• Thanks to brisk sales at The Strand and the Peninsula, office hours at the on-site sales office have been scaled back a bit. Effective next week it will be open Tuesday through Friday from 10 a.m. until 3 p.m. Otherwise you can make an appointment.
• The lobby in Independent Square recently got a minor make over. Take notice of the paint job and recarpeting on your next visit.
• Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean will be in town Wednesday for a party fundraiser in Riverside. The Jefferson-Jackson Reception is scheduled for 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. at the Haskell Company. Tickets cost $50 and can be purchased from the local Democratic Executive Committee at 721-9805
• There have been reports that Jacksonville has some competition from Texas in its efforts to land a master jet base at Cecil Field. But Mayor John Peyton told the West Jacksonville Rotary Club last Wednesday that Cecil Field is a sure thing if the Defense Department decides to shut down Oceana Naval Air Station in Virginia. The orders have already been written, said Peyton. And they say Cecil Field gets the base unless Oceana stays open. “If Oceana doesn’t hold up its end; we get it,” he said.
• One more Cecil note from Peyton’s Rotary Club visit. One astute member noticed that the documents prepared by the City and state to allow for Cecil Field to be transferred back to Navy ownership call for the state, not the City, to take ownership of the property if the Navy leaves again. Peyton assured that member that the language was a mistake owing to the lack of time the City and state had to put together the proposal.