The First Baptist hotel. Adam's Mark Hotel. First Baptist Lighthouse. All those purple signs telling people where the river is. The Jacksonville Economic Development Commission recently decided to set up a tourism center task force to mull the future of the convention center.
Consultants frequently mull.
Often they roil, and do pie charts. You may recall consultants originally conceived the convention center as a railroad train station. The task force goal will be to assess the ideal size and location for a convention center, the news report said. The city needs an outside consultant to give a ''true, accurate picture of what the marketplace will hold,'' the story quoted commission member Kitty Ratcliffe. The idea for the outside consultant, as opposed to an inner circle sachem, is said to be to minimize the impact of special interests.