City Notes

News

• The Police and Fire Pension Fund is still likely a week away from taking over the Laura Street Trio — the historic Bisbee, Marble Bank and Florida Life buildings — but administrator John Keene said the fund is ready to hit the ground running if the City Council approves the transaction Tuesday. Keane said he’d already seen some architectural and engineering assessments of the crumbling properties and said the challenges ahead include repairing water damage in the Marble Bank and evicting what he called “urban campers” from the Bisbee building. If the fund doesn’t put together a redevelopment plan by the end of next year, the City would take back possession, but Keane said a plan should be in place “well ahead of that schedule.”

• There are a couple of new faces in the General Counsel’s Office. William B. Burkett has been named assistant general counsel and works in the Tort Litigation Department. R. William Crowe has been named assistant general counsel in the Government Operations Department.

• Ieyasu was scheduled to open Tuesday, but the opening was delayed until today.

• Two officers from the Baldwin Police Department will be at the Landing from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Thursday, recruiting candidates for patrol and communications officers. They will be in the center of the Landing on the first floor, near the escalators. The officers, who will be back on Oct. 21, will also give away free child-safety gun locks.

• Vice President Dick Cheney will be in town Saturday to raise funds for Republican Senate candidate and former Bush cabinet member Mel Martinez. The Omni reception seeks to raise a minimum of $15,000.

• Holiday Inn Express — Blount Island, the closest hotel to the cruise ship terminal, opened Oct. 1.

• Legislation has been filed that would designate The Riverside Theater in Five Points, also known as Club 5, a Florida landmark. That designation would guarantee certain protections and tax exemptions.

• Work to identify National Historic Districts downtown continues, but discussions on how to pay an outside consultant are just beginning. According to the Historic Preservation Commission, approximately $25,000 is required up front and the Council will be asked to allocate funds to cover that cost.

• Chief Operating Officer Dan Kleman had a warm welcome to City Hall for Adam Hollingsworth. “As the newest member of the staff, you are responsible for all the remaining hurricanes this season,” Kleman said.

• JEA CEO Jim Dickenson told Mayor John Peyton that he sees some upside from the City’s recent run-ins with hurricanes. Although the storms were stressful for JEA and City officials, Dickenson said the relationships among City leaders had been strengthened by their collaborative responses to the storms.