• A new service is available at the UPS Store on Hogan Street. Owners Terry and Vicki Wilkins installed a blueprint machine at the shop last week. It will scan or print documents up to 36 inches wide and can also convert the document into a digital file that can be copied to a CD. Vicki Wilkins said they invested in the equipment because she was getting requests every day for the service from contractors who were going to the City’s Permitting Office across the street and she was tired of sending them to her competitor around the corner.
• Some things just won’t go away: 140 W. Monroe St. is the Dalton Agency’s new home, but back in the 1960s and early ‘70s it was the address for Downtown’s Morrison’s Cafeteria. A remnant remains at the site to this day in the form of letters that spell “Morrison’s” bleeding through the paint above Dalton’s front door. The section of the building has been painted over more than once, but the reminder of the cafeteria keeps coming back.
• The Emergency Services & Homeless Coalition will host the State Council on Homelessness Quarterly Meeting May 13 at the Omni Hotel. It is an opportunity for state officials to hear from the community about how the state can most effectively partner on issues involving homeless people. The public forum portion of the agenda will begin at 10 a.m. To attend the forum, RSVP to 634-0303, ext. 224.
• After months of meetings, Mayor John Peyton is ready to take his Jacksonville Journey anti-crime committee recommendations to the community...with more meetings. Four “Solution Sessions” have been scheduled from May 15 to June 5 to inform the public and allow feedback concerning the committee’s proposed action steps. For meeting information, visit www.coj.net or call 630-CITY.
• Correction. In a list of local candidates for office, School Board member Tommy Hazouri should have been listed as the incumbent.
• The sun won’t be shining on an upcoming meeting of the City Council. General Counsel Rick Mullaney called a “shade meeting” — one closed to the public — for May 13 to discuss “settlement negotiations, litigation and/or litigation expenditures” regarding a 2007 resolution. The bill authorized OGC to pursue all legal avenues in fighting the tax cuts mandated by the State Legislature and the Jan. 29 tax reform referendum.
• Parking on Adams Street is now allowed any time and anywhere. Tuesday City workers were removing the signs prohibiting parking at the Adams Street meters from 7-9 a.m. and 4-6 p.m. The change was made at the request of the Jacksonville Economic Development Commission as a way to provide additional parking for patrons of the businesses and restaurants on the street.
“Will one of you gentlemen tell me in what civilized country of the earth there are important government boards of control on which private interests are represented? Which of you gentlemen thinks the railroads should select members of the Interstate Commerce Commission?”
– Woodrow Wilson, U.S. president, at a meeting with bankers shortly before he asked Congress to enact legislation creating a Federal Reserve System