• Couple of new additions to the Jacksonville Jaguars recently purchased homes in the area. Wide receiver Dennis Northcutt bought a $950,000 house in Queen’s Harbour while offensive coordinator Dirk Koetter bought a $2.1 million house in Glen Kernan Golf & Country Club.
• Mayor John Peyton has been asked by Miami Mayor Manuel Diaz to sign the U.S. Mayors Climate Protection Agreement. The agreement aims to reduce greenhouse emissions in cities across the nation. According to Diaz, as of May 29 only 31 Florida mayors had signed the agreement and Peyton wasn’t one of them. So far, over 500 have signed nationwide.
• Jerry Hamm Chevrolet will break ground on its newest dealership during a June 15 ceremony. It’ll be on Philips Highway, just north of Emerson Street.
• Neptune Beach Mayor Dick Brown is a little peeved at the mayor’s office these days after reading a story in The Beaches Leader in which a mayoral spokesperson said the beach would receive a “direct hit” from the looming budget cuts. Brown said he was “extremely disappointed” to find out through the paper and not in a meeting. “This reminds me of how the County/Beaches relationship got so rocky in the early 90’s,” said Brown. Peyton’s communications chief Susie Wiles informed the mayor she has “called all the parties and explained.”
• City Council member Lake Ray is hosting a “backyard barbecue” Saturday for incoming Council Dist. 1 member Clay Yarborough.
• Speaking of Yarborough, he has hired Angela Ryan as his executive council assistant. Ryan is currently a Council receptionist along with Kimberly Martin.
• City Council member Warren Jones — who was just sworn in Monday — has been appointed to the Audit and Economic, Community and International Development committees. Jones replaces Council member Glorious Johnson who served on the committees since former Dist. 9 Council member Reggie Fullwood resigned at the end of last year. Fullwood was seeking a seat in the State House of Representatives.
• The Jacksonville Public Library system has released its annual report from fiscal year 2005-06. Some numbers from the report: 4.36 million people visited public libraries; 7.93 million materials were checked out; 9,568 children attended over 600 educational after school programs; and 238,143 people attended over 9,000 programs.
• Former Gov. Bob Martinez (1987-91) has joined the law firm of Holland & Knight as a senior policy advisor. Martinez served as the nation’s Drug Czar under Pres. George H.W. Bush from 1991-93 and as mayor of Tampa from 1979-86. He’ll have offices in Tampa, Tallahassee and Washington, D.C.
“The mugger who is arrested is back on the street before the police officer, but the person mugged may not be back on the street for a long time, if ever.”
– Mario Cuomo, former Governor of New York, calling for the hiring of more police.