• City officials are doing some last-minute editing of the plaque that will commemorate the opening of the new Main Branch Library downtown. While the mayor’s office suggested “Opened by Mayor John Peyton,” that inscription has encountered some resistance on the library board. Some members think it sounds too informal.
• The annual Parade of Homes will be May 14-22 and this year’s theme will be the Wizard of Oz, with Dorothy’s famous line “There’s no place like home” as its motto.
• Local builder Ron Coppenbarger has been named to lead this year’s Southeast Building Conference July 14-16 in Orlando. It’s the South’s biggest gathering of people in the homebuilding industry.
• Another sign that the giant Riverside condo Villa Riva is nearing completion: the sales office has been moved off the site to allow landscapers to start work. Sales will be out of a rental home at Stockton St, and Riverside Ave. until June.
• The legislative session starts in Tallahassee one week from today.
• Speaking of the upcoming Session, don’t look for State Rep. Stan Jordan’s bill that was seeking to change the way the City’s General Counsel is appointed. After much deliberation, the City Council’s Rules Committee wasn’t able to decide whether or not to add it to the referendum. They wanted more time to review its merits, despite the fairly limited time frame to do so. Jordan is expected to reintroduce the bill next year.
• The Chamber’s Downtown Council meets for breakfast Friday at the River City Brewing Company. The speaker will be JMOMA director Jane Craven.
• Over the weekend, City Council aide Brenda Kelly lured a special entourage to Avondale restaurant The Brick. Kelly, who recently began singing jazz around town, sang a few numbers there with a live band and some of her City Hall friends came to support her.
• They still aren’t through with the Main Street Bridge. There will be lane closures during the day Thursday for maintenance.
• The Cowford Professional Network comes downtown Thursday to party at the Twisted Martini. If you’re on their email list, the first drink is free.
• New at the City’s Public Works Department: Kortney Mosley. She’ll be working with department spokesperson Marcy Cook. In case you’re wondering, Mosley is of no relation to Alan Mosley, Public Works director.
• On Thursday, March 3, The Jacksonville Airport Authority will unveil its newest piece of public art. “Migration of the Paper Airplanes” was designed by David Engdahl. It will be on display near the airport’s ticketing counters.
• Florida’s Children First, Inc. must really like City Council president Elaine Brown. Because the busy Brown did not receive an invitation on time to attend a special ceremony last week, FCF rescheduled the entire event to accommodate. “The Postal Service is ‘researching whether or not some or all of our invitations were on a truck that was in an accident and caught on fire,” FCF executive director Andrea Moore said. “Please understand the delay ... was entirely beyond our control.”
• The City Council took the first step Monday toward clearing the way for Duval County School Board members to approve its own pay raises. The Finance Committee unanimously approved an ordinance giving the Board autonomy over pay increases. The local change is little more than a formality, as it’s already been approved at the State level. The Board members are expected to vote increases of 1.6 percent to $37,032 annually.
• About 25 percent of appointments made to donate blood to the Red Cross were canceled in February. Randy Edwards, the organization’s CEO of blood services for the southern region, blamed cold and flu season for the surge in no shows. Edwards encouraged others to step up to make up for the cancellations. The organization has to collect 1,200 pints of blood every day in Florida, Georgia and Alabama to keep up with demand.
• The Jacksonville Transportation Authority has promoted John Davis to chief engineer. Davis has had the job on an interim basis since October 2004. Davis joined JTA in July 2004 as a production manager in the engineering division. Previously, he worked for two years as state project management engineer for the Florida Department of Transportation.
• Florida’s lieutenant governor, Toni Jennings, has a busy morning on Thursday. She’ll have breakfast with the Chamber’s Government Affairs Committee and then head to the Republican Party headquarters on Beach Blvd. for a couple of hours of socializing and, we presume, campaigning for governor.