• Two big retirements Monday: Tony Boselli from the Jags and NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue. When asked if the NFL job interested him, Boselli gave an emphatic “No.”
• Speaking of Boselli, he was released by the Houston Texans a couple of weeks ago, but needed to wait until the NFL and the Players Union signed the new Collective Bargaining Agreement before he could resign with the Jags for a day. Boselli joked that he was looking for a nice signing bonus.
• Jaguars owner Wayne Weaver said Boselli’s No. 71 jersey won’t be “retired” but, “it will be a long time before we use it again.”
• The popular Hava Java coffee stand at the beach has reopened after closing for about three months to relocate to the west end of the Beach Plaza shopping center in Jacksonville Beach. Best Bet: the Mocha Ice Rage.
• Speaking of the beach, there’s a new Italian restaurant on Third Street in Jacksonville Beach called Buonasera, but dress up a little if you go. They won’t let you in with jeans on.
• Longtime Chamber exec Joyce Riley has retired. She most recently was a vice president over the human resources department.
• World-renowned writer Nikki Giovanni is coming to Jacksonville. She will speak at the Ritz Theatre and LaVilla Museum Friday at 7:30 p.m. Giovanni is a poet, writer, educator and activist. She’s received a slew of awards over the last 30 years, including 21 honorary doctorates and three different “Woman of the Year” awards. For more information, visit www.ritzlavilla.org.
• You can tell it’s Players Championship week. There are no meetings scheduled for any City Council conference rooms or the Council Chambers for Thursday or Friday of this week.
• If you need Mayor John Peyton Friday afternoon, try the golf tournament and start in the Island Club.
• Jacksonville Community Council Inc. Forward is having a Spring Social. It’s April 4 from 5:30-7:30 p.m. at Gresham Smith & Partners on Belfort Rd. Free beer and wine, music, door prizes and catering by Boomtown.
• This year’s Laurel Awards which recognizes the area’s top real estate agents is April 7 at the Marriott Sawgrass. All kinds of awards are given out, but this year’s grand prize is a good one: a trip to London and Paris.
• As the NCAA tournament progresses, CBS has made it easy for the cubicle dwellers among you to keep up with the action online. The network’s online webcasts of the games include a “boss button,” that puts up a fake spreadsheet onto computer screens at a moment’s notice.
• If you happened to get a cell phone call from someone at the basketball games while you were watching it on TV, one thing may have dawned on you: the games were tape-delayed by about three seconds.
• Finance Committee chairman Daniel Davis brought a little hip-hop flava Monday to his committee’s meeting. Calling Public Works Project Manager David Schneider to the microphone, Davis asked, “Is David Schneider in the house?”
• Speaking of the Finance Committee, members sometimes bicker but everyone on Monday seemed to agree on the merits of City Chief of Engineering John Pappas. After Pappas delivered comments Monday several members sung his praises as an efficient professional. One member rang in just to say “ditto.” When Pappas sat down City Chief Operating Officer Alan Mosely called “John, you da’ man.”
• Supervisor of Elections Jerry Holland got initial approval for about $11,000 to put up signs around town identifying polling locations. But Council member Pat Lockett-Felder didn’t want Holland taking credit for it. The idea started with Council member Mia Jones, she said. “I like to give credit to you when you come up with good ideas Mr. Holland,” she said. “But Mia Jones did this one.”