• The Jacksonville Port Authority and Korean shipper Hanjin made it official Tuesday when the Hanjin board of directors approved a 30-year lease with the Port Authority. Hanjin will build a $300 million, 90-acre container facility at Dames Point that will be completed in late 2011. The facility is expected to create more than 5,600 new jobs with an annual economic impact of nearly $1 billion. Hanjin is Korea’s largest container carrier, moving more than 100 million tons of cargo each year.
• A few items of note were read into the record at Monday’s City Council meeting. One bill would provide $87,500 in City funding for next year’s Bob Hayes Track Meet while another would set aside $425,000 for “trees, grass, irrigation systems and other improvements” to Laura and Bay streets. Also, Council will consider legislation that will appropriate $109,000 from a special contingency fund for rent forgiveness for the Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra, which leases space in the Times-Union Center.
• City Council President Ronnie Fussell paid off a Georgia-Florida football wager at Monday night’s Council meeting. Fussell has pledged if the Bulldogs lost the game, the Gators and Gator fans on the Council could cut off his necktie and with obvious enjoyment they did. Fussell took the precaution of wearing an extra tie around his neck for the ceremony and cautioned his scissor-wielding colleagues to, “Be careful and don’t cut the wrong tie.”
• If you have put off getting a flu shot this season because it wasn’t convenient, Solantic has a solution. Friday from noon-5 p.m. at the Southside clinic (8705-2 Perimeter Park Blvd.) you can drive through and be vaccinated without getting out of your vehicle. It will cost you $30 and no appointment is necessary.
• Interesting note regarding this year’s Jacksonville Regional Chamber of Commerce Leadership Trip to Seattle: For the first time in several years, there are no City Council members participating.
• Three new members have joined to the City’s Taxation, Revenue and Utilization of Expenditures (TRUE) Commission: Joe Andrews, Steve Jarecki and Robert Jones. Andrews said he joined the Commission because one year ago he was part of the Concerned Taxpayers of Duval County and was interested. Jarecki has been a Jacksonville resident since 1989 and was in the Navy. “I’m a local tax attorney,” said Jones. “Hence my interest.” Jones added that he is also interested in learning more about the City’s fiscal policies.
• Speaking of the TRUE Commission meeting, among the possible future candidates is Jason Fischer – the same Jason Fischer who ran for the Duval County Soil and Water Conservation Board Group 4 seat and expressed interest in joining the Commission either through Community Policy Analysis Center or through the mayor’s office. Fischer said he will submit his credentials to both for possible appointment to the Commission.