The rise of Margaret Hance

(Michael Ging photo)

When Margaret Hance was elected mayor of Phoenix in November 1975, she was not, as is often claimed, the first woman to lead a major city. That marker goes to Bertha Knight Landes, elected mayor of Seattle in 1926. Patience Latting was elected mayor or Oklahoma City in 1971. Hance was third.

Hance's tenure was far more consequential, as we shall see. Still, she and Landes are twined in dissonances.

Landes, who ran advocating "municipal housecleaning," has been "honored" by Seattle naming its misbegotten tunnel boring machine after her. Hance is memorialized by a park in the heart of the city, a place she did little to help and much to harm.

Margaret Taylor Hance was almost a native, being brought from Iowa to Mesa at age three, in 1926. Her father went to work for Valley Bank, where became an executive vice president. Despite the onset of the Depression, the family moved to what is now Willo. (I am told they lived in the same house on Cypress Street in the 1930s where I grew up in the 1960s. In the '30s, unlike the '60s, it was a high-end neighborhood on the streetcar.)

Although she attended the University of Arizona, she transferred to the elite Scripps College in Claremont, Calif., from whence she graduated. In 1945, she married Robert Hance, who had trained as an Army Air Forces pilot in the Valley during World War II. Her brother, Glen Taylor, went on to become news editor at the Phoenix Gazette, retiring as assistant managing editor in 1983.

She settled into the comfortable and predictable life of an upper-middle-class Republican Phoenix woman. Robert went to work for Valley National Insurance and rose. The couple had three children. Margaret — known as Marge or Margie — volunteered for numerous organizations and joined the Junior League.

The 1950s and 1960s were go-go years for Phoenix, with little time for reflection about the city's direction or choices. In these years, growth seemed to pay for itself, a perpetual motion machine, and Phoenix was a city of the future. And all this happened under the benevolent leadership of the Charter Government Committee, whose slate of businessmen and civic leaders had won every city election since 1948.

The reality wasn't that clean, of course, not by a long shot. But this sunny-side-up view would have been the Phoenix "reality" shared by Hance and her circle. By the mid-1960s, she was appointed to the city parks board.

Here, she would do her most consequential work,  becoming chairman and spearheading the creation of the Phoenix Mountain Preserve. It was a mammoth undertaking, dealing with hundreds of property owners, developers, new state legislation, working the city's stewards for donations and even navigating claims under the near-holy Mining Act of 1872.

Hance had highly effective help from Dottie Gilbert and her grassroots Phoenix Mountains Preservation Council.

She also quietly set aside her conservative Republican ideology to ensure Phoenix took funds from the Nixon administration to help pay for the land.

In this endeavor, she earned the deal-making and policy chops that would later serve her as mayor. She was also a steady pragmatist, knowing that an emotional appeal for preservation alone would not achieve results in Phoenix.

Her parks work made her an ideal City Council candidate for Charter, which was predicated on at least the appearance of selfless public service, not politicians. Widowed in 1970 at the age of 47, she was also looking for a new challenge. Hance was elected in 1971 (along with Calvin Goode, Charter's second African-American candidate).

Hance is generally credited with killing Charter in 1975 when she ran independently for mayor, without CGC's endorsement, and won handily. In truth, she had plenty of help. In the late 1960s, Milton Graham broke Charter's unwritten rule when he ran for a third and then fourth term for mayor. CGC disowned his fourth run and he lost but the ethic of public service over career politics was shattered. Also, Charter was tired and the city had outgrown it.

Crime was relatively high in the city and Hance made law-and-order a priority in her mayoral run (she was in office only a few months when Arizona Republic investigative reporter Don Bolles was killed by a car bomb). She also pledged to keep taxes low, a typical bromide.

Phoenix was in second gear as a result of the 1974 recession, which arrived late and lingered. Downtown was in bad shape, although it still had a sizable number of small shops and a few larger retailers. Council was more divided than any time since the 1940s.

