous photo. Can't we see something that is more representative of the man and his accomplishments. Come on, MJ, he deserves much better!! :-[
Hans ran for Governor in 1978. He had to resign to run. City Council President Jake Godbold became Mayor. Hans finished third just behind Robert Shevin and Bob Graham. Graham then defeated Shevin in the runoff and Jack Eckard in the General Election.
Graham pollster Pat Cadell said, "If the campaign had lasted two more weeks or he had $250 K more for TV, Tanzler would be Governor."
Hans Tanzler was a great man and he did much for Jacksonville. He was a Christian in the true sense of the word. He was warm and friendly to everyone. He was in politics not for glory or for power, but to do what is best. Do not mourn his passing, rejoice in the life he lived. The world is a better place because of his life well lived.
Jax could certainly use another Hans Tanzler these days.
(http://i196.photobucket.com/albums/aa111/Ocklawaha/CRITICAL%20Cartoons%20and%20Fun%20Stuff/JACKSONVILLE-TANZLER-3_zpsc4432cc3.jpg)
(http://i196.photobucket.com/albums/aa111/Ocklawaha/CRITICAL%20Cartoons%20and%20Fun%20Stuff/JACKSONVILLE-TANZLER-1_zps1901a950.jpg)
For a year or so the long electronic sign on the Peninsular Insurance Company (located just north of the Fuller Warren Bridge near Fidelity) had this message, readable as you crossed on I-95. "If you look down, you will see, walking on water is no miracle in Jacksonville." The river was so dirty that like Lake Erie of that era, it could catch on fire. It was so fully of "sludge muffins" that one could have just about walked across... SQUISH, SQUISH, SQUISH. I can remember as kids, we'd often see USO's floating by in Ortega, and when we went in the water anyway, we came out smelling like a foul toilet.
TANZLER was the man, he is the one that took the proverbial bull by the horns and used a bully pulpit not to ask, but to TELL every treatment plant, every mill, every ANYTHING in the city how it was going to be. He is credited with saving the St. Johns from a silted, sludge filled, horrible scented, death. He celebrated the achievement by water skiing downtown, and launching fishing tournaments.
Another huge achievement was Tanzlers push to create a city/county wide rescue service. A service that started with FIRE STATION 5 in Brooklyn. JACKSONVILLE WAS THE FIRST MAJOR CITY IN THE NATION TO HAVE SUCH A SERVICE.
(http://i196.photobucket.com/albums/aa111/Ocklawaha/CRITICAL%20Cartoons%20and%20Fun%20Stuff/JACKSONVILLE-TANZLER-2_zpsf162aa67.jpg)
(http://i196.photobucket.com/albums/aa111/Ocklawaha/CRITICAL%20Cartoons%20and%20Fun%20Stuff/JACKSONVILLE_Station_5_FLF_zps88e482c8.jpg)
(http://i196.photobucket.com/albums/aa111/Ocklawaha/CRITICAL%20Cartoons%20and%20Fun%20Stuff/JACKSONVILLE-FireStation5-1962_zpsa8204ef3.jpg)
(http://i196.photobucket.com/albums/aa111/Ocklawaha/CRITICAL%20Cartoons%20and%20Fun%20Stuff/JACKSONVILLE-RESCUE_zpsf9a77f70.jpg)
QuoteFor years ambulance service in Jacksonville had been provided by the operators of funeral homes who sometimes used hearses to pick up those injured in traffic accidents.
When there were several people injured in the same incident, it was not uncommon for the different funeral home ambulance drivers to fight over getting the more severely injured person to transport, figuring they'd have the edge to get the funeral business if the person died.
Although the move to develop an emergency rescue service within the fire department had been brewing for several years, the funeral home operators told the city fathers in February 1967 they could no longer provide the service, saying they had failed to get paid. The fire department immediately set about trying to rent emergency vehicles to fill the gap.
The late James A. Dowling Jr., who retired as the city's rescue chief at the end of 1978, had tried since the end of World War II to get more people trained in first aid.
As a paratrooper, Dowling had seen friends die during the war in Europe because of a lack of adequate first aid. When he returned to his job as a Jacksonville firefighter, which he'd begun in 1937, he also became the volunteer director of first aid for the American Red Cross here and over the next 39 years taught first aid and CPR to thousands of people.
Dowling, who was considered by many to be the father of Jacksonville's rescue system, set about getting firefighters trained to respond to medical emergencies.
Changing times
That training is still a hallmark of the rescue division, Moreland said.
"The changing patterns in emergency medicine are so dynamic," he said, "that training and education are constants in our business."
Soon after the rescue division was formed, officials from hundreds of cities across the country and the world came here to study how it operates.
And they are still coming, Moreland said.
"Now they want to see how we have laptops in all the rescue units so our paramedics can do reports on the way to the hospital," said Moreland, who also is chairman of the data committee for the Florida Emergency Medical Service. "They also want to check out the latest equipment we have on the units."
"It is very humbling to be part of a department with such a distinction," Moreland said. "Medicine is always changing, and our challenge is to keep up."
jessie-lynne.kerr@jacksonville.com, (904) 359-4374
The early days of Jacksonville's rescue service
1962 - Assistant Fire Chief James Dowling Jr. started the movement to end the practice of funeral homes using hearses to provide ambulance service to the city.
Feb. 15, 1967 - The Jacksonville Fire Department began providing temporary emergency ambulance service with station wagons when private operators quit the service.
Nov. 9, 1967 - City Councilman Jake Godbold strongly recommends to Mayor Hans Tanzler that the city ambulance service be placed with the Jacksonville Fire Department.
November 1967 - Tanzler does so and the rescue division began with six station wagons, each staffed by a chief and two firefighters.
March 22, 1968 - Tanzler and Fire Chief W.A. Jackson take possession of Rescue 1, the city's first modular rescue unit that cost $9,000 and was equipped with the latest in emergency medical equipment. Five more are soon delivered and placed into service.
September 1970 - A team of firefighters from Jacksonville wins the world championship trophy at the International Emergency Rescue Competition in Atlantic City, N.J., besting 43 teams from across the world.
1971 - The Florida Legislature lauds Jacksonville's rescue service as a model for the state.
1972 - Jacksonville receives a grant of $3.1 million to develop an emergency medical care network in seven surrounding counties.
1973 - The Legislature passed the state Emergency Medical Services Act based on Jacksonville's system that required all ambulance services to be licensed and set standards for equipment and training.
SOURCE: TIMES-UNION http://jacksonville.com/tu-online/stories/111907/met_218774869.shtml