• Several downtown restaurants didn’t see much business at all Monday due to the holiday. For instance, the London Bridge Eatery and Pub was almost empty most of the day partly due to the holiday but mainly due to a lack of supplies. The pub was low on food and many of its draft beers Monday due to a large crowd during Friday night’s Great Guinness Toast.
• At least one member of The Duval County Tourist Development Commission thinks the TDC deserves a little more recognition. “It is clear that in some instances such as the Super Bowl, the CVB was the organization that was shown as a sponsor and not the TDC,” commission member Warren Grymes said. “It was the TDC that gave dollars toward the Super Bowl ... I am concerned that the CVB has positioned itself above its funding source and would like this to be addressed.” According to City auditors, from 2000-05, the TDC approved more than $800,000 to help finance Super Bowl-related efforts of the Host Committee and the CVB. “Since we fund over 90 percent of (the CVB’s) budget, I would think it appropriate that the TDC be listed as a funding source ...”
• Local leaders of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference are seeking a meeting with Mayor John Peyton to discuss the City’s handling of cleanups of polluted dump sites in black neighborhoods. The SCLC made local news a year ago when one of its national leaders called Peyton a “redneck.”
• Even though Randy Evans is leaving the Adams Street Station project to become president of a local faith-based organization, sales will continue through the offices of commercial realtor Heyward Cantrell with Graham Stewart taking the lead sales role. Six of the 25 railroad car condos near Alltel Stadium have been sold.
• Council member Art Graham was seen this weekend on the sidelines at Davis Park watching the Jacksonville Rugby Football Club play a match against a team from Hilton Head, S.C. In the 1990’s, Graham himself was an avid rugby player with the local men’s team.
• It was a case of worlds colliding Saturday for our J. Brooks Terry. He plays keyboards in local band “Eugene” and, just before hitting the stage Saturday night in San Marco, was surprised to find some City Hall workers had shown up to cheer him on.
• Waiting for a new bookstore to open at the Jacksonville Landing? Don’t. A replacement for B. Dalton Booksellers hasn’t been found and Landing spokesperson Rachel Kaltenbach said that after large-scale renovations begin at the Northbank mall, that space won’t even exist anymore.
• The Cummer Museum has added new landscape lighting throughout its gardens. The new lighting comes from Cambridge, Mass. designer Berg/Howland and Associates and is designed to highlight significant trees and architectural features. The project was funded through major gifts from the Cultural Council of Greater Jacksonville, the Robert E. Jacoby Garden Fund, Garden Week funds and the Riverbranch Foundation as well as a couple of large individual donations.