• The City is scouting locations for a video highlight reel of Jacksonville for Super Bowl visitors. Shots suggested so far include Hemming Plaza at lunch hour, Friendship Fountain at sunset, the colonial Barnett home in Springfield and a Suns game at the Baseball Grounds.
• City Council member Faye Rustin is requesting a sit-down with fellow council member Kevin Hyde. Rustin wants to know why Hyde has abstained from voting on several high profile and controversial bills. Hyde, an attorney with Foley & Lardner, didn’t vote on the Alltel Stadium improvement bill and will also abstain when the Council decides whether Mayor John Peyton should renegotiate a previously passed parking garage development deal.
• Congratulations to Carol Owens of the City’s Legislative Affairs Division. Owens graduated with honors from Edward Waters College last week, earning a bachelor’s degree in business administration.
• All public libraries will be closed Wednesday, says library spokesperson Stacie Bucher. The entire staff will undergo exercises designed to build team work and promote staff fellowship.
• Mayor’s office receptionist Alice Newman has been recognized as one of the City’s most valuable employees. Nominated by an anonymous co-worker, Newman said it felt good to be noticed. She just wanted to know why it took so long.
• Christopher Hazelip, former Jacksonville Bar Association president and partner at the law firm of Rogers Towers, is the speaker at the Christian Legal Society’s May 14 luncheon. The luncheon begins at 12:15 p.m. at Sterlings Downtown. For reservations, contact Jane Arnold at [email protected].
• City Council member Suzanne Jenkins says she feels “vindicated” now that Mayor John Peyton has temporarily suspended design work on the new Duval County Courthouse. Nearly nine months ago, Jenkins introduced legislation requesting the same thing. “This is everything I said in the fall, but I don’t have any negative feelings about it,” she said. “I’m just happy it’s being done, that the mayor is finally saying ‘time out.’ Now we can use this time to look at the real numbers we have to work with and finally work towards completing this project.”
• Want the inside scoop on the Jags upcoming season? Jaguars radio broadcaster Brian Sexton is the speaker at Monday’s Rotary Club of Jacksonville meeting at the Omni.