• The level of support for City Council vice president hopeful Kevin Hyde continues to rise. According to Hyde, he now has 14 signed pledges and one oral commitment. Elections are scheduled for May.
• Members of the visiting media began checking into the Adam’s Mark Hotel earlier this week. To help provide parking for all the visitors, hotel employees are driving to spaces around Maxwell House and taking the Trolley to work.
• The HIT Center, an athletic training facility on the Southside, has hired The McCormick Agency to do public relations for them.
• The farmers market returns to its regular day — Friday — this week.
• The University of Maryland’s band has been given strict orders to stick to the planned halftime show at Thursday’s Gator Bowl game — mainly, not to pick on opponent West Virginia. The WVU opponent last year, Virginia, in a game at Charlotte, brought their pep band which did a halftime show making fun of West Virginians and their “hillbilly” tradition. It created a big stir that only ended when the University of Virginia president apologized.
• DVI’s new Downtown Guides are in and will be distributed soon. The guide provides information on restaurants, arts and entertainment venues, services and shopping available downtown. It is now being published twice a year instead of annually to keep up with the many changes that are taking place.
• There has been a lot of interest from television stations in West Virginia and Maryland over footage sent to them by the Jacksonville & the Beaches Convention & Visitors Bureau. Nine stations in West Virginia and four in Maryland were sent “beauty shots” of the city to use during their coverage of the Gator Bowl.
• Even before an official mid-January start date, approximately 1,500 volunteers have signed on to work for the Super Bowl Host Committee. Once recruiting efforts are underway, the Host Committee says they would like to have between 8,000 and 10,000 volunteers.
• Appealing to the City’s Waterways Commission at their next meeting: a marina in Ortega that’s butting heads with a condominium development. Both parties say they have the best interest of Jacksonville in mind, and Chair Lynette Self agreed to let both sides tell their story.
• The Chamber’s Cornerstone announced its International Trade Award Winners for 2003. The Ronco Group won for Small Business Exporter; Raven Transport won Trade Service Provider; and Armor Holdings was named International Trader of the Year.
• The Department of Veterans Affairs’ Undersecretary for Memorial Affairs J.W. Nicholson congratulated Mayor John Peyton for the Jacksonville area’s designation as a federal cemetery site. According to a map sent by Nicholson, the area cemetery will serve veterans’ families as far north as Glynn County and as far south as Alachua and Flagler counties.