Faces of volunteers seen throughout community
Serving others at any age is gratifying, uplifting Former corrections officer serves others after retirement Upon retiring as Director of Corrections in 2016 after working for the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office for 31 years, Tara Wildes would have been forgiven for putting up her feet and resting. Instead, she has devoted 20-plus hours a week to […]
San Marco lions celebrate 21 years
There was music, adult beverages, free commemorative photos, and, of course, cake as San Marco residents celebrated the 21st anniversary of the installation of the Lions’ Fountain in Balis Park Oct. 13. The fabulous felines, who dress up for every occasion, donned blue and white party hats with yellow tassels created by Karen McCombs, as […]
Road diet pain is worth the gain
After many years of hearing talk from the City of Jacksonville about its plans to make the busy road outside their high-rise condo and apartment buildings pedestrian- and bicycle-friendly, Southbank residents are finally seeing the Riverplace Boulevard Road Diet project come to fruition. “I have been eagerly awaiting this project since I first heard of […]
Residents take legal aim against developer
Even though fences are supposed to make good neighbors, the new wooden barrier recently erected along the property line between San Jose Estates and adjacent homes in the Christiana Forest subdivision has not helped to quiet tensions between the developers and their abutting homeowners. On Oct. 23, Madrid Avenue homeowners Kevin Conner and his next-door […]
Courthouse run goes big in Freed to Run 2.0
Jacksonville attorney Mike Freed’s passion for helping others is contagious. Last year, Freed launched Freed to Run, six marathons in six days from the Florida Supreme Court in Tallahassee to the Duval County Courthouse in Jacksonville. After years of doing pro bono work with the nonprofit Jacksonville Area Legal Aid, he decided to create his […]
Two of area’s oldest civic organizations use decades-old golf tournament to benefit others
On the cusp of celebrating its centennial anniversary next year, the Meninak Club of Jacksonville engaged in an annual decades-old friendly rivalry with the Rotary Club of Jacksonville – a charity golf tournament that harkens back to 1965, with roots going back 12 years earlier. The Meninak / Rotary Charity Golf Tournament pits a golf […]
Digging up history in Memorial Park
Nearly 94 years ago on Christmas Day, a Jacksonville Citizens Committee put a parchment scroll, onto which 1,220 names of Florida men and women who died serving in World War I had been beautifully inscribed in India ink, into a lead box. They soldered the box shut, put that box into a bronze box, soldered […]
Real estate shift coming to historic areas
The face of Jacksonville – especially its historic neighborhoods – will look significantly different in a few years. In the San Marco and Southside areas alone, more than $700 million in mixed-use projects – apartments, townhouses and retail – are expected to be developed. More than 3,000 families are anticipated to move into the Southbank […]
