• A second candidate has entered the race for Jerry Holland’s City Council seat. Scott Shine, Holland’s 2003 opponent, joins Richard Clark, president of a janitorial service, in the race. Holland plans to run for the supervisor of elections job and must resign his Council seat by Dec. 4. The Council has set a Feb. 15, special election date to fill that seat and the supervisor of elections position.
• The mayor’s office recently asked the Public Works Department to investigate stains that have shown up on the new Arena’s brick exterior. The culprit? Lime in the cement grout has been bleeding onto the brick. The mayor’s office was assured that it will stop — eventually. Until then, the stains can be mopped up with cleaning chemicals.
• The City will pair current veterans with their World War II counterparts in the grand marshal vehicles during today’s Veterans Day Parade. Veterans from Pearl Harbor, D-Day and Iwo Jima will ride with veterans of the recent Iraq war. The parade’s theme is, “Heroes then and now.”
• Now that Mayor John Peyton has dumped construction plans for the Duval County Courthouse, his office is trying to tie up some administrative loose ends. Peyton’s staff is debating what to do about the Downtown Development Authority’s approval of the design, which reversed, at Peyton’s request, the Design and Review Committee’s rejection. City attorneys think the DDA order is a moot point now that the plans have been scrapped, but Peyton’s chief of staff, Dan Kleman, wants the order withdrawn.
• Florida Trend Magazine publisher Lynda Keever will be in town next week for a seminar at the Adam’s Mark Hotel. Hosted by Compass Bank, Keever will discuss where trends are taking Jacksonville and the First Coast.
• Congratulations to local businessman Tomas Jimenez, who recently received the Ronald Reagan Republican Gold Medal for his outstanding leadership in business. Jimenez is president of Jim Bell and Sons, Inc., a local export business. He’s also active in several community organizations, including serving on the Mayor’s Hispanic American Advisory Board.
• While in town for an education meeting earlier this year, the Management Executive Society, a private group of Fortune 500 CEO’s, were so impressed by the talent level of Douglas Anderson School of the Arts students they contributed $20,000 to the school. “Many of them said, ‘This is as good as Broadway,’ ” said Duval County School Superintendent John Fryer, who hosted the group and is the only school superintendent ever to be a member of the society.
• A three-day Latin America and Caribbean Vessel and Port Security Symposium began Wednesday at the Adam’s Mark Hotel. Delegates and officials from more than 20 ports in Mexico, Central and South America and the Caribbean are attending. The symposium is sponsored by the U.S. Trade and Development Agency and was organized by the Jacksonville Port Authority.