• The yacht “Detroit Eagle”in front of the CSX building belongs to Roger Penske, who among many other things is president of the Detroit Super Bowl Host Committee. It will be the site of the annual passing of the banner from one Super Bowl city (Jacksonville) to the next (Detroit) with the mayors participating. The yacht is 153 feet long and one roster lists it as the world’s 71st largest. The yacht doesn’t often visit its home city, as Penske prefers Rhode Island in the summer and South Florida in the winter. Oh, and don’t go to www.detroiteagle.com for more info. That’s a gay bar.
• More yachting news: the other one in front of CSX belongs to the owner of Clear Channel Communications, and the one in front of the Adam’s Mark belongs to the owner of the New Orleans Saints. NASCAR racer Jeff Gordon should tie up at the River City Brewing Company any minute and we hear that his rival, Dale Earnhardt Jr., will float in as well.
• The mayors will meet outside the yacht to do the ceremony and then go aboard for a social hour, but the media won’t get to the gangplank. Seems the Detroit media has some pointed questions for the Detroit mayor about a big car
he bought with city money and gave to family members.
• It seems certain that Michael Corrigan will be the next City Council vice president as he has enough commitments for a majority of the 19 members. Supporters include himself, Lake Ray, Suzanne Jenkins, Art Shad, Sharon Copeland, Gwen Yates, Daniel Davis, Art Graham, Elaine Brown, Kevin Hyde, Lad Daniels and Glorious Johnson. They won’t vote until June, however, so minds can change ...
• If you’re going to the game, be assured you’ll be as safe as the government can get you. The area is fenced with only a few entrances, then the real test comes when you try to enter the stadium. You’ll go through screening that promises to be more detailed than you’ve ever had at an airport.
• The stadium’s lights have been tested all week and the scoreboard is lit up, too. If you’re a betting person, the score now reads Home 18, Guests 30. That would translate to New England 30, Philadelphia 18.
• New England Coach Bill Belichick is considered a genius today but it wasn’t that way in 1995 when he was fired by the Cleveland Browns after the season, which ended with a 24-21 loss to the Jaguars in Alltel Stadium and the team then packing up and moving to Baltimore. “It wasn’t a very pleasant time,” he said this week.
• The monthly Art Walk is tonight from 5-8. There will be 35 venues, five live bands and two trolleys, and the headquarters tonight is the Jacksonville Bank on Adams and Laura.
• Drinkers at the Ritz in Jacksonville Beach got a look at two NFL players Sunday night. Shortly after Eagles’ QB Donovan McNabb walked through the door, the Jaguars’ Kyle Brady came into the bar. Both were surprised to see each other.
• Council member Suzanne Jenkins, whose district includes the downtown area, wants to make sure the library parking garage has enough parking spaces set aside for library users. She thinks they’ll get their first hour’s parking free, but she also wants specific spaces labeled for library use only.
• The mayor’s staff was scrambling Tuesday to track down hundreds of no shows for last Saturday’s Reading Super Bowl. The mayor’s office had prizes waiting for area school kids to reward their participation in the Mayor’s literacy program, but lots of kids didn’t show up to collect. The staff members are under some time pressure as well, because many of the prizes are tickets to events and concerts going on this week.
• Outgoing DDA Managing Director Al Battle was saying some goodbyes around City Hall Tuesday. Battle said he’ll be back often. His mother-in-law still lives here.
• JEDC Film and Television Chief Todd Roobin said the film “Lonely Hearts,” starring John Travolta and scheduled to start production soon at Cecil Field, should impact the local economy to the tune of about $4 million. He said about $1.6 million in that would hire local labor, while about $1 million would pay for local catering, hotels, car rentals, etc.
• Those concrete panels you see on the north side of Riverside Avenue are the beginning of Fidelity National Financial Inc.’s parking garage. According to the Haskell Company, which is building the structure, the panels weigh from 65,000 to 135,000 pounds. Eighty of the panels will eventually be used to build the $560,000 square-foot garage, which will provide 1,752 spaces when done. Construction should be complete by August.
• You note the Americrown vendor on the streets. That’s part of the International Speedway Corp., which owns Daytona, among other tracks.
• Grab lunch at the Jacksonville Landing this week and you’ll notice some changes on many of the restaurants’ menus. The food is still the same, but the prices have gone up. According to Landing management, several restaurants there called their counterparts located in Houston, last season’s host city, for advice. They suggested inflated prices, cover charges at the door or adding VIP tables.
• Some technical difficulties at the Jacksonville Landing managed to get some unintended national coverage over the weekend. One of the rooftop illuminated letters at the waterfront mall caught fire, causing two more to short circuit. Unfortunately, an ESPN live feed was happening at the time and a panicked TV producer called the Landing’s management office, imploring them to remedy the problem because they were, “trying to do a television show.”
• Speaking of coverage outside of Jacksonville, Downtown Vision Inc. board member Jeremy Smith will be interviewed for a Boston-based news broadcast tonight. A Boston College graduate, the Gate executive will talk about downtown revitalization and Jacksonville’s efforts to attract more and better businesses to the area.
• If you drink too much, call 800-AAA-HELP and they’ll send a tow truck to get you and your car home. It’s a — you guessed it — beer company promotion.
• The big media party Tuesday night turned out to be a lot bigger than the media expected. Lots of non-media were along to enjoy the 17th hole at the TPC Sawgrass and the traffic, added to the usual evening rush hour, pushed everything late.
• The NFL Owners Party will be at The River Club but that wasn’t Jaguars’ owners Wayne and Delores Weaver’s original choice. They wanted to do it at their jaguar exhibit at the zoo but no one could figure how to put a tent near the animals’ display area.