• Mayor John Peyton has been in Massachusetts for the last couple of days for a leadership workshop. He’ll be back today so he can attend tonight’s Elton John concert at the Veterans Memorial Arena. And Saturday, he’ll officially open the arena with a ribbon-cutting ceremony.
• Plans for the new art gallery, Tunnelvision, in the downtown tunnel are moving forward. Tunnelvision will participate in the next Downtown Art Walk Dec. 3, and a grand opening reception for the gallery is scheduled for Dec. 12.
• Because of a lack of funding, a Junior Achievement project, City Council Shadow Day, has been canceled. According to Molly Lovett, former coordinator for Junior Achievement, unless another source of funding can be found, the program will remain on permanent hiatus.
• Anthony Perrone is leaving the General Counsel’s Office for private practice. He’s the new general counsel for Team In Focus, an Internet company.
• Back in town: Harmon Wages, who was a football star here and at Gainesville. He’s been in Atlanta and says he’ll move to a condo here where he’ll pursue his hobby of photography and his mission of helping the elderly.
• We now have a new golf course that’s closest to downtown. It’s Blue Cypress, a 9-hole course which opened this week — it’s on University Boulevard a few miles past Jacksonville U. Best news: $20 gets you two trips around the course, including a cart. Real good news: no sand traps. It’s a little closer than either Baymeadows or Hyde Park.
• Betting on football? Good bet might be N.C. State vs. Virginia Tech in the Gator Bowl and yes, that would make our hospitality industry here very happy. Both teams bring a lot of fans.
• What you’ll like at the new arena: it has lots of lobby space. What you’ll really like: the concessions are being handled by Levy Restaurants, the same people who do the stadium’s Bud Zone and Terrace Club.
• Jags radio announcer Brian Sexton is battling laryngitis but says the show will go on when the team plays in New York on Sunday.
• At special observances for National Adoption Day Saturday, adoptions will be finalized at various places around the city. One little girl is going to get a real family as Judge David Gooding presides over one ceremony through Jewish Family and Community Services. Although courts are not normally open on Saturday, exceptions are being made for the special occasion.
• The Auchter Company has been selected to build the Ortega River Club Condominiums. Site work should be complete by the end of November with construction set to start in February. The project should be complete by the end of 2005.