• Francine Marabell, RN, MSN and senior manager of developmental health for the Jacksonville Children’s Commission, has been recognized as one of the “Great 100 Nurses of Northeast Florida 2007” in the Community Nursing category by Great 100 Nurses of Northeast Florida, Inc. Since 2003, She has led programs for children to provide speech, hearing, developmental, nutrition and dental screenings for children under the age of five in subsidized daycare. Marabell will be honored at the Great 100 Nurses 2007 Celebration May 12 at the Hyatt Regency.
• The architecture and interior design firm of Fisher/Koppenhafer has moved. The new offices are on Cypress Green Drive.
• There may be a new hotel near the airport. Legislation was introduced to City Council last week that approves a development between the City and Jacksonville International Airport Road, LP for a 127-room hotel consisting of 150,000 square feet of hotel and a 5,000 square-foot restaurant.
• In conjunction with free Wednesday evening admission courtesy of Target, MOCA Jacksonville will start serving dinner in Cafe Nola on Wednesdays later this month.
• According to JTA spokesman Mike Miller, the 9-A/Regency flyover will be done early next year. Miller said the project will have a major impact in easing congestion in the area. Despite the desperate need for rain, Miller said the dry weather has allowed all JTA projects to stay on schedule or get ahead of schedule.
• Speaking of JTA, its shuttle from Downtown to Jacksonville International Airport is doing well. Miller said about 60 percent of the riders work at JIA while the other 40 percent are those going on day trips. Anyone who uses the shuttle can park at the Kings Avenue Garage for free.
• Those that use Gate Parkway will be pleased to know Gate Parkway West is finally open.
• Steve Cassada has joined City Council as an information systems administrator. He’s been with the City for over 10 years.
• Postal carriers across the U.S. will be participating in the National Association of Letter Carriers Food Drive. It is the largest of its kind with over 10,000 communities participating. This year’s food drive is May 12. Last year, Jacksonville collected 314,916 pounds of food.
• The Cummer Museum of Art & Gardens is offering a landscape composition field trip with landscape artist and instructor Alison Watson. Participants are asked to meet at the Walter Jones Historical Park in Mandarin for a demonstration, sketching, study, photography and a catered box lunch. The field trip is May 12 from 9:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m. for ages 16 and up. Cost is $52 for members, $72 for non-members and $32 for active docents. For more information call 355-0630.
“Home is the wallpaper above the bed, the family dinner table, the church bells in the morning, the bruised shins of the playground, the small fears that come with dusk, the streets and squares and monuments and shops that constitute one’s first universe.”
– Henry Anatole Grunwald