• A quick update on the opening of the new Main Library: A used bookstore operated by non-profit group The Friends of the Jacksonville Public Library, Inc. is expected to open at the same time. However it may take a few extra weeks before Shelby’s Coffee Shop, the library’s in-house cafe, will be ready to go.
• The next meeting of the Jacksonville Regional Chamber of Commerce’s Government Affairs Committee will take place Tuesday, Sept. 13. Denise Bunnewith, executive director of the First Coast Metropolitan Planning Organization, will make a presentation.
• The University of North Florida is helping college students from Tulane and Loyola in New Orleans who have been affected by Hurricane Katrina and have nowhere to attend classes this fall. UNF is accepting students from those schools on a last-minute basis for at least the fall semester.
• Community Hospice got a nice boost from Amelia Island Concours d’Elegance Foundation in the form of a $100,000 donation. The money was raised during last spring’s Amelia Island Concours d’Elegance.
• The two new parking garages at the Sports Complex will eventually generate revenue, but in the City’s 2005-06 budget they may force the City to up its subsidy to SMG (the company that manages many of the Sports Complex’s facilities) by an extra $392,316 to make up for parking revenue that will be lost while the garages are being built.
• The softball game between the police and firefighters a couple of weeks ago at the Baseball Grounds at Jacksonville raised $15,000 for the Justice Coalition. The police won 6-4 in a game that was delayed by rain.
• United Way has released its 2004-05 annual report and it includes the top 50 local companies that gave to the organization. Leading the way was Blue Cross and Blue Shield, which ponied up $1,755,868. The only other two companies to top the million dollar mark were Bank of America ($1,007,062) and Vistakon ($1,000,296). The figures include both corporate and employee donations.
• Apologies to Vicki Pappas. We misidentified her in a photo on the front page last Thursday. She is the one on the left and the photo can be seen on page 4. That’s City Council member Ronnie Fussell in the middle and Alice Davis on the right.
• Fire station No. 5 on Riverside Avenue will be getting a new home. Fire Chief Richard Barrett said a new station will be built at the corner of Stockton and McCoy at no cost to the City. Plenty of room at the new location and good access to roads.