• The lease between the Gator Bowl Association and the City is expected to start the City Council process this month. The lease will have to make it through the Finance and Economic, Community and International Development committees before getting full Council approval. Gator Bowl President Rick Catlett plans to attend those meetings and Policy Chief Adam Hollingsworth has urged the entire GBA to make its presence known at the committee and full Council meetings.
• Firehouse Subs keeps getting bigger and the locally-owned chain has cracked the top 200 on the Franchise 500 list, checking in at No. 144, according to Entrepreneur Magazine. The magazine also ranked Firehouse No. 115 on Entrepreneur’s top 200 global franchises. The chain is owned by former firefighters and brothers, Robin and Chris Sorensen.
• Our Monday article on the rising minimum wage mistakenly said the rate was rising to $6.15 an hour. That’s the old minimum wage. The new rate is $6.40 an hour. The article also misspelled the name of Jacksonville Area Legal Aid employment attorney Tess Arington.
• Speaking of Council, member Lad Daniels expressed some concern about a bill that would spend fair share money contributed by developers on a transportation study focusing on the Baymeadows area. “Builders put fair share money in with the expectation that roads will be built, not that roads will be planned.” The bill eventually received Daniels’ vote in Finance Committee however.
• The ImprovJacksonville Comedy Theatre will host a wine tasting Friday from 6-8 p.m. Included in the $10 admission to the tasting is admission to ImprovJacksonville’s Primetime Comedy Show at 8 p.m. Reservations are strongly recommended. ImprovJacksonville Comedy Theatre is located at the Landing next to Nine West Shoes.
• The weekend was a good one for the Landing, which hosted several events: pep rallies for Louisville Cardinals and Virginia Tech Hokies fans, a New Year’s bash, Jaguars fans on Sunday and Gator Bowl fans on Monday. Spokesperson Rachel Kaltenbach said merchants reported better sales than last New Year’s. “This was our third-biggest weekend behind Super Bowl and Florida-Georgia,” she said.