This is Lombard calling about the Department of Human Services in Villa Park. They lost my paperwork and I have to wait 30 to 50 days for my services which isn’t fair to me. I’ve been calling for three weeks now every day to the supervisor and can’t get an answer back. On the recordings they say they will call back within 24 hours but that’s not true. What do we have to do as citizens in order to get what we deserve? I work a minimum wage job and it isn’t enough to cover my costs so I do need the assistance. How do we get help, what do we have to do for these people to help us? I would really like to know if we can get an answer from these people because it’s not fair to us who are waiting for services.

In a June 17 New York Times article by Dirk Johnson and Rachel Cromidas, the authors write that as many as 900 county residents are coming to the Villa Park branch of the Illinois Department of Human Services each day in need of assistance. That’s according to Phyllis Baxter, the site administrator, who said that not only have requests for help increased, but because of the state being $13 billion in debt, the office cannot increase its 81-member staff to deal with the surge. One caseworker said her caseload has increased from 900 four years ago to currently more than 2,300 cases. The article further states that the Villa Park office is the busiest in the state, followed by the Blue Island branch office.—JAC

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I would just like to thank the local firefighters for actually honoring their collective bargaining agreement and contract and not volunteering to drive the fire equipment for free in the local parade. Good for them for sticking to their rules and I wonder how many of their civilian critics would actually volunteer to work for free at their jobs. Anyway, we do appreciate them.

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This is Lombard calling. With the multiple power outages and multiple storms we have had, I don’t understand, with modern technology, why intersections with stoplights aren’t backed up with a battery. No intersection should be darkened or blinking red. We should not have intersections with massive traffic jams in or after the storms.

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Lombard calling.  I am very disappointed with the village's response in the Lombardian to the work stoppage on St. Charles Road.  We understand that it is not the village's fault that the labor union went on strike. However, when the work began on St. Charles Road, the village sent a letter to all of the downtown businesses and residents stating that all of the work would be completed by June 30. June 30 was two days before the strike started. If the village had paid attention, they would have realized that for the two weeks before the work stoppage, hardly any work was being completed on St. Charles Road. The village had a responsibility to the downtown businesses and residents to keep an eye on the project and ensure that is was complete in a timely manner.  Now, in yet another display of the village not caring about downtown Lombard, we are stuck with a half completed project. This is hurting business downtown but, again, the village just doesn't care.

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Thank you, Lombard, for removing the red light camera at the intersection of Finley and Roosevelt roads.

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This is Lombard calling. I went to Villa Park’s July 4 parade; nice parade, but if we have to have our dogs on leashes when we take them for a walk, why can’t the Villa Park police officer with his dog keep it on a leash when it was walking in the parade? If someone else were to walk their dog without a leash, we’d be cited. Why can’t the officer set the example?

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The process for choosing the Lombardian Idol winners needs to be changed. Right now, there is no judging as to who is the most talented, or who gives the best performances. A “decibel meter” is used to measure the audience response for each participant. Guess what—the most talented singers don't necessarily win. The singers with the largest and loudest supporters wind up winning. Why can’t one, two or three impartial judges select the winners based on talent? Each of the three winners this year received $150, so there is something at stake in the contests.

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I am responding to the comment about the school board president speaking at Willowbrook High School’s graduation. I agree with the comments about the speech. It is quite stale. But how can the principal, or anyone else, keep the school board president from speaking at graduation?

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People are always calling to complain about things; I’m calling to compliment the Village of Lombard for a job very-well done. The fireworks this Fourth of July were spectacular. It was a great idea to turn the lights on after the fireworks were over so people could see their way back to their homes or their cars. People didn’t leave a whole lot of garbage this year. The lights were turned on and people could see what they left, and the next morning the park was completely cleaned up. All in all, wonderful fireworks and a wonderful job by the village of Lombard and everybody involved in making sure the fireworks went smoothly this year. Hope to see them again next year.

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Lombard calling in response to the error you printed on my statements from the July 7 edition. I said in the recent storm the street in front of my house was a lake full of water. You printed it wrong. I want it clarified to the people reading this paper the exact comment. The street in front of my house, at Norbury and Charing Cross, was a lake, full of water. You can ask my neighbors. Not my house. So put it right in the paper.

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I’m calling from Villa Park. I just heard that Villa Park is dragging its feet about giving permits for the Sonic restaurant over on Roosevelt Road. Just one more thing that we don’t want here. I thought we wanted to try and attract business for revenue, etc. We chased off the off-track betting and now we’re going to do it to a Sonic restaurant? Come on, Villa Park, let’s get on the stick.

Shubhra Govind, AICP, director of community development for the Village of Villa Park, responded to your comments: “Please be advised that the village has been ready to issue a permit for Sonic for several weeks now—the ‘ball is in their court’—we are waiting for some missing information from the applicant which is needed prior to issuing the permit. My understanding is that the applicant and the shopping center are working on some issues on their end, and additionally, in talking to the applicant today, this currently ongoing strike is an obstacle in moving forward with construction. There is no delay on the village's part.”—JAC

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Once again, to the people who are upset that the fire department takes a big truck to the grocery store. Let’s say this time they take a smaller vehicle to the store and get a fire call and all other trucks are also on a call. Now they have to drive back to the fire station and switch vehicles. This is a lot of wasted time.It could be the difference between life and death and a house being totally lost. So, stop crying and complaining about why they have to drive a big truck to the store—they do it for a very good reason. Like I said before, just worry about yourself and stop finding things to complain about.

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Hi, this is Lombard calling. I went to the Taste of Lombard and I think maybe next year they should change it to the Taste of Carnival Food. I only noticed two Lombard pizza restaurants that were at the Taste; one Glendale Heights barbecue restaurant was there and everything else was carnival food, from alligator to all kinds of ethnic food—nothing I see of restaurants in Lombard. I don’t know why the Jaycees don’t try to get local restaurants to participate more. It’s supposed to be the Taste of Lombard, not the Taste of Carnival Food. I was really disappointed again.