• Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra violinist Piotr Szewczyk, who was featured in the May 2 Daily Record, has won the Fresh Ink 2008 Florida Composers’ Competition. Nine Florida composers were selected out of 23 entrants for this year’s competition and Szewczyk’s “Transposed Memories” was judged to be the best. He has won a commission by the symphony to compose a new work to be performed in the 2009-10 season.
• Twisted Martini at the Landing has come up with another way to watch the NBA Playoffs. Pick your team when you arrive to watch the games and if your favorite is leading at the end of the quarter, you’ll get 2-for-1 drinks during the next quarter. The promotion will be available though June 19, if the finals go seven games.
• Winn-Dixie has tabbed Robin Miller to serve as its spokesperson throughout hurricane season. Miller, the company’s director of communications, will handle all pre- and post-storm media inquiries.
• JTA Director of External Affairs Mike Miller sent an e-mail to City Council members last week inviting them to attend a public meeting to discuss the state-mandated Transit Development Plan June 26 at 5:30 p.m. Problem is there’s a conflict. As was pointed out in a response from one executive council assistant, that’s when all the Council members will be attending their installation ceremony.
• Speaking of Council, Assistant General Counsel Steve Rohan is holding a Sunshine Law compliance seminar for Council members and their assistants. The three-hour seminar is set for June 20 at the Main Library.
• Beware of the bartenders. Some chain restaurants are selling a 14-ounce “pint” in order to get 20 more pulls per keg. It’s all legal because “pint” isn’t defined as 16 ounces. How can you tell? The bottom of the glass is thicker.
• University of North Florida sports p.r. man Tom Strother has moved on — he’s now at Lutheran Social services.
• If you’d like to be a candidate for either of the City Council vacancies – the Group 2 At-Large seat of the Dist. 10 seat – qualifying begins at noon June 17 and ends June 20 at noon. To qualify by petition you’ll need 1,367 valid signatures for the At-Large seat, 85 valid signatures for the Dist.10 race. The deadline to submit petitions is tomorrow in order for the Supervisor of Elections Office to have time to verify the signatures. To qualify by fee, party-affiliated candidates are required to pay a $2,674.74 fee while non-affiliated candidates can qualify for $1,783.16. The Special First Consolidated Government Election is Aug. 26 and the Special General Election is Nov. 4. For more information call 630-8002.
• When members of the Downtown Council of the Jacksonville Regional Chamber of Commerce left the first breakfast meeting at the new location Friday, they took with them a tote bag from Currents Riverview Bistro at the Aetna Building. Inside the bag was a brochure about the restaurant’s catering services and a “Luna nutrition bar for women.” The label claimed it is “70 percent organic” and “entirely natural.” The label also said it should have been used by April 17, 2008.
• Nice letter from Pat Conner, southern regional director of corporate affairs and PR for HBO, to Jacksonville Economic Development Commission Executive Director Ron Barton. Conner commended the City — specifically Film Commissioner Todd Roobin and his staff — for how well Jacksonville handled the filming and debut of “Recount.” Conner said, “Jacksonville is a welcoming site for film production and promotion.”
• Jacksonville was recently named No. 76 on the MSNBC.com “The 100 Best Places to Raise a Family,” listing. Others from Florida include Coral Springs (No. 66), Orlando (No. 68) and Tampa (No. 81). The best in the country belonged to Honolulu, Hawaii. No cities in Florida placed in the 10 worst, which was headed by Brentwood, Tenn.
“The House Office Building is costing more than the combined cost of the Great Pyramids at Giza, the Colossus of Rhodes and the Hanging Gardens of Babylon. Three of the Seven Wonders of the World combined cost less money than an office building for 200 congressmen.”
– David Brinkley, journalist, in the New York Herald Tribune April 16, 1964