• City Council Director Cheryl Brown is in the process of securing funding to assure Council meetings remain televised live by WJCT over at least the next year. The public broadcasting station charges the City $148,715.03 a year to televise the twice-monthly meetings.
• The Jacksonville Transportation Authority will hold four more public involvement meetings to present the plan for a Rapid Transit System. Each session will feature two formal presentations by JTA Rapid Transit Manager Kevin Feldt. Meetings will be today at the First Coast African American Chamber of Commerce, 1817-A N. Myrtle Ave., from 5-8 p.m.; Oct. 24 in the JTA Board Room, 100 N. Myrtle Ave. from 11 a.m.-2 p.m. and at the Regency Square Regional Library, 9900 Regency Square Blvd., from 5-8 p.m. and Oct. 25 at the Webb Wesconnett Library, 6887 103rd St. from 5-8 p.m. Formal presentations at the evening meetings will be at 5:30 and 7:30 p.m. and at 11:30 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. during the afternoon meeting.
• Ron Baker, deputy executive director and chief financial officer for the Jacksonville Port Authority, has been named chairman of the Florida Ports Financing Commission. He will serve in this voluntary role through 2006. The commission represents all 14 of Florida’s deepwater ports.
• WJCT is launching its third annual Mister Rogers Neighborhood Sweater Drive, which collects new and nearly new sweaters, jackets and blankets. The drive runs Nov. 1-Dec. 10. Contributions will be donated to St. Vincent’s Mobile Outreach Ministry, which serves migrant workers, as well as the Clara White Mission and I.M. Sulzbacher Center for the Homeless. Donations may be dropped off at WJCT and at all VyStar Credit Union locations on the First Coast. Contributions should be placed in the specially marked boxes, donated by The Suddath Companies. The sweater drive honors the life and work of the late Fred Rogers, whose long-running PBS Kids program “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood” continues to air on WJCT Public Broadcasting.
• The Peninsula on the Southbank is having a big ground breaking bash next Thursday from 5-8 p.m. Officials plan to raise 37 stories worth of kites to mark the height of the condominium tower.
• Another group has chimed in on the Cecil Field issue and it’s a biggie. Northeast Florida Builders Association President Bryan Lendry sent City Council President Kevin Hyde and Mayor John Peyton a letter urging them to make a decision quickly regarding the pursuit of Cecil as master Navy Jet Base. Wrote Lendry: “Since the beginning of this debate, our builders and developers adjacent to the Commerce Center have seen a dramatic drop in sales and have had customers back out of contracts because of the possible shift to a master jet base.”
• Downtown Vision Inc. has revamped its web site with a new look, a parking map and it’s easier to navigate. Check it out at downtownjacksonville.org.