• Marion Graham, owner of the Lerner building on West Adams Street, said he plans to convert the building for residential use. The ground floor will be reserved for commercial space and tenant parking. The building was recently designated with landmark status.
• Look for Executive Director John Clark to have his contract extended through 2007 at today’s JIA board meeting.
• The executive director of Greenscape of Jacksonville told Mike Weinstein, the mayor’s Super Bowl activity coordinator, the City needs to coordinate its efforts to beautify downtown in preparation for the January 2005 game. “We all share the desire to present Jacksonville as . . . the best place in the country to live and work. We just need organization!” said Anna Dooley in a letter to Weinstein.
• Now that the weather is cooling, the Magnificat Cafe will feature sidewalk tables with umbrellas. “This is something we planned for. We just thought it was too hot for people to sit outside before,” said co-owner Kathy Desclefs.
• Retired Circuit Court Judge Bill Maness hopes his latest book, “I’m Doing the Best I Can,” will be released by the end of the month. His earlier books are “Dear William: The Yeast Is There” and his autobiography, “This Was My Life.”
• The Jacksonville Bar Association and Jax Reads! will hold a panel discussion on the First Amendment and censorship Sept. 27 at Florida Coastal School of Law. The discussion will run from 10:30 a.m. to noon.
• That guest at the Chamber’s trustees meeting last week was Florida Democratic Party Chair Scott Maddox. Mattox, the guest of attorney Wayne Hogan of Brown Terrell Hogan, was in town for a voter registration drive at local colleges. He received a nice round of applause when introduced to the trustees, but there’s no word as to whether he was able to find any would-be Democrats to sign up at the meeting.