• If you’re looking for Jaguars season tickets, you’ll have to wait a month or so because the renewal deadline is about a month away. With an attractive schedule ahead for this fall, renewals are going predictably well, says ticket boss Scott Loft. If sales are really good, is there a chance they’ll remove the covers on some seats? “Zero,” he says.
• Free treats Monday. Rita’s will ring in Spring with free ices, cones, shakes and other cool treats for every customer from noon-9 p.m. There are 340 stores nationwide including three in Jacksonville and one in St. Augustine.
• Attorney Hugh Cotney is doing his part to keep the moral up of U.S. troops in Iraq. He has adopted the B490th Civil Affairs troop and recently sent 10 boxes of snacks, health care products and games.
• Judges David Gooding and Waddell Wallace are known for their work in assuring foster kids find adoptive parents. Through April 1, pictures of many of those kids will hang on the walls of the lobby inside the County Courthouse.
• Several from the mayor’s office ran in Saturday’s River Run. The best finisher was policy director Kevin Holzendorf, who finished right at 79 minutes. His son, Kevin Jr., ran the 1-mile Gate Junior River Run for the first time. They don’t time the kids, but Holzendorf said his son ran the entire mile without stopping.
• Wonder why it’s so drab outside City Hall these days? Due to budget cutbacks, the planters will no longer be landscaped six times a year. The plan is to cut back to three times a year and only around certain seasons.
• Speaking of landscaping, the mayor’s office is getting ready to unveil its greenway initiative for Downtown. Communications chief Susie Wiles said the project isn’t limited to the area around Hemming Plaza and will involve plenty of private sector partners.
• JEDC Executive Director Ron Barton has made quite a name for himself with City Council member Pat Lockett-Felder. The name is “Mr. JEDC.” That’s how Lockett-Felder repeatedly referred to Barton during a Council workshop on the JEDC’s new incentive policy. Barton didn’t mind though. “If my wife starts calling me that then I’ll be worried,” he said.
• The Council workshop was called to preview the JEDC’s new incentive policy, which needs Council approval before taking effect. Early on, the Council seems most concerned with how the policy treats small businesses and the need for increased accountability for developers using City money.