• There may not be any visible work being done on the new County Courthouse, but the bills are still piling up. Rink Design Partnership Controller Stephen Voellinger sent Steve Diebenow, Mayor John Peyton’s chief of staff, an invoice for “service charges on the past due balance.” The invoice is for $14,418.68 and the current outstanding balance is $1.34 million.
• A few new members to the Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC) Jacksonville program committee: Ronnie Ferguson, president of the Jacksonville Housing Authority, Valerie Hendriex, senior community development officer of Wachovia, and Mike Shalley, principal of MKS Partners, will serve on the committee that makes decisions on LISC’s grant and loan investments. LISC works to provide safe, affordable and family-friendly neighborhoods through technical expertise, grants and financing to housing providers.
• Correction to Thursday’s story about JTA’s charter changes: JTA officials did not pull the state bill changing JTA’s charter, but they asked that it be deferred. Only legislators can pull a bill. And a clarification: JTA Executive Director Michael Blaylock did not apologize for proposing the charter changes but rather for not including the City Council and Council Auditor more directly.
• One more correction. In Thursday’s story about the Konica Minolta Gator Bowl and Jacksonville’s national exposure, the amount of time Jacksonville and others received was incorrect. During the game, Jacksonville received 6 minutes and 53 seconds of direct exposure valued at $1.66 million. Nike received 17 minutes and 45 seconds of exposure valued at $2.84 million.
• The Northeast Florida Paralegal Association is holding its annual membership mixer Feb. 28 at the River City Brewing Company. The RSVP deadline is Friday. For more information, e-mail Nancy O’Grady, paralegal at Spohrer & Dodd, at [email protected].
• Nominations for the third annual Keep Jacksonville Beautiful Awards are being accepted now until March 31. The City of Jacksonville, in partnership with the Keep Jacksonville Beautiful Commission, will award individuals, businesses, organizations and schools for efforts in keeping the city green and clean. Applicants will be judged in three categories: beautification, litter prevention and litter cleanup. Nomination forms and a summary of achievements must be filled out and can be downloaded from www.coj.net, keywords Keep Jacksonville Beautiful.
• Ever ridden the westernmost elevator in the Modis Building and noticed there isn’t a seventh floor button? Yes, there are IRS offices in the building, but, no, it’s not some secret government floor. It’s the building’s maintenance floor and it’s only accessible by the service elevator.
“The screech and mechanical uproar of the big city turns the citified head, fills citified ears—as the song of birds, wind in the trees, animal cries, or as the voices and songs of his loved ones once filled his heart. He is sidewalk- happy.”
– Frank Lloyd Wright, U.S. architect.