• We’re about to lose one of our top executives. We hear that BellSouth’s top man here, Jim McCollum, will retire soon. You also know him as a head of the Chamber, aviation authority and Gator Bowl Association, among other top civic endeavors.
• Flagler College starts its “Spring Blink” today. Unlike many colleges, Flagler students and faculty don’t get a full week of spring vacation. Instead, they get two days. It’s not all bad news, though: the Flagler semester ends April 20, about a week earlier than most schools.
• In a City Note Wednesday we said the Chamber was having its annual open house next Thursday. The CVB is holding their open house next Thursday in their offices in 550 Water Street.
• The PGA Tour has produced a documentary about The Players Championship as it moved to the First Coast and evolved over the years. It’s called “Building for the Future” and it’s narrated by Tour Commissioner Tim Finchem.
• Council member Suzanne Jenkins wants to know where the mayor’s office got its numbers in claims that Jacksonville Landing owner Toney Sleiman originally sought $50 million in City incentives to overhaul the Downtown mall. Jenkins said she’s heard the number at a pair of presentations on Mayor John Peyton’s “Big Idea” for downtown. Jenkins sent Peyton’s communications chief Susie Wiles a public records request seeking the origin of the claim.
• A number of Downtown stakeholders have expressed interest in joining the Jacksonville Economic Development Commission’s Downtown committees, which will oversee the implementation of the Downtown master plan. Foley & Lardner’s John Welch is interested, (JEDC Executive Director Ron Barton told him “prepare to be drafted”), as is Downtown Vision Inc. Executive Director Terry Lorince. After a meeting with DVI board chair Steve Crosby, Lorince gave Barton DVI’s recommendation. “I talked with Steve Crosby... and he thinks it should be me,” she said in an e-mail.