• Former British Prime Minister Sir John Major was the guest speaker at Monday’s combined Rotary-Meninak meeting at the Radisson and he helped produce a standing room only crowd. Major, who served as Prime Minister from 1990-97, has an interesting view of the world these days. He says the Middle East is a “powder keg” and he admires the technological advancements of the Far East, but says the region is “foreboding” at the same time. Major also referred to China as “not a Sphinx rising, but an old power coming back to life.”
• Speaking of Major, he also brought a few laughs after being accompanied to the stage by U.S. Rep. Ander Crenshaw. “I have now made my mark in American politics,” he said. “I have followed a Congressman.” He also reminded everyone that the U.S. used to be a colony of Great Britain. “That was 300 years and this is just a little setback. We (Great Britain) may well be back.”
• Florida Community College has extended the reservation deadline for its Feb. 11 gala until Thursday. It’s $100 per person with entertainment by the college’s musical programs, and will be at the school’s Deerwood Center.
• Big weekend at the local dog track as the “Tri-Super” jackpot went over $400,000. The Friday night turnout produced almost twice the betting of a normal weekend evening and one bettor hit the right numbers for a $412,000-plus payoff.
• Among the new tenants in the Five Points Theatre renovation is a bicycle shop and they have a specialty: short people. Seems that other bike shops treat ‘em all the same, and they aren’t.
• Clarification to a City Note from Friday. There isn’t a Starbucks location inside the Hyatt. The bar inside the hotel serves Starbucks coffee.
• LandMar has provided the City, per the Shipyards lease agreement, with its latest financials report. According to LandMar controller Joseph Carbonara III, LandMar Group LLC and its subsidiaries have a little over $270 million in total assets. The big chunks include cash (over $66 million), residential projects (over $81 million) and golf course/clubhouse assets (over $28 million).
• Byron York, the White House correspondent for the National Review and author of “The Vast Left Wing Conspiracy”, will be at the Main Library Saturday. He’ll hold a discusssion about the book and sign it. The C-SPAN BookTV bus will also be at the library from 1-4 p.m.
• The Jacksonville Trial Lawyers Association will meet Thursday at 5:30 p.m. at River City Brewing Co. Palm Beach Gardens attorney Edward Ricci is the guest speaker.
• Did you know last season’s American Idol runner-up, Bo Bice, lived in Jacksonville for a few years when he was very small? “I don’t even remember living here, I was that small,” he said before his concert at the Twisted Martini Friday, his first time back in Jacksonville, he said.
• It’s a fifth week for City Council. No regular meeting and no committee meetings until next week.
• The Clara White Mission will graduate 14 people during its 15th class from its School of Culinary Arts & First Coast Technical Institute during a Feb. 10 ceremony at the United House of Prayer for All People on West Beaver Street.
• Good luck contesting parking tickets these days. Meter readers carry digital cameras with them, so the City’s Parking Division has the violation on file, complete with visual evidence.