• A big deal for boaters: the City opens a new boat ramp today, the first in over a decade. It’s just off San Jose Boulevard at Goodby’s Lake and has a wide launch lane plus parking for 45 trailers.
• More posies on the plaza. Maintenance tasks at Hemming Plaza have been taken over by the Department of Parks and Recreation. New picnic benches have already been installed around the plaza and expect to see a lot more flowers soon.
• If you have called or visited City Hall lately and the person you talked to seemed a little stressed, there is a good reason. The City recently switched software and it’s affecting schedules and e-mail. An unscientific poll of several monitor-watchers revealed that the schedules now have a new format and that e-mail will eventually be improved – after thousands of addresses are entered one at a time in order to use the new system.
• The terrazzo walkway in front of The Carling on West Adams Street started to buckle almost as soon as it was finished just a few months ago. Now cracks are developing in the walkway. If you’re a Downtown pedestrian, you also know that whenever it rains, the walkway gets slicker than a snake-oil salesman on Saturday night.
• City Council Vice President Daniel Davis has requested a refresher course in the Sunshine Laws for all of Council. Davis says it’s been three years since the last time the Council was trained on the laws that govern the State of Florida.
• Thursday’s River Accord was certainly a serious gathering — when is $700 million not serious? — but there were a few light moments. Mayor John Peyton noted that several former mayors have played a role in preserving the health of the St. Johns River, but perhaps none did so as dramatically as former Mayor Hans Tanzler, who Peyton noted couldn’t make it. “We are not going to have a re-enactment of the ski show,” said Peyton of Tanzler, who once water-skiied the river in an effort to prove it was safe to swim.
• Interesting beauty pageant connection between three of our judicial candidates. County court candidate Virginia Norton was in pageants as a kid while one of her opponents, Kevin Sanders, is the executive director of the Miss Jacksonville and Miss Teen Jacksonville pageant. Also, Circuit court candidate Dan Wilensky’s daughter, Mari, was Miss Florida 2005 and recently finished in the top 10 in this year’s Miss America pageant.
• Speaking of the judicial election, campaign stickers were out in force at Thursday’s Young Lawyers Section of the Jacksonville Bar Association meeting. Some supported Norton while others backed her other opponent Steven Combs.
• Supervisor of Elections Jerry Holland wanted to make sure no one thinks the Dot’s clothing store is closed now that his office has a big warehouse in the Gateway Mall. The sign may not be as big, but Dot’s is still open.
The new Downtown This Week is out and the cover story is about how football season affects Downtown businesses. The magazine is free and available all over Downtown.