I’m a resident of Lombard on the south side, and I was wondering if we are ever going to get the new streetlights like the north side of Lombard has.

Carl Goldsmith, director of public works for the village, responded, “The Village Board of Trustees adopted Village Board Policy No. 03-1, ‘Street Lighting Policy’ on Oct. 2, 2003. The policy dictates the type and location of street lighting in Lombard. The policy provides that arterial streets, such as Main Street, would receive the decorative lighting seen on Main Street between Roosevelt and St. Charles Road. However, the village has no immediate plans to replace the existing lighting along Main Street south of Roosevelt Road.”—JAC

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This is for the Villa Park person who doesn’t like the people who voted for the referendum to have the streets fixed. He wants all those people to write checks, $200 or $250 at the end of the year. That person doesn’t realize that the senior citizens, the poor senior citizens, have their taxes frozen, so it doesn’t make any difference if the taxes go up. They voted for it, for the library, for the roads, for Willowbrook; their taxes are frozen because they’re poor. They make under $55,000. Check your tax bill. So, I guess you do have all your information straight.

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I was watching the national news and now, all of a sudden, scholastic standards are being changed that fourth-, fifth- and sixth-graders need to learn things now that were taught 30 or 40 year ago. Because of certain interest groups those values were changed, because American kids are falling so far behind because the American government was trying to appease other groups. Things that were learned, 20, 30, 40 years ago are now going to be standard again?

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This is Lombard calling. I wish somebody would post something in the paper; somebody keeps leaving dog waste that’s always on the corner. For two years now, dog waste is on the sidewalk and on the grass. I have children who walk with me now, they’re getting older; they’re stepping in it by accident because it is on the sidewalk. Maybe put it in the paper to let somebody know to pick up their dog waste.

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Lombard calling. The election is over a month old. Is anybody going to pick up the political signs in the vacant lot at Westmore and St. Charles? It looks like a garbage dump.

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Driving on Ardmore a while ago two women on the Prairie Path walked right across the road without looking. I stopped, obviously, and put my hand up to say, What were you doing? One pointed to sign with a bicycle and an arrow on it. Does that sign mean to anyone that you walk across in front of a car? It’s no wonder children and adults are getting hit by cars, trains, etc. It’s time to go back to stop, look and listen. Teach your children to be safe. Another woman by Walgreens had two small children, one in each hand, and a truck went by in front of them, and she told the children the truck driver was rude because he didn’t stop. Is every truck and car supposed to stop for every person crossing the street? That’s not what we should be teaching our children because they do not and cannot stop for everyone. It’s called common sense, what seems to be missing in this day and age.

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Listen closely, ladies and gentlemen. When companies go broke, it isn’t the guy who sweeps the floor, it’s the guy at the top, the CEO. He gets too many perquisites, he gets too many bonuses, he gets paid too much. He gets paid so much that he can’t begin to spend that money in a lifetime. He doesn’t have the time. But then again, when the state goes broke, where does it happen? It happens from the top down again; governors. Otto Kerner went to jail, Dan Walker went to jail, George Ryan went to jail, if found guilty, Blagojevich is going to jail. When it happens at the top and there are special interests involved, we all go broke.

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The other day I was behind a small SUV and to my surprise, saw two huge black dog heads, one on each side of the vehicle, hanging out the back seat side windows. It took a second to realize they were Newfoundlands. Their heads and necks were sticking out so far it nearly obstructed my view ahead of this vehicle, and I could see that their heads obstructed the driver’s view from the left and right rear-view mirrors. I could only shake my head in disgust that the person allowed the dogs to stick their heads out so far and that this person’s vision was blocked. I hate to think what would have happened had the vehicle been hit from any direction. Please, people, letting you dog hang its head out the window is not safe, no matter how much Fido seems to enjoy it.

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This is Lombard calling. I was wondering, who’s really responsible; the Village of Lombard or Waste Management for the garbage can never being dumped on the Prairie Path on Elizabeth? I go by there every morning walking my dog, and the garbage is overflowing. I the summertime, I’m telling you, it smells and this is something I’ve actually called the Village of Lombard on, I’d say every three to four weeks, that the can is not emptied. I’m just curious who’s responsible for this and I know we pay our taxes, so why is this not being done?

Carl Goldsmith, director of public works, responded, “Pursuant to Section 8A(15) of the contract between the Village and Waste Management, ‘The contractor shall provide, at no cost to the village, refuse and recycling collection for all village-owned sidewalk refuse containers and recycling containers located throughout the village at the Illinois Prairie Path, Great Western Trail, Lombard commuter station, downtown area of Lombard and at other locations designated by the village. The contractor shall provide at a minimum, once a week refuse and recycling collection from December through March, and three times a week (on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday), refuse and recycling collection from April through December. The village reserves the option, at its sole discretion, to add or remove any village designated location from collection service as well as to change the frequency of collections. The village shall notify the contractor in writing of any such changes. The contractor shall continue to provide public refuse containers along the Prairie Path upon execution of this contract.’ In the event that the refuse is not collected in a timely fashion, please contact the public works department at 630-620-5740.”—JAC

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This is Villa Park calling. This goes out to our village manager, Bob Niemann. Here’s what you should do: Take 10 percent of everybody’s budget and say, “Deal with it; this is what you have; we are in a recession. Deal with losing 10 percent; if you can’t deal with it, then you don’t have a job.” Also, for the village board: Stop raising our taxes, stop trying to raise our taxes and stop spending money on stuff we don’t really need at the present time, like the gas powered ambulance. Anybody who has a brain knows that gas engines don’t idle like a diesel does. What does an ambulance do? It idles. So, stop spending money unwisely.