In those days, the mayor was elected every two years and was much weaker than the office today. Still, Hance used the skills she had learned on the parks board to lead the city, working closely with the (still in existence) business elite. Although titans such as Walter Bimson and Eugene Pulliam had retired or died, Phoenix retained real headquarters and engaged CEOs. But, tellingly, Charlie Keating arrived in Phoenix in 1976. The times were changing.

As the economy recovered, Hance easily got behind the growth machine. Hance's leadership looked a lot like Charter's "businessmen's government" — only without Charter. Taking plenty of funds from Washington allowed her to maintain her low-tax pledge (this did not keep her from inveighing against "the evils of federal money"). As with so many Arizona politicians, needed infrastructure was postponed indefinitely. Also like CGC, she adamantly opposed district representation.

She was re-elected four times.

No mayor in memory had served so long. On the national and local levels, she was Phoenix and vice versa. Hance was popular and connected. She was also very capable in the sharp-elbows department, usually using surrogates so her fingerprints were not at the scene. Yet she was also a mentor to a number of young comers, including Margaret Mullen, Marty Shultz, and Jon Kyl.

She had her hair "done" daily and enjoyed a stiff drink early. The mayor's police detail originated with an officer being ordered to drive Her Honor so she wouldn't get in a boozy wreck, as happened twice with Gov. Jack Williams (a former Phoenix mayor himself).

While Phoenix grew north and west, Hance presided over considerable damage downtown and in the central core. Jane Jacobs' teachings were far from her skillset. Instead, she led the continued destruction of the Deuce by expanding the brutalist Phoenix Civic Center and building the sunblasted, dehumanized Patriot's Square.

In both cases, this required the bulldozing of many irreplaceable historic buildings, the bones of a walkable city with a new shop's door every few paces, the fine-grained human scale. On Hance's watch as a council member, the priceless Fox Theater was demolished to make room for a city bus terminal that looked as if it had been rejected by Maryvale's architects. "The Mother of the Mountain Preserve" did not raise a peep of protest. Further teardowns began in the capitol district and the template was set: tear down old buildings in the core.

Thanks to Civic Plaza, the hardcore male vagrant population scattered into nearby areas, from the old central business district to the lawns of what are now the Midtown historic districts. The beautiful grass and trees surrounding the old Carnegie Library became "hypodermic park," a haven for addicts and crime. A downtown business owner told me that one hobo would camp out daily in front of his shop and defecate on the sidewalk. Repeated calls to the police and then the mayor's office brought no help.

Hance also signed on to the inner loop of the Papago Freeway. This resulted in the loss of 3,000 houses, many of them historic. Although the final freeway didn't contain the 100-foot leap across the city and the "helicoils," it nearly destroyed what are now the Roosevelt and F.Q. Story historic districts.

Time has shown that the inner loop was not necessary, indeed a great mistake. Interstate 10 could have connected with the Maricopa Freeway at Durango and done far less damage. This view was expressed at the time, but brushed away. Meanwhile, Hance proceeded with widening every major street that funds allowed. This helped down many shade trees and turn Phoenix into the raceway it is today. While the bus system had improved from the late 1960s — again, thanks to federal funds — it was inferior to the city's needs. Sunday service was eliminated.

She was little more interested in south Phoenix than her predecessors, and the city's dirtiest and most dangerous polluting industries continued to be segregated south of the tracks and especially directly north and south of the Salt River.

In Hance's defense, she was a woman of her time, when center cities seemed outmoded and everything must be built around the car. Midtown was still prosperous and the supersuburbs looking to kill Phoenix were not yet in place. With Burton Barr and Alfredo Gutierrez running the Legislature, the city's interests were well served.

In her bubble, Phoenix was still the city of the future — no vision was needed and she didn't supply one. She was also one vote on Council in a council-manager form of government whose technocrats were adamantly anti-downtown, anti-transit, and pro sprawl.

