• If you feel like there’s a noticeable absence of local business and political leaders this week, including Mayor John Peyton, there’s a good reason for it. The Jacksonville Regional Chamber of Commerce’s annual Leadership Trip is this week. Most will be in Kansas City until Thursday.
• Police and Fire Pension Fund Executive Director/Administrator John Keane continues to report good news surrounding the economy and the fund’s recovery. He says the fund has recovered over $180 million since hitting its low in March.
• Correction to a Friday City Note. The “Raising Bar” seminar at the Courthouse Annex is Thursday.
• JTA is holding a public meeting Oct. 15 at Twin Lakes Academy Middle School to talk with residents about the planned improvements for the Southside Boulevard/Baymeadows Road intersection. The meeting is from 5-7 p.m.
• The 26th Annual Caring Chefs fundraiser for the Children’s Home Society is set for Oct. 25 at the Avenues Mall from 7-9:30 p.m. Tickets are $60. Over the years, the event has generated $2.2 million, raising $170,000 last year. For more, call 493-7739 or log on to chcaringchefs.com.
• The owners of Salt Life, the new restaurant on Third Street in Jacksonville Beach next to Mellow Mushroom, say they will open in about two months.
• The Great Jacksonville Book Fair returns Oct. 23-25 to the Jacksonville Fairgrounds. Friends of the Jacksonville Public Library have set a goal to raise $250,000 for the library this year, so it decided to add a second book sale for the first time. Friday and Saturday the sale starts at 10 a.m. and the Sunday opening is at noon. For more information call 630-2304 or go to www.fjpl.org.
• Jacksonville Municipal Stadium won’t be the only structure rocking when football teams from Florida and Georgia universities visit Jacksonville Oct. 31. The City Hall Pub, next to the arena on A. Philip Randolph Boulevard, will host 60 hours of rock music during its “Rocktoberfest” event. A continuous lineup of bands will perform at the restaurant and club Oct. 28-31 including tribute bands “Led Hed,” a Led Zeppelin tribute band; “1984,” a Van Halen tribute band performing music from the David Lee Roth years; and “Carnival of Crue,” a Motley Crue tribute band.