• Gov. Jeb Bush asked Wednesday for Mayor John Peyton’s recommendation concerning Mike Weinstein’s possible appointment to Florida Community College at Jacksonville’s District Board of Trustees.
• Big Easy Cajun isn’t the only restaurant missing from the Landing’s food court this week. The Chinese Combo King closed this week. No word on the reason for the closures.
• Robert Humphries, the man behind Japanese restaurant Ieyasu, plans to submit all of the permits needed to start construction on his space in the W.A. Knight Building next week. If all goes according to plan, Ieyasu will open by late spring. The lunch menu is done and, to put the finishing touches on the dinner menu, Humphries will fly to Japan for a week to get ideas.
• LB Jax Development managing partner Mike Langton met with an executive from a national hotel chain Thursday for a tour of the old Barnett Bank Building. As part of the project, Langton wants to open a boutique hotel once the building has been renovated. No word on which hotel chain the executive was from, but LB Jax associates say he was “very excited about being a part of the project.”
• Responding to complaints from Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra patrons, Downtown Vision, Inc. executive director Terry Lorince has asked the City to adjust the traffic light at Water Street’s intersection with Broad and Jefferson streets. Apparently a short green light is allowing only two to three cars through, backing up traffic in the Water Street garage following T-U Center events.
• The Super Bowl Host Committee is keeping an eye on Houston’s last–minute scramble to prepare for the 2004 Super Bowl. According to an article sent from Committee president Michael Kelly to Mayor Peyton, Houston is behind on hotel and transportation construction and still needs to plant 21,000 trees along major highways prior to the January game.
• The mayor’s office received 600 tickets to this year’s Florida/Georgia game. Spokesperson Heather Murphy said 150 tickets went to the JEDC’s sports and entertainment division and the rest were distributed to City employees and the mayor’s guests.
• LaShanda R. Dawkins, formerly of the Duval County School Board, has been appointed assistant general counsel in the General Counsel’s Office. She’ll work in the General Litigation Department.
• Closed: the Hardee’s in Five Points.
• The Landing will play host to a military homecoming Sunday. The Marine Corps 4th Assault Amphibian Battalion, Bravo Company will return from Iraqi combat duty at 12:30 p.m.The reserve company, which trains in Jacksonville, took no casualties during a near-9-month deployment.