:: Five of the seven warmest temperatures ever recorded in the city occurred in the current millennium. The other two were in 1988 and 1889.
:: If there is a dearth of hot-weather favorite Fla-Vor-Ice at your local Northside market this weekend, blame erstwhile machine operator Kevin Sturgiss. A Jel-Sert delivery truck carrying over 2300 tubes of the cold, sugary treat was destroyed during Sturgiss’ lengthy botched bank robbery (and subsequent hostage crisis, police stand-off and eruption of vigilante justice) Tuesday on Garrick Ave.
:: Forms required to obtain a carriage-driver’s license for the City’s parks: 12, not including those related to the written and driving tests.
:: Forms required to obtain a hack license to drive a cab in the City: 3, including those related to the written and driving tests.
:: Warmest surface water temperature recorded at 17th Street Pier: 31 C, 87.8 F (2002).
:: Most ironic triple bill at the Founder’s Day Film Festival on a day where the high temperature reached 100 degrees Fahrenheit: August 5, 2002: In the Heat of the Night (1967), Body Heat (1981), Sahara (1943).
:: All the traffic lights around town controlled by motion sensors bear a sign reading, “Activate signal by pulling up to white line.” Except for one, which reads “Actuate signal by pulling up to white line.” The sign, at Thomas and Moreland avenues in the leafy Barrington District, is the sole reminder of Department of Public Works chief Daniel Solay, whose maddening attention to detail led him to be fired after a week and a half on the job.
:: 84-year old City Councilman Ned Fortune (District 5 – Little Kishinev/Loftville) has been re-elected to 12 consecutive 5 -year terms, despite the fact that, according to a recent poll conducted by the Alternative Weekly, not one of his constituents will admit to liking him.
:: The US Courthouse on Telegraph Ave., whose air conditioning has been under constant repair since 2003, continues to receive over six dozen weekly requests from jurors to re-stock vending machines with bottled water more than once every two weeks. For the 123rd consecutive week, they have refused.
– David Andrews, Shek Baker, Kevin Church, Craig Gaines