As Fort Wayners collectively grumble about the closing of Clinton Street, cost overruns at Citizens Square and possible increases in water rates, let's pause to celebrate a few things that make Fort Wayne great.

Just in time for February – the year's most romantic month with most uncooperative weather – we're highlighting 10 of the reasons we love this city.

Our teachers rock. Onstage. With guitars and drums and awesome haircuts. Jay Hackbush, for instance, is one of 1,929 Fort Wayne Community Schools teachers. But he's also been known to grab a guitar, kick over an amp, rip it up onstage and then teach art at Weisser Park Elementary School the next day.

Followers of the local music scene will remember Hackbush as a member of local punk and indie bands. He also wears black Chuck Taylors, which has been scientifically proven to increase a person's coolness factor by 36 percent.

We're a character on "Glee." Some of McKinley High's toughest competition comes by way of Fort Wayne's imaginary learning academy Westvale High School. The school's choir (referred to by "Glee" character Sue Sylvester as "the not-at-all stupidly named Aural Intensity") has no trouble singing Josh Groban/Olivia Newton-John mash-ups. And just a couple weeks ago, McKinley football coach Shannon Beiste and Ohio State football recruiter Cooter Menkins got married at a 24-hour wedding chapel, right here in the City of Churches. Glad we could help.

Our teenagers are making Fort Wayne a better place to live. By the time Nick Arnett was in middle school, he had already landed a paid position with the city's Downtown Improvement District. Since then, he's developed the DID's Clean & Green initiative and the city's urban gardening program. Right now the South Side High School alum (he graduated last year) is visiting other cities as the Millennial 2020 coordinator for the Northeast Indiana Regional Partnership.

Here's hoping Arnett and other teenagers like him will inspire changes in Fort Wayne and make it a place where young people want to live and work.

Our mayor jokes around with Jimmy Kimmel. When the time came to name the new local government building (now known as Citizens Square), the online community's vote was to name the building in honor of a former mayor, Harry Baals. When late-night TV talk show host Jimmy Kimmel caught wind of the debate, he gave Fort Wayne's own Baals his 15 minutes of fame.

Mayor Tom Henry – never one to shy away from a joke – sent Kimmel a T-shirt that read: "You Already Know Fort Wayne Has Baals. Come See Our Other Assets."

We've turned chili dog making into an art. Larger cities may have hot dog carts on every corner, but last summer Fort Wayne was home to a hot dog renaissance. We already know we can't compete with the classic Coney Island dog, so local street vendors are getting creative.

Bo Gonzalez of "Bravas Food Inc" offers the El Gringo, made with chili, Fritos, guacamole, pico de gallo and his super secret Brava sauce. And Linda Parker and Byron Chase's American Gypsy Dog cart, which made appearances at the Historic Farmer's Market on West Main Street last summer, offered dogs topped with pulled pork or homemade macaroni and cheese. Who knows what other hot-dog delicacies we'll eat this summer?

Our New Year's babies were named Parker and Piper. When you consider all the names used in the past year – Blue Ivy (Beyonce, Jay-Z), Kannon Valentine (Kevin James), Moroccan (Mariah Carey), Bear Blu (Alicia Silverstone), Harper Seven (Victoria and David Beckham) – we seem pretty classy.

Our civilians are action heroes. In November, a customer at the Freedom Financial Federal Credit Union elbowed a man attempting to rob the place. He knocked him down, chased him outside and then wrote down his license plate number. That's a Fort Wayner for you. Gutsy and thorough.

You can find all of the following on South Calhoun Street: Oysters Rockefeller (Oyster Bar, 1830 S. Calhoun St.), duck soup (Mahnin Asian Restaurant, 2701 S. Calhoun St.), Vietnamese iced coffee (Saigon Restaurant, 2006 S. Calhoun St.), enchiladas (La Margarita, 2713 S. Calhoun St.), fresh Asian vegetables (Asian Market, 2615 S. Calhoun St. or Hoa Hung Oriental Grocery, 1940 S. Calhoun St.) and Crispin cider on tap (Calhoun Street Soups, Salads & Spirits, 1915 S. Calhoun St.)

Our purses have Hollywood groupies. In January alone, Vera Bradley items have been seen on TV episodes of "Modern Family" and "Parenthood." Last year, we spied them on "How I Met Your Mother," "Mike & Molly," "The Good Wife," "Glee" and "The New Girl."

We've used one of the best toilets in the country. In 2010, the 82-year-old bathroom at the Embassy Theatre was named one of the top 10 bathrooms in the United States by Cintas Corp., a company that supplies uniforms, floor mats and other services for businesses. Inlaid marble stalls, hand carved ceiling beams, ornate light fixtures – all viewable from a toilet. That's luxury.

edowns@jg.net