• Two hours before Tuesday’s regular meeting of the City Council, the mayor’s office distributed a letter to each member explaining that Mayor John Peyton had vetoed ordinance 2010-330, the $3.5 million appropriation to purchase a parking lot for the Landing approved unanimously by the Council June 8. Tuesday evening the veto was overridden with a unanimous ballot under Council Rule 4.1003, which provides that with at least a two-thirds majority, legislation may be enacted “notwithstanding the mayor’s veto.”
• Speaking with interns in the legal community last week, Chief Assistant State Attorney Dan McCarthy urged them to visit courtrooms. “You can learn so much about a community and its people from sitting in court. That’s one of the things that disappoints me. I don’t think I’ve ever seen one of our City Council members sitting in the back of the courtroom,” he said. Council member John Crescimbeni, seated next to McCarthy after talking to the interns about Council, did not respond and declined comment later.
• Attorney Patrick Kilbane, formerly of Rogers Towers, will join the family law section of Gray Robinson on July 6.
• The Hispanic Bar Association of Northeast Florida will say goodbye to outgoing President Vanessa De Rosa Lipsky with an “Adios y Suerte” (Goodbye and Good Luck!) Happy Hour 6-8 p.m. Thursday at Black Bean Cuban Cuisine Restaurant in San Marco. Lipsky is moving to Tallahassee
• The Jacksonville Asian American Bar Association will also bid farewell to its outgoing leader at its meeting noon July 2 at Basil Thai. President Bejal Patel moved to Tampa and the association will hold its annual election at the meeting. Nominations are due Friday.
• Sandra K. Johnson has joined the law firm of Edwards & Ragatz as a legal assistant. She has 17 years of experience as a paralegal.
• Good sales news from the Florida Association of Realtors. It says existing single-family home sales through Realtors in the Jacksonville metro area jumped 23 percent from May 2009 to May 2010, from 1,061 to 1,303 sales. Sales of existing condos rose 53 percent, from 136 to 208.
• Not the best price news for metro Jacksonville from the state Realtors, though. The median price for existing single-family homes fell 13 percent, $166,000 to $145,000, while the median existing condo price dropped 43 percent, from $138,600 to $79,500.
• Time for grades. Florida earned a D in manufacturing from Ball State University in its Manufacturing & Logistics 2010 National Report. Florida aced tax climate but received Cs for logistics, human capital, benefit costs, global reach, venture capital , diversification and productivity and innovation. Indiana, by the way, made three As, one B and five Cs.
• About 20 North Jacksonville students are in “ChemCamp” this week. A First Coast Manufacturers Association committee is offering the 10th annual event to 20 incoming high-school freshmen with strong interests in science, math and particularly chemistry. Included are tours at IFF International - Flavors & Fragrances Inc., CSX Transportation, LyondellBasell and Reichhold Inc.
• In a recent letter to Mayor John Peyton, Nonprofit Center CEO Rena Coughlin and others in the nonprofit industry urged Peyton to fund the Public Service Grant adult services program at $3.7 million for the next fiscal year. The program is the primary way the City partners with nonprofits that serve adults, said Coughlin, and was funded at a low of $2.4 million for fiscal 2009-10.