• Rick Catlett, president of the Gator Bowl Association, has a new assistant and your children may recognize her. She’s Connie Skinner, the recently retired principal from LaVilla School of the Arts.
• The Jacksonville Tourist Development Council approved two large, but customary grants at their Thursday morning meeting. Organizers of the 2006 ACC Baseball Tournament were issued $20,000 for regional advertising and a $75,000 grant was approved to help market the 83rd Annual Florida / Georgia Football Weekend.
• The coolest spot downtown these days? Has to be right above the two air vents outside the Florida Theatre.
• The Gator Bowl Committee has picked the Oct. 1 Virginia-Maryland game for its Toyota Gator Bowl scouting trip. It’s homecoming for Maryland and the Atlantic Coast Conference Road Tour will be on hand.
• The new European Street Cafe in Jacksonville Beach is well on its way to opening. Remodeling of the old Silk Atrium on Beach Boulevard began last week. The restaurant is supposed to open in October.
• In presenting JEA’s budget request to the City Council, CEO Jim Dickinson had a one-word explanation for the utilities financial needs. “Fuel, fuel, fuel,” said Dickinson. “Kind of like in real estate it’s location, location, location... We didn’t expect fuel costs to stay at this level.”
• Responding to our Monday City Note about a perceived lack of contact between the mayor and the City’s Civil Service Board, mayor’s office spokesperson Susie Wiles said that the complaining board member is not a mayoral appointee and that the mayor has been advised by the Office of the General Counsel that personal contact with board members is improper. The 10-person board reviews the City’s personnel policies.
• Area bikers raised $131,000 for daniel in the organization’s fourth annual “Bike to School” motorcycle ride for charity. Over 600 rode in the 65-mile event.