• Since 1988, Ray Hays, president of PRC Digital Media, has delivered desktop-sized American flags to his clients and contacts the week before Independence Day. This year, Hays went high-tech and delivered a CD-ROM collection of flags and copies of the nation’s founding documents. He also delivered the message, “Share with someone a moment of pride that our nation, while not perfect, represents the world’s best hope for freedom.”
• According to legislation on the City Council’s Rules and Finance Committee’s agendas, the City is looking to spend $400,000 on outside legal counsel in its legal battle against Seminole County and the St. Johns River Water Management District over the withdrawal of water from the river. The money will come from the City’s Environmental Trust Fund and will cover the “prosecution of City’s claims.”
• The City’s Disabled Parking Auxiliary Officers had quite a first month in operation. They wrote 267 citations in the four weeks after June 7 when they were sworn in, mostly for parking in handicap spaces without a permit. That’s twice the monthly average compared to before the all-volunteer “Parking Posse” hit the streets. Seventy percent of the fines collected go into the City’s Handicap Parking Trust Fund and are used to build wheelchair ramps and provide smoke detectors to disabled people who would not otherwise be able to afford them. The other 30 percent of the collected ticket revenue is contributed to the Police & Fire Pension Fund.
• Shula’s Grill 347 will officially open July 16. The restaurant, named after longtime Miami Dolphins coach Don Shula, is in the Sheraton Jacksonville in Tinseltown. There’s also a silent auction to benefit the Jaguars Foundation.
• The new Holiday Inn Express in Jacksonville Beach is open. It’s in the 1100 block of Beach Boulevard across from European Street Cafe.
• Speaking of Jacksonville Beach, Landshark Cafe has moved from its Atlantic Beach location to the former Time Out location on North Third Street.
• According to Jacksonville Economic Development Commission Compliance Coordinator Jorina Jolly, the estimated completion date for the bulkhead work at the Shipyards is Sept. 17. LandMar is developing the Shipyards and shoring up the bulkhead is phase 1 of the public improvement project.
• People hit the Beaches for the Fourth of July festivities last weekend and JTA couldn’t be happier. Why? Preliminary ridership numbers for the recently opened Beaches trolley service showed a triple-digit jump from what JTA Director of External Affairs Mike Miller and other officials forecasted. According to Miller, initial forecasts for each weekend was about 1,400 total; instead, the holiday weekend with slightly extended hours drew 3,807 riders. Saturday alone had 1,500 riders. To compare, opening weekend for the service drew, 2,964 riders. “We’re very, very pleased with the results so far,” said Miller.