Still, she showed no shyness in leading where she cared, and usually in favor of the developer elite. The "urban village" plan was less about planning than trying to put eyewash on the disjointed mess Phoenix had become. If she showed any fond memory of her girlhood in the enchanted area around Cypress Street, with its authentic real neighborhoods and wise civic design, it didn't show in her governing.

Hance's Charter 2.0 approach was her undoing when a young activist named Terry Goddard saw through the creation of district representation on Council, as opposed to the old at-large system. She died at 66 from cancer in 1990, leaving a legacy that is both inspiring and tarnished.

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My book, A Brief History of Phoenix, is available to buy or order at your local independent bookstore, or from Amazon.

Read more Phoenix history in Rogue's Phoenix and Arizona history archive.

 

 

Comments

[soleri]

Hance was a natural politician who loved the meet-and-greet aspects of the job. And that job was to grow Phoenix from a medium-sized city to a great one. She failed because that was an impossible task. Still, she was a sane Republican in a state that is now insane with ideological certitude. I almost miss her.

Phoenix will lurch on, the donut hole in a metroplex too unwieldy to shape, steer, or manage. Ideology here is, inadvertently, a concession to reality. You can't do anything with this monster so let it devour what remains of the natural world and stay snug in your north Scottsdale enclaves.

Once the business elite abandoned their north-central Phoenix estates and their downtown offices, they no longer had much civic purpose aside from daubing lipstick to the pig of sprawl. But when Hance was mayor, downtown still ruled. The major banks were headquartered there, along with the states most important newspaper. After Charter Government crashed, the Phoenix 40 picked up the torch. They wanted things to run smoothly, just like Hance. Get the cars downtown as smoothly and quickly as possible. Wrap a freeway around it, turn the major arterial roads into virtual freeways, and let destiny do what it does best.

Sic transit gloria.

Phoenix failed its rendezvous with destiny because a city requires more purpose than being alluring to Midwestern burghers escaping cold winters and black people. But when Hance was mayor, it still had major economic players other than real-estate interests. Granted, the power elite was blind to the dangers of overzoning for high rises and tearing down the city's architectural heritage. The Big Bright Tomorrow was our civic religion then. Naysayers were hippies and losers.

Hance played the game, and maybe even contributed a few ideas to the play itself, but the game had been decided before she ever became mayor. The Moreland Corridor was razed in the 1960s for 1-10, 25 years before the freeway finally arrived. Terry Goddard could ameliorate the worst of its brutalizing effects but he couldn't change the outcome itself. Phoenix had been a nice small city and would soon become a not-so-nice big one.

I used to tell people with evangelizing fervor not to call the green space over 1-10 Hance Park. Call it by its original name Deck Park if only to valorize the few resisters who fought for a real downtown instead of the sterile one the business elite bequeathed us. But that battle is so long over than no one really cares or knows what's buried in the rubble. I'll whisper this possibility, however: Phoenix's soul.

[Dan Hunting]

I don't think the Moreland Corridor was razed, at least not in entirety, in the 60s. I remember going through the aerial photos in the Arizona Room at the library, and I think most of the demolition took place in the early 70s. Not sure if it was before or after Hance was elected.

In any case, to this day, longtime residents of the Story neighborhood refuse to call it Hance Park. It's the Deck Park.

[Rogue Columnist]

Moreland Parkway, the finest example of the City Beautiful Movement, was still intact in the 1960s. Like its twin, the Portland Parkway, which remains kind of, it was lined with middle-class apartments. But it was the shadier and more inviting of the two. It was lost in the 1970s under Hance's inattention and desire for the freeway.

