• The San Marco Merchants Association elected officers in mid-January. Ryan Buckley of Gallery Framery is president; Stephanie Edwards of Villa Vita Italian Home Furnishings, vice president; Forest Brewer of the Wardroom, Secretary/Treasurer. The association works with the San Marco Preservation Society. Their goal is to keep San Marco clean and attractive as well as to promote business and San Marco as a destination.
• More from San Marco: Look for new trash cans to be on the sidewalks of the historic district. The San Marco Merchants Association in conjunction with the San Marco Preservation Society worked with the Sheriff’s Department and Council member Art Shad to get more trash cans.
• King Provision on Westside Industrial Drive has been bought and the sale will likely cost about 125 King employees their jobs. The sale will happen between April 1 and April 14 and on the day of the sale all the King employees will be terminated. No word on the buyer or if they will retain anyone.
• Looking for a few extra bucks? Deliver flowers this Valentine’s Day for Catanese Florist. According to David Snyder, a designer at Catanese, they have contract drivers who can work as little as one day to make some extra cash. Catanese pays their drivers $7 per delivery. Snyder said they have had drivers who were teenagers, retirees, and even those with a regular job will take the day off and deliver flowers on the busiest day of the year for florists.
• Tap Dogs, an Australian tap dance troupe will be at the University of Florida tonight at 7:30 p.m. The 90-minute show features male workmen performing fast-paced tap in a construction site setting. Tickets are $10 for students and children and range from $28 to $37 for adults. Call 620-2878 for tickets.
• This year’s Police Memorial Day will be May 10 at 10 a.m. at the Police Memorial Building.
• Companies don’t volunteer to be audited very often, but that’s exactly what LandMar has done. The company that is going to develop the Shipyards project informed the City that Gunn & Company, P.A. will audit its 2005 books. LandMar will deliver the audit in a few months when its next quarterly financial reports are due.
• Springfield may soon be getting banners for its streetlights. The Springfield Preservation and Revitalization Council has asked the City’s permission to hang banners in the historic sections of the neighborhoods, similar to the ones that hang on downtown streetlights. SPAR also submitted several design options.
• The Zoo is hosting another “Exzooberation” April 22, but this one’s for the big kids. “Be a kid again” will cater to the 21-over crowd with cocktails, dinner, music and a live and silent auction.
• The City Rescue Mission will celebrate six decades of service with a big bash Feb. 28 at Alltel Stadium in the East Club from 6:30-8:30 p.m. U.S. Sen. Mel Martinez will address the crowd via video.
• Marineland is holding its grand reopening March 4 from 9 a.m.-noon. The 68-year-old oceanfront marine park is 15 miles south of St. Augustine. They’ll cut the ribbon on the new dolphin conservation center and Atlantic bottlenose dolphins will perform.
• It may be getting tougher to tear down the old Annie B. Lytle Elementary School thanks to recent intervention by the National Trust for Historic Preservation. An application to raze the building has been denied by the local Historic Preservation Commission and the developer is now appealing to City Council. When the school was built in 1917, it was just the fourth public school in Jacksonville.
• Mark Davoli, owner of the Metro Diner on Hendricks Avenue, is heading to Detroit today to watch his hometown Pittsburgh Steelers play in the Super Bowl.