How Consolidated Rigging Survived Gunfire On The Mean Streets
In the late 70′s and early 80′s, the mean streets of Jacksonville, Florida were worse than Los Angeles or New York City. Cocaine and killer Colombians ruled Florida like a brutal shadow dictator Stalinist government, enforcing their will on the people.
Not to mention the Miami Vice pastel shirts open with lots of “bling”. Remember the Mr. T starter kits with the gold chains stacked? What was popular back in the day was the gold rope chains with a “Spanish” gold coin found from some ancient ship wreck. Where could a nation go from flower children, bell bottoms and hippie hair?
In the midst of all this social change, a small rigging company was coming into its own. JD Raulerson had a vision in 1967 that he would start his own rigging shop after spending so many years on the cold tough docks at the shipyards. Year after year, JD spent his days on the docks rigging and working on the large ships.
JD had a wife and four children to support, so he knew that the shipyards only offered limited opportunity and he had reached the pinnacle of advancement. And so, JD took the plunge and launched Consolidated Rigging in the face of a mountain of opposition; high inflation, war overseas, and overall turbulent times. He started in his own garage because his old house was two blocks from the docks.
JD did what it took to survive on 11th street. He employed his own family, like many farmers had done over history. His wife Ethel would actually make wire rope slings and when the boys got home from school, they were expected to go to work in the shop.
Back then, life on 11th street was probably the hardest place to grow up in the US. There are rougher places like New York, City, Los Angles, and others. But the Dirty South, especially Florida, was a state in constant change with people moving south and people immigrating from the south. The economy was exploding, the state was growing, and Consolidated Rigging was a part and a child of that growth.
The business grew out of the garage, acquiring locations across the street, down the street and around the corner. And it wasn’t an uncommon occurrence for random gun fire to break out because of the ongoing drug trade. Stray bullets would fly as you went between locations of the shop.
However, under the leadership and vision of JD’s eldest son Bobby along with his youngest brother Ronnie and the rest of the team, Consolidated Rigging has not only survived but conquered those streets. We now do business nationally as well as internationally. We serve the US Navy, Army, Air Force, Marines and Coast Guard. The State of Florida and Georgia Ports Authorities are clients that we serve as well as international shipping companies right on down to the local crane company.
No client is too large or too small. Our operation has grown into one larger facility with smaller branches in Savannah, Ga., Miami, Tampa and Orlando. Although we are still really close to 11th street in location but not in spirit or boundary. And the same spirit that helped our company prosper is still with us today. We are here to solve your lifting problems large or small – just give us a call!
1-800-445-8965
Tags: Ancient Ship, Bell Bottoms, Colombians, Columbians, Consolidated Rigging, Dirty South, Flower Children, Gold Chains, Gold Coin, Gold Rope Chains, Mean Streets, Miami Vice, Rigging Company, Rigging Shop, Ship Wreck, Shipyards, Spanish Gold, Starter Kits, Turbulent Times, Wife Ethel, Wire Rope Slings