[soleri]

My memory is not perfect and I didn't live in that part of town, so I should probably hedge my blanket statement to "partly cleared" and leave it at that. In looking for a citation, I did come across this link with depictions of the bullet we dodged back in 1973: https://www.arizonaroads.com/urban/papago.html

[Edward Jensen]

As part of the ongoing efforts to renew Hance Deck Park, I do think a name change is in order. Some powers that be are adamant the name remain the same but it is historically ironic that a central-city park -- perhaps set to be urbanism in Phoenix's greatest asset, is named after a suburban-centric mayor. I propose the name Theodore Roosevelt Park, after the neighborhood and the President who did much for a pre-statehood Arizona.

https://www.edwardjensen.net/downtown-phoenix/rethinking-hance-park-i-name/4237

[Ruben Perez]

If Hance intended to do good, but did bad.

If Drinkwater intended to do good, but did bad.

If the Glendale council intended to do bad and did worse.

Then what the hell? Are these ships of state rudderless .

Is only this small minority on this blog upset with the outcome, while the vast majority could care less.

As an example, while the city of Glendale buried its citizens in mountains of debt .............silence.

Now the council threatens to miss one payment to the Yotes, and there are FIVE recall petitions in progress.

Like I said, what the hell?

[ed dravo]

The single biggest cause for Phoenix's decline and the one that could have been have prevented given hindsight was what happened to banking. Prior to the late 70s banking in Arizona was intrastate. This meant deposits must be kept in the state the depositor lived in and guaranteed each state had its own banking network. Arizona had four or five major banks and that many second tier banks. Supplementing the banks were the S&Ls that specialized in mortgages and AZ had its fair share of those. These were all headquarters companies with their main office in Phoenix close to the state capital. The executives lived in Phoenix and supported its growth and quality of life issues. The banks invested in local businesses and provided revenue opportunities for legal, financial and marketing firms.

In the late 70s the Arizona Legislature passed legislation enabling interstate banking The advocates argued that interstate banking would bring more capital to the state as well as increased services and lower fees to the public.

The actual outcome could easily have been foreseen. Earlier in the 70s, Congress had stricken laws which supported 'fair trade' agreements. These agreements required retailers to stick to the manufacturer's suggested retail price. This ensured local retailers wouldn't be undercut by outside retailers looking to muscle in by strangling the local competition. After 'fair trade' was repealed, locally owned retailers went from economic engines to museum pieces.

With the advent of interstate banking the banks emulated the retailers. By 1992 when Valley Bank was sold, there were no more major banks headquartered in Phoenix or the rest of the state.

From the 90s on the slide of Phoenix into urban irrelevancy has been non stop.

[Colleen]

Ruben, there was not silence about the mountains of debt Glendale incurred, far from it. I had a conversation with Elaine Scruggs about it that was very telling. She was completely against the stadium, but felt utterly railroaded into it. Her distress was palpable. This conversation took place before it was built, and I approached her as a curious student of government not as constituent with an ax to grind, so I see no reason for her to have spun me. I asked her about the stadium and her response was about the debt it would involve. I seriously doubt that I was the only person she, and the people who shared her view, talked to about it. Sometimes, as Rouge can attest, even the bigger voices of the polity do not make it past our long fingered corporate booster censorship.

I am really curious… What did your mother think of Margaret Hance, Rouge?

[Cal Lash]

Margaret, ah yes, — by chance I did dance the political two step with Hance.

First I would say that Hance surrounded herself with some very competent people. Possibly a sign of a strong leader. Her best pick I think was Margret Mullen, whom I believe came back from a good job in D.C. to be of great organizing and pushing forward, benefit. Kyl was an interesting conservative choice that I had little knowledge of at the time. Martin “Marty” Schultz was an excellent pick as he was just beginning his climb from school teacher to PR specialist for the big boys in town.

Couldn’t go wrong with Marty’s contacts with the ADL president Abraham Foxman, soon to retire from a long reign. And of course I am sure Marty knew a few JDL folks also. I can’t recall if he got to meet Moshe Dayan at the Biltmore when the Israeli leader was in town, but I did. And he had his eye patch on. Marty was also one of those sane folks, like Burton Barr, that we have lost in today’s political Arizona.

