• Parking shouldn’t be a problem during the upcoming first-round NCAA basketball tournament games at the Arena. According to Metropolitan Parking Solutions spokesman Michael Munz, the 1,000-plus space parking garage adjacent to the Trolley lot will be done in time for the first tip-off on March 16. Munz says both the Trolley garage and the new Arena garage are on budget and early.
• The Jacksonville U. football schedule is out and the Dolphins will play five home games. Also, JU will play every team in the Pioneer League for the first time since joining the conference in 2001. They open the season Sept. 23 at Butler.
• Looking for something to read? The Jacksonville Port Authority’s 2005 annual report is out. If you want one, call the Port at 630-3080. They’re free.
• Downtown will host the area’s best writers late next month. The 20th annual First Coast Writers Festival is March 30-April 2 at the Radisson.
• It may seem like everyone has their own ideas concerning downtown development and City Council member Suzanne Jenkins is seeking more input. She’s holding a meeting March 6 from 6:30-8 p.m. in the Council chambers at City Hall and the topic is alternative ideas for downtown development. The public is invited to attend and voice their opinions and concerns.
• JTA has big plans for the LaVilla section of downtown, but the Jacksonville Economic Development Commission isn’t sold on all of them. JTA wants to keep the three-block area north of Bay Street from Johnson to Lee open for its Jacksonville Transportation Center and has rejected JEDC Executive Director Ron Barton’s request to close Houston Street between Johnson and Lee. Transportation Authority Executive Director Mike Blaylock called the suggested closure “ill-advised” and considers the street “critical” to JTA’s overall plan for the area.
• Criminal defense attorney Hank Coxe’s address Thursday to the Jacksonville Bankruptcy Bar Association wasn’t the first time the Florida Bar president-elect has crossed paths with bankruptcy attorneys. “The only thing I know about what you people do is that, after I represent someone, I get letters from you people on behalf of my former clients telling me I’m not allowed to collect my fee,” he said in his opening comments.
• Eddie Staton, national president of MAD DADS, a community advocacy group, said many in Jacksonville’s black neighborhoods aren’t exactly thrilled with the City’s response so far to Jacksonville’s violent crime in 2006. Many people think the $80,000 intended to fund a study into Jacksonville’s murder rate could be better spent, he said. “I understand the need for the study, but people in the community don’t,” said Staton. “They look at it like, here’s $80,000 being given to non-blacks to study the black people.”