• Going to the beach? Beginning July 4 you don’t have to lug all your gear down to the water’s edge. A new company called Rent Beach Stuff has set up shop at the Quality Suites Oceanfront in Jacksonville Beach so beachgoers can rent anything from a chair and an umbrella (they’ll even set it up for you) to a surfboard or kayak. Manager Tom Baker said the service will be available seven days a week until Labor Day then on weekends only.
• New ticket manager at the Gator Bowl Association: Chris Mahan, a former intern. He replaced Lance Grantham, who’s now the ticket man at the University of South Carolina.
• The Symphony’s annual meeting is June 19 at the T-U Center. Members and donors only, though.
• They’ll introduce the new executive committee at the June 19 Jacksonville Community Council Inc. meeting. The year-end report and forum results for four different studies are also on the agenda. Things get underway at 5:30 at the JCCI offices on Beach Boulevard.
• OPUS, the Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra’s young professional group, is celebrating the symphony’s Saturday evening “Music of the Eagles” Plugged-in Concert with a “Hotel California” after-party at Mark’s on Bay Street. Bring your ticket stub and get free cover and a free drink.
• Gov. Charlie Crist has appointed five people to the Child Care Executive Partnership. It’s a public/private partnership created by the state legislature in 1996 to help employers meet the needs of working parents. One of the new appointments is Dr. Veronica Valentine, a Ponte Vedra Beach resident who is president and CEO of Child Guidance Center, Inc.
• City Council members Ray Holt and Michael Corrigan called a special meeting this week regarding Ordinance 2008-243 which seeks to rezone 287 acres on Alta Drive on the Northside to make way for an industrial park and distribution center that will serve the port’s impending expansion. Homeowners and the developers have been clashing over the issue of hiding the industrial use from the residents. Proposals have included berms and fences and even the possibility of somehow constructing a 45-foot tall warehouse that would look like something you’d build in a semi-rural residential area. Council member Bill Bishop also attended the meeting and came up with a novel suggestion: why not plant trees to block the view?
• Though Sundrez at the Landing is open for business in its new location, there are still remnants of the shop in the previous space. A display featuring a cowboy hat-wearing horse and billboard with children’s pictures and comments about the Equestrian Center still remains.
• Speaking of the Landing, (now) former tenant Edgewater Treasures Fine Jewelry & Collectibles shut its doors on June 1 as reported in an April Daily Record, but plenty of merchandise still remains inside with posters advertising a liquidation sale with everything 30–70 percent off.
• With fuel prices soaring, one Jacksonville resident sent Mayor John Peyton a recommendation on alternative energy – a May 30 New York Times article that discussed how old restaurant grease is being stolen and used as a biodiesel. The resident also made it easy for Peyton – the portion of the article discussing price, availability and attainability is underlined and circled.
• Courthouse consultant San Mousa says to expect to see visible signs of work on the new facility when drilling starts in August or September.
“The press and politicians. A delicate relationship. Too close, and danger ensues. Too far apart and democracy itself cannot function without the essential exchange of information. Creative leaks, a discreet lunch, interchange in the Lobby, the art of the unattributable telephone call, late at night.”
– Howard Brenton and David Hare, British playwrights