• The mayor’s military liaison said Friday that Congress is not likely to delay next year’s scheduled round of military base closures. Local legislators backed the idea of a delay until 2007, but the president threatened a veto. Director of Military Affairs Dan McCarthy told the mayor the Pentagon will likely announce the list of closures May 16, 2005.
• The head of the mayor’s parks task force says the City needs to do a better job of providing security at its parks. “If parks aren’t safe, the public is not going to enjoy them,” said attorney Rufus Pennington of Pennington and Margol law firm.
• Akerman Senterfitt attorney John B. Macdonald has been listed in the Best Lawyers in America 2005-06 edition. He is noted under Bankruptcy and Creditor-Debtor Rights Law. Macdonald’s practice focuses on commercial litigation, bankruptcy and creditors’ rights. He also has been recognized in Florida Trend’s Legal Elite 2004.
• State Sen. Tony Hill is questioning the port authority’s agreement with the Spence family to lease 22 acres at the Talleyrand Marine Terminal. In letters sent to the mayor and the port’s board of directors, Hill asks why the port signed the deal with the Spences’ ICS Logistics — which Hill repeatedly refers to as “LCS Logistics” — given previous difficulties with the Shipyards and a failed development at Cecil Field. Both projects were run by the Spences’ TriLegacy Group.
• Agent’s House, a Brazilian freight forwarder and broker, has chosen our port as the location for its first office in the United States. Forwarders arrange for the movement of cargo and often suggest ports for shippers. Attracting forwarders is one of the port’s strategic initiatives.
• Update: the Main Street Bridge will be closed today and is scheduled to reopen Tuesday morning in time for rush hour. The projected finishing date is now in mid-November.
• Reminder: the Duval Legislative Delegation public meeting dealing with mental health issues is today at 2 p.m. in City Council Chambers. Also, the deadline for filing local bills is noon Thursday.
• Downtown Ambassador Burt Pringle’s bicycle was stolen last week from in front of Downtown Vision, Inc.’s office. It’s a green and silver Schwinn four-speed with chrome fenders. There is a picture of the suspect from a security camera, but if you see the bike, call DVI.
• Beware drivers: work to help ease problems on the Mathews Bridge begins tonight, meaning lane closures.
• Mayor John Peyton’s claim that a small “radical fringe group” had “spooked” the City Council into delaying the new Duval County Courthouse project has ruffled a few Council feathers. Council member Faye Rustin sent Peyton a newspaper article with the quote circled. “I hope I was not included in that thought process. I assure, no one has spooked this City Council member.”