• Pulitzer Prize-winning composer George Walker is on the guest list to attend the Ritz Chamber Players concerts Feb. 20 at the Friday Musicale at 645 Oak St. in Riverside. Performances of selections by Beethoven, Dvorak and one of Walker’s compositions, “Music for 3,” are scheduled for 11 a.m. and 7:30 p.m. Admission is free, for reservations call 355-7584.
• If you have tried to pay your electric and water bill online and discovered you have to re-enter all your bank information, it’s because JEA has chosen a new vendor for that service and the previous provider refused to share the information. By the way, more people every month are choosing an alternative to mailing a check for payment. According to JEA, of the almost 400,000 accounts that are billed each month, about 10 percent are paid at a neighborhood third-party location, 10 percent use the on-line option and 5 percent use the pay-by-phone with a credit or debit card method.
• Michele Querry, formerly of Mayor John Peyton’s original campaign team and The Dalton Agency, is now with the Florida Community College at Jacksonville Foundation. She is the Foundation’s director of strategic capitalization and development.
• City Council President Ronnie Fussell has been asked to join the City’s Juvenile Justice Comprehension Strategy Steering Committee by Ros Mixon-Phillips, director of the City’s Recreation and Community Services Department. An executive order signed by Peyton in 2007 requires the Council president or their designee belong to the committee, which meets again March 1.
• Speaking of Council, member Don Redman has already filed for re-election in 2011. Others who have filed to run for state office include Council member Art Graham (State Sen. Jim King’s seat), former Council member Reggie Fullwood (State Rep. Dist 15, currently held by Audrey Gibson) and State Rep. Mike Weinstein for re-election.
• Amtrak is honoring the legacy of African-American railroad porters this week as part of African American History Month. The local connection is that the porters union, the first black labor union in America, was founded in 1925 by A. Philip Randolph. He grew up in Jacksonville and eventually had the street that runs through the Sports Complex named after him.
• Jacksonville Film Events will hold its third annual “Oscar Viewing Party” Feb. 22 at the Five Points Theatre at 1028 Park St. Doors open at 7 p.m. and the telecast begins at 8 p.m. Proceeds will benefit the Jacksonville International Film Festival. More info is available at 633-9399.
• Those who attended the breakfast reception for Qiao Hong, Consul General of the People’s Republic of China, learned that an economic crisis isn’t all bad. Hong explained that, in Chinese, crisis means both danger and opportunity. She was hopeful that America might use the opportunity provided by the current economy to invest and visit China.
• The City’s Ethic Commission Legislative Subcommittee will meet Feb. 19 at 5 p.m. in Committee Room A at City Hall.