by Staff
From new restaurants and housing projects to a new arena, baseball stadium and library to some familiar faces and favorite foods, downtown had a little something for everybody in 2001. Here’s our list of the best — and worst — for 2001.
FOOD
Best breakfast
The University Club’s buffet.
Best coffee
Caffe Athena’s mocha. Italia D’Oro in the Bank of America tower is a close second.
Best hamburger
Johnny’s Deli.
Best new lunch spot
Pannini Oh!
Best Cuban sandwich
Ed’s, even though Ed is a Puerto Rican.
Best new restaurant
Bravo Ristorante (below) in the Adam’s Mark Hotel.
Best five-minute lunch
A hot dog and chips from the hot dog lady outside The Landing.
Coldest beer
Locals, the Southbank bar.
Best hors d’oeuvres
Radisson.
Best chicken salad
No. 1, Tidbits. No. 2, Farah’s.
Best fried chicken
Jim’s Fried Chicken.
PEOPLE
Best waitress
Bea at Southern Paradise. Even during the Thursday turkey and dressing rush, she greets with a smile and keeps the food moving.
Best public relations person
Marci Larson, Jacksonville Transportation Authority.
Cleverest p.r. person
Paul Witkowski, Jacksonville Symphony.
Most responsive bureaucrat
Audrey Moran, the mayor’s chief of staff.
Best shoeshine
Pankie Langston at Gus and Co.
Most responsive City Council member
(tie) Jim Overton, Suzanne Jenkins, Matt Carlucci.
PLACES
Best comeback (No. 1)
The Vestcor deal to renovate the Lynch Building and the Roosevelt Hotel. A cantankerous Irish owner had the deal going from the broiler to the ice box several times during 2001. Vestcor CEO John Rood made it happen, though, and work began on the Lynch Building just days later.
Best comeback (No. 2)
Jaguars wide receiver Jimmy Smith returns to the field after spending several weeks in the hospital and catches a touchdown pass in his first game.
Biggest mess
The I-95/I-10 area when the southbound lanes of the new Fuller Warren Bridge opened and there was only one access lane. (It isn’t much better now.)
Biggest embarrassment
(No. 1)
The school board tried to hide the fact that the new bus companies hired unqualified drivers.
Biggest embarrassment (No. 2)
An apparent total lack of communication resulted in a new trolley station being demolished because it was on the space to be used for the new arena.
Best place to see a politician
The Seminole Club at lunchtime.
Biggest downtown eyesore
The chained-off lot at the corner of Laura and Adams — overgrown grass, empty oil drums, empty bottles and cans.
Adams Street between Main Street and Laura Street. Featuring haggard relics like the Center Theater and the Roosevelt Hotel, this dilapidated drive of boarded up buildings often reeks of urine and is the epitome of urban decay.
Worst consultant
Jean Jorgenson Consultants, the Maryland firm which was hired to find candidates for the JEDC director’s post vacated by Mike Weinstein. The selection committee rejected all candidates on the first list and asked for another. Those were rejected, too, so they hired a man who was already on the staff.
Worst idea
To ask the Jorgenson firm for a second list.
Best move
Ed’s restaurant from a Bay Street cubbyhole to the big room in the Blackstone Building.
Worst move
FridayFest to Thursday nights.
Best transportation news
No one talked about another Skyway extension all year.
Best-kept secret
Any news from the Jaguars offices.
Worst-kept secret.
Gate’s John Peyton is running for mayor.
Least noticed event
Jacksonville University moved its basketball games from the Coliseum to its campus gym.
OTHER
Disappointment (No. 1)
The Mossfire Grill opts out of a downtown location.
Disappointment (No. 2)
The NAACP’s vendetta against the Adam’s Mark chain, which cost the local hotel lots of business even though it had nothing to do with the dispute and it has more black managers than any hotel around here.
Disappointment (No. 3)
R. Jay Soward. Enough said.
Signs that we’re still a hick town (No. 1)
A T-U columnist still wants the old Fuller Warren Bridge converted into a fishing pier.
Signs that we’re still a hick town (No. 2)
The Jacksonville Suns teamed with a local bail bondsman to bring ice skating bad girl Tonya Harding to town for a promotion at the ballpark. She was signing miniature bats.
Signs that maybe we’re outgrowing our hick town image
Super Bowl, 2005; the Better Jacksonville Plan and The Shipyards project.
Things that seem to have disappeared
• The Downtown Master Plan.
• The Tom Coughlin Fan Club.
• The JTA predictions of retail establishments at trolley and Skyway stations.