• The Jacksonville Regional Chamber of Commerce is launching a new leadership training initiative next month. According to the Chamber’s e-newsletter, “Leadership: Evolution” will “focus on the high-potential emerging leaders within your company to provide them with the competitive resources and knowledge necessary for a greater leadership role within your organization.”
• The Golf Channel is holding a big event for kids Aug. 18 at TPC Sawgrass. The Mutual of Omaha drive, chip and putt contest is for boys and girls ages 7-14 and there’s no entry fee.
• The City Web site, www.coj.net, will soon be redesigned to reflect the government’s reorganization into the new “business units” but that won’t be the only change. The banners on the tops of the pages will also be changing and each department head, division chief and constitutional officer has been asked to submit the names of three employees whose pictures will be featured on the new banners. The memo from the Public Information Office reminded the supervisors that “the City’s Web site should reflect the diversity seen in all departments” and warned that if the selections are not received by today, any non-responsive departments’ banners “will be missing the most important crucial part of the City equation – our employees!”
• The Florida Public Relations Association presented its 2007 Golden Image Awards in Sarasota Tuesday and AXIA Public Relations and Marketing brought a couple home to Jacksonville. The agency was recognized for media coverage of Turfgrass America and MiniVerde, the grass used on the greens for The Players Championship. AXIA also received an award for the public relations campaign for Operation Skate that went from a group of concerned parents who wanted to find a place where their kids could skate safely to a full-fledged 501(c)3 organization that opened a skate park in Fernandina Beach last November.
• The state is looking into the operation of “casino” parlors. There are four in Duval County and one in Clay, and the operation appears to be on the edge of the law. You buy a phone card and each dollar you spend gives you a “point” that you can use on slot machines. The slots pay off in cash. Yes, the phone card is good for calls.
• It’s pedal-to-the-metal time for The Shipyards. The 200 or so who put up $10,000 for a deposit on a condo have been sent contracts for the full amount, so they’ll soon know how many actual presales they have and how many will leave the 10 grand behind. Construction of the residential tower should start in February.
• The sports board is selling tables for the Oct. 27 Florida-Georgia Hall of Fame luncheon. You’ll pay $500 for 10 seats to see this year’s class inducted.
“What dreadful hot weather we have! It keeps me in a continual state of inelegance.”
– Jane Austen