• The City is looking at local gym rates to decide what to charge at its Cecil Field gymnasium. A Parks and Recreation Department study found that the Cecil gym will offer similar facilities as the YMCA, municipal gyms in Hillsborough County and Orlando and for–profit gyms like Golds and Bailey’s Powerhouse. Monthly fees for the gyms typically ranged from $51 to $59, but Hillsborough offered resident rates for $5.
• The Florida Association of Counties announced its 2004 legislative priorities.The municipal lobbying group said it will ask that counties not be required to fund legal aid programs and said it would argue to keep water resource management oversight local.
• Monday’s Rotary Club meeting was a reunion of sorts for Jacksonville University’s inaugural MBA class. Rotary Governor Ken Smallwood said he owed his graduation to guest speaker Mike Shad’s study group. However, Shad said Smallwood had nothing to worry about. “There was no way they were going to fail anybody from the first class,” he said.
• The Jaguars present their annual community service awards this afternoon. This year’s recipients are player Akin Ayodele, the Florida Department of Children & Families, District 4 and the Muscular Dystrophy Association.
• The new arena got a thumbs up – better make that a big thumbs up – from a former Jacksonville University and National Basketball Association standout, seven–footer Artis Gilmore. Gilmore was in the stands for last week’s UF/UCF game and said both the arena and the Gators were “very impressive.”
• The new president of the Southside Businessmen’s Club is Jim Parrish, an agent with Brown & Brown Insurance.
• Downtown Vision Inc., in partnership with WJCT, is working on a pilot for a downtown television show. The cameras were out last week for shots of the second monthly Art Walk. DVI is talking with hotels about having the show, with an arts and entertainment focus, looped on a station in guests’ rooms. The Adam’s Mark has already agreed. The show will also air on PBS several times a month.
• Tax day will be a happy day for our Tax Collector, Mike Hogan. He’ll be the grandfather of twins on April 15, thanks to daughter Jennifer and her husband, Ryan Jones.
• Plans for the JEA Waterworks Museum off Main Street have fallen through. The original idea was to build the museum on the site where the water plant and labs are standing in south Springfield. Since 9/11, that portion of the project had to be abandoned due to the security risk. JEA then decided that because it was a working plant, they would consolidate some of their other facilities onto the Springfield site. Renovations to the plant were part of the consolidation. The adjacent visitor’s center component is still a feasible plan. It is being recreated from the existing shell of a historic building nearby. Exhibits and artifacts are being supplied for viewing by JEA and the Springfield Preservation & Revitalization Council. JEA officials hope to have the center complete next month.