• As a result of losing business to other student busing companies, First Student has notified the City it intends to close three of its facilities in town, resulting in 660 employees being subjected to possible layoffs. Cincinnati-based First Student lost the Duval County School District contracts to STA and Durham for the 2009-10 school year. The layoffs are permanent and will begin near June 5.
• Property Appraiser Jim Overton has released his 2008 annual report and the year say a .18 percent decrease in the value of taxable income in Duval County. According to the report, the taxable base in 2008 had a value of $61.069 billion and the projected gross taxes for the year are $1.041 billion.
• Speaking of that report, if you think our fees are bad here in Duval County consider the following: there are no impact fees and the monthly garbage fee is $4. In Orange County, the impact fees are $16,061 and the garbage fee is $15 a month. In Miami-Dade County, the impact fees are $4,806 and the monthly garbage fee is $37.
• The Players Championship is right around the corner, May 4-11, and if you haven’t noticed there are new banners on the light posts Downtown. County Court Judge Ronald Higbee will be able to watch the tournament in person for the first time in many years, he told students at Landmark Middle School during a Law Week presentation. Higbee will use some vacation time to follow some of golf’s best at TPC at Sawgrass.
• The Jacksonville Jaguars will host the 15th Annual Bud Light Draft Day Party at 3 p.m. on Saturday at The Landing. The event is free to the public and fans will be able to meet Jaguar players, Roar cheerleaders and mascot Jaxson de Ville, and get autographs. The event was held at the stadium when the Jaguars first moved to town, but has recently moved to The Landing.
• As the Jack Del Rio Foundation approaches its one year anniversary, June 18, it has a new director, Lauren Cangelosi.
• Congratulations to the University of North Florida’s newspaper, the Spinnaker. The Associated Collegiate Press recently named the school’s Web site one of six finalists for the 2009 Online Pacemaker, the organization’s highest honor. The winner will be announced in October. The paper was also named the second-best college newspaper in Florida in the Florida College Press Association’s annual contest.
• Visit Jacksonville is moving. After seven years at the 550 Building on Water Street, the city’s official tourism promotion agency has signed a lease for two floors in the Greenleaf Building on Laura Street. While the offices will be on the second floor, the street-level space will be a combination Visitor’s Center and art gallery. Plans are underway for an open house celebration in July.
• Ice cream is back every day at Hemming Plaza. Debbie Martin is setting up her Buzy Bee stand near the Skyway station Monday-Friday from 11 a.m.-2 p.m. Martin said although summer might seem the best time to sell ice cream, she set up shop Downtown last New Year’s Eve and “You’d be amazed at how much ice cream people ate that night.”
• As part of the preparations for next month’s Jacksonville Jazz Festival, the church pews will be removed from Snyder Memorial at the corner of Laura and Monroe streets to make more room for audiences at the temporary venue. It’s been designated an historic building, so City regulations prohibit permanent structural modifications without first applying for and obtaining a Certificate of Approval from the Historic Preservation Commission. Paul Crawford, deputy executive director of the Jacksonville Economic Development Commission, said the removal is only temporary. The pews will be refurbished offsite and replaced after the festival concludes.
• Space on East Bay Street near Mark’s and Dive Bar is currently undergoing interior demolition. Eventually it will be the site of chef Jonathan Insetta’s third restaurant, joining Downtown’s Chew and Cafe Orsay in Riverside. He grew up in Jacksonville and learned his craft first at Florida Community College at Jacksonville then at the Culinary Institute of America in New York.
• Overheard at Wednesday’s tour of the Haverty’s Building which will soon be the new headquarters of the City’s Code Compliance Division: Question: “Where are all the guys going to park their trucks?” Answer: “We’re still negotiating that.”