• There’s a second hot dog vendor in Hemming Plaza. The Dawg House is near the Skyway at the corner of Hogan and Monroe.
• City Council member Lynette Self was late for Tuesday night’s Council meeting, but she had a pretty good reason. Self owns Rose of Sharon florist and Valentine’s Day is that industry’s busiest day of the year.
• Now that there are several new big screen TVs in the Council Chambers, what’ll happen to the old ones? Four still work and will be dispersed among other City offices. The other six, which don’t work, will be taken apart and put back together in hopes that at least one usable TV can be salvaged.
• The Hilton has been named the “2005 company of the year” by the Northeast Florida Chapter of the Hospitality Sales and Marketing Association International. The annual award goes to the company whose employees donate their time and support to HSMAI. Angela Kurczewski, the Hilton’s assistant director of sales, is the 2006 chapter treasurer.
• Hampton Golf President M. G. Orender is slated for appointment to the City’s Comcast Community Advisory Committee. Council President Kevin Hyde is sponsoring the legislation that would approve the appointment.
• Congratulations to Chip Patterson, the City’s director of emergency preparedness. Patterson was recently named the Emergency Manager of the year by the Florida Emergency Preparedness Association. Patterson won the award based in part on his work during last year’s Super Bowl and his efforts to help Jacksonville become the first city in the country to receive Emergency Management Accreditation.
• Several of Jacksonville’s most prominent women will be recognized March 8 at the 2006 Women’s History Month kickoff breakfast. Susan Hamilton, Gwendolyn Leaphart, Dr. Sherry Magill, Marcia Morales and Karen Wolfson will be honored at the breakfast, which is being hosted by Mayor John Peyton and the Mayor’s Commission on the Status of Women. It’s from 7:30-9:15 a.m. at the University Center on the UNF campus.
• The latest Better Jacksonville Plan quarterly report is out. To date there are only 200 miles of nearly 2,000 planned miles of roads to be resurfaced. Also, about 105 miles of sidewalks have been constructed.
• According to the JEA’s fuel fund/rate review, it’s pretty easy to see why energy costs (and our electric bills) are going up. Since April of last year, the cost of natural gas has gone up 62 percent and heating oil 36 percent. Compared to the rest of the state, JEA has held costs down. Those using JEA pay $89.15 per 1,000 kilowatt hours. If you think that’s a lot, try Key West, where utility customers are paying $131.90 per 1,000 kilowatt hours.
• The Otis Smith Foundation will unveil its first “Big Cats for Kids” jaguar at the April First Wednesday Art Walk. The Foundation’s campaign is designed to attract 50 businesses to sponsor one of the cats that will be placed all over downtown.
• Council member Lad Daniels has felt some resistance to his idea to force the City to rebuild its cash reserves, but Daniels has some advice: think of it as tithing, the 10 percent pledge churchgoers pay weekly. “If I’m trying to get into heaven, then that’s the check I’m going to write first. And I’ll tell you what, I’m going to hand it to the minister,” he said.
• The Jacksonville Port Authority has announced that Atlantic Container Line (ACL) will begin service in Jacksonville March 1. ACL will carry vehicles and other roll-on, roll-off cargoes to ports in West Africa for companies and individuals.