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November 17, 2010


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As a resident of Lombard I'm also dissatisfied with the post office as much as the previous SPEAK OUT caller is. I wasn't getting a weekly magazine on time, if at all, so I cancelled my subscription. Also a couple of bills came to my home after the due date so I went to the store to speak to the customer service to avoid the finance charges. I receive coupon offers after the expiration dates, and also a card from Chicago took four days to get to Lombard but only two days to get to Naperville from Chicago. And the postage rates are going to increase?

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This is Lombard calling; a half-million dollars for the streetlights, and the construction project on Main Street is absolutely terrible. Being residents of the north side of town, it’s embarrassing to say I live in Lombard. Mr. President, come spend some time on the north side of town and stop spending all your time on the south side of town. What's wrong with us? Talk about getting treated like second-class citizens; the businesses on St. Charles Road are all leaving and the village does nothing except construction, so that nobody will go and visit those businesses. Lombard needs a change bad; real bad.

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Congressman Roskam recently testified at a Medicare fraud hearing, exposing the waste that takes place in this program. The amount of fraudulent spending is 12 times that of the private credit card industry, although Medicare is 25 times smaller than the credit industry. Medicare fraud costs billions of dollars every year. The federal government is terribly inefficient at using our money and yet we pass a trillion-dollar health care bill. How much waste will take place then? Peter Roskam has introduced legislation to combat this type of fraud. Members like Roskam understand that the government needs to be held accountable when spending our money and offers meaningful solutions to reform them, including the technology before it happens.

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Hi, Lombard calling. I would like to congratulate the Addison, Lombard, Villa Park Relay for Life for being awarded the Relay for Life All American Award. The award is given to communities that show growth, retention, relay branding, diversity and leadership in incorporating various aspects of the relay promise.

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Lombard calling. I've been watching the Cruise Nights debate going on for a while, and I can see both sides of this argument. I live in downtown Lombard and I'm good friends with many of the business owners in the downtown area. Cruise Nights does bring a lot of people to the downtown area, and in that you've succeeded. However, you've created several problems. Number one, they all come with well-stocked coolers so they don't have to actually buy anything. Number two, they take up all the parking spaces so anyone who comes to the downtown area actually wanting to spend money has nowhere to park. I know for a fact that while some businesses profit from Cruise Nights, most do not and I've seen their sales records to prove it. Some even close early because of it. Number three, the noise level is ridiculous and loud exhausts aren't cool, especially when your baby's trying to sleep. And lastly, for anyone who lives in the downtown, getting around is a nightmare. You should really think about moving it somewhere else, like Yorktown, perhaps.

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This is Lombard calling. I would like to thank everyone for their responses to my concerns about Cruise Nights, particularly those who said I should move or board up my windows. I enjoyed those almost as much as I enjoy exercising my First Amendment rights. Not only do I live downtown and have for over 12 years, but I also work downtown. I meet and talk to my neighbors and others every day and guess what? The majority of them don't like Cruise Nights either. It's a nuisance to get around and there is no parking. But more importantly, where I work it is not "packed" during Cruise Nights. Our business is one of several that suffer because there is nowhere to park in front of the store and no way to park around back because North Park is shut down. I agree, though, that Cruise Nights brings people downtown and it's usually the same people week in and week out. But what all my naysayers have failed to address is none of these people are spending money and all these people don't translate to business the other six days a week, which is also the point. The folks who bring their car and walk around do just that and nothing more, because they bring their own food and drinks.

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In response to the person who thinks the global warming zealots are ridiculous to enact laws to control climate change you can get a life. If you can show me proof that the earth is cooling send it right along. 13 of the last 14 years were the hottest on record with 2010 on pace to be the warmest or second warmest on record. Don't take my word for it; just do around 30 minutes of research on Earth’s global average temperature instead of listening to the fixed news channel—you could learn something. Thermometers don't lie, but sometimes people don't have common sense. By the way, what's wrong with clean air anyway?

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Hi Lombard; spotted a coyote the other night—Nov. 13—at Madison School. We put our headlights on it, and it didn’t seem to phase it. It ran from the field and was walking down Green Valley toward Main. Think I need to watch my two little dogs at night. They would be a nice snack for a hungry coyote.

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One of the biggest problems we have in this country that's causing a lot of our problems and financial costs is too many people being employed by our government. Too many getting too many jobs and pensions; bonuses; and this, that and the next thing. They’re not producing anything. All we do is lose money, lose our tax dollars. The other thing is, the people who are unemployed should be made to either go out and clean up the parks, clean up the streets, rather than sit there and collect the money and doing nothing. Let’s make it productive. If you want unemployment you must work and do something because you're taking our tax dollars.

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This is in response to the person who called about President Obama not understanding government, that he has no experience. He was a senator, OK? He was a lawyer versed in constitutional law. You're right, though. He’s not skilled. The person went on to say that we need to vote for someone who has skills. So I’m wondering if that person who has skills is that lady from Alaska who quit her governor’s job half way through? Yeah, she's real skilled. I think I saw her at a debate once and she's so skilled she wrote the answers on her hand. Those are the skilled people you want us to vote for next time, huh?

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I’m responding to the caller who was complaining he or she had to work on Columbus Day while government workers had the day off. Sounds like jealousy. Just ask for the day off if you wanted it. You also made a comment you had to work so you could pay the salaries of government workers. I’m tired of hearing people say government workers have it so easy. I haven’t had a raise in a couple of years. You want to work some overtime? I hope you had a nice day at work. I sure enjoyed my day off.

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Hi, this is Lombard calling and I wanted to talk about the exit out of Ultra Foods onto Roosevelt Road, at Fairfield Avenue. There are those three lanes that leave that parking lot and I think that one lane should be a left turn, the center should be a left turn or straight and the right lane should be a right turn only. And the stoplight should be a green/arrow for the cars leaving the parking lot of Ultra Foods. I think it would make it much easier to get out of that parking lot if you did that with those three lanes. I am in no way affiliated with Ultra Foods.


 

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