Not mentioned in the column are two other aides Hance had that were good choices. Geoffery Gonsher that went onto become head of the Lottery. Gonsher was a meticulous and loyal servant who enjoyed a good game of whiffle ball. The other aide I can’t recall but I do remember standing in front of the Mexican American legion post 41 with Margret and that aide, and listening to her explain to him “tell Ruben (Ortega), he will become Police Chief, but he must be patient.”

I got to know Hance when I was president of the police union. My contact with her was Marty. As Union president I became the first president to be assigned a full-time Union office within the police administration. I recall after a wages and hours meeting on the ninth floor of the old city hall, that Margaret pulled me aside after the meeting and said in no uncertain terms, “Cal, Jack cannot come back to anymore meetings.” Jack was my wages and hours chairman.

One day my phone rang and I was instructed by Chief Larry Wetzel to drive Margaret home after she was done at the Mayor’s office duties for the day. This arrangement lasted until one day Shultz called me to city hall and was waiting for me on the ground floor. He ushered me into the elevator and prevented others from entering. On the way to the ninth floor he said Hance wanted the union's support for the next election. I told him “NO”. The door opened, Marty got out, and the elevator returned me to the ground floor. I was soon informed that I would not be driving the Mayor anymore.

I don’t recall who immediately took over that duty but soon Officer Bob Fellens became the Mayor's driver for Hance and later Goddard. Today the Mayor has an entire squad to serve him or her and sometimes the Police Bike detail will ride with a mayor (on a bike) from home to office and back on their bicycles.

Regarding One Eyed Jack Williams, I used to spend some time in the steam at the YMCA with him and Olympian Jesse Owens and others including judges, defense and prosecuting attorneys and some white collar criminal types.

I do not find Hance’s reign as positive but then I think a Phoenix Population of 100,000 is enough. The freeway through town was a dastardly deed. And I am not in favor of naming much of anything after people, particularly Parks. Call it the “Oasis Park” and try and update it to fit that description.

[Rogue Columnist]

Great stuff, Cal. Thank you!

[cal Lash]

Ur welcome. and a note. my wages and hours person was John not Jack. Jack was a guy I was on the road with.

[Dawgzy]

I had heard that Pat Manion provided a lot of continuity as assistant (?) mayor from administration to administration. He died too young- a good man.

[Cal Lash]

Speaking of the freeway that ruined Phoenix and the continuing ADOT effort to create jobs for their loyal group. And another battle the Indians are sure to lose.
http://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/news/gila-river-indian-community-sues-az-department-of-transportation-over-proposed-highway-extension-7456696

[Ruben Perez]

239 years ago tomorrow Paul Revere was racing through the streets of Boston. Cal pulled him over for speeding. The rest is history.

[cal Lash]

Actually Ruben, the stable hand that saddled Paul's horse for his ride was none other than my 5th removed Grandfather, Abraham Lasch. He was hiding out in Paul's place as he was in 1745 an illegal European immigrant. And the Apache HLS was looking to send him back where he came from.

[cal Lash]

And Ruben as a result of this midguideed patriotism my forensic father's were provide with a small parcel of wooded land with a stream. Eventually one of my uncles built a mill on the stream that became part of the Slave Train out of the South to the North. So that's how the Family Hero Jim Lash came to be.
And if You believe all that, feel free to read the books written by Joseph Lash about Eleanor Roosevelt.

[Ruben Perez]

A Boston witch told your great , great, great, great, great Grandfather, "one day a seed of your loins will live in a place called Apache Junction."

To which you Grandfather said, "does thou shitth me ?"

[cal Lash]

AJSMC

[Hal Jordan]

A friend who was once an old-time Phoenix firefighter, since deceased, once told me that Margaret Hance was driven home by Phoenix PD more than once after being pulled over for drunken driving. These days two out of three pedestrians have cell phone cameras, so the Mayor would be going to jail. But policing back then was slightly different.