Lombard calling. I live a couple of houses away from Madison Meadow park and was just wondering if anyone knows what they’re doing down there. I see a lot of dump trucks, a lot of earth-moving equipment and it looks like they’re trying to widen the paths. I was just wondering if anybody knew exactly what they’re doing down there.

According to Paul Friedrichs, executive director of the Lombard Park District, “The park district recently added 1.25 miles of paved pathways primarily around the perimeter of Madison Meadow. The facility is now accessible for the special needs population of the community from all parking lots and allows families with strollers to better access the facility.”—JAC

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I appreciate the Lombardian and SPEAK OUT. It gives insight to the views and feelings of Lombard. If you are a reader of SPEAK OUT, tell your friends to do the same. With enough readership, we can keep and formulate the Lombard we know and love.

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Congratulations to Mikey Melarkey, quarterback of the 133-pound Lombard Falcons football team, voted Best Offensive Player of the Year.

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About the remodel at Sunset Knoll park—where is somebody supposed to park his or her car? They took out the parking lot that was along Route 53, it appears; on Wilson off Finley there’s another parking lot but it’s reserved for the kids from Glenbard East, and then there’s one up by the school building, which is mighty far from some of those fields. Where do you park for that place?

Paul Friedrichs, executive director of the Lombard Park District, indicated that visitors can park at either of the two lots to the north and south of Sunset Knoll Recreation Center or at the Wilson Street lot when school is not in session.—JAC

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Lombard calling. I am disappointed with the mail service in Lombard. On Dec. 1 a car was parked by our rural mailbox. Therefore, we received no mail that day. I can’t control the parking on our street. If a car was parked at our mailbox every day, does that mean we would never get the mail? 

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Again I saw street lights on at 9 a.m. They were on between the train tracks going south on Main to Maple. I try to teach my children to turn out lights when they are not in use, not only to conserve energy but to conserve money in my wallet, aka the electric bill, so why can’t the village do the same? I know this won’t get a response but maybe it will alert those in charge of the light schedule so they get turned off in the morning. Or if there is a glitch, please fix it. It’s hard enough to pay my own electric bill, let alone a portion of the village’s bill.

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Hi, this is Lombard calling. During this hectic season when people hardly have time for themselves, let alone someone else, it’s so nice to meet a special person. While shopping at the Jewel in Villa Park I was talking to my grandson. No, I was stressing about Thanksgiving—I wasn’t talking. Then this wonderful lady approached me. She explained all the shortcuts and secrets to perfect gravy and dressing. God love her, she even sought me out to give me a gravy envelope to make it easy. My very first was special and it was perfect, thanks to her. I thank you, whoever you are. You were wonderful. You were my Thanksgiving angel.

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A daily paper reported on county board members’ poor attendance records at meetings, much of which is dismal considering that they work for us. I didn’t realize we needed a whopping 18 board members to conduct our county’s business. And, they get a $50,000 salary no matter what, plus the opportunity to get a pension. If I didn’t show up for work I wouldn’t get paid. They should be paid only for the work they do. I can think of much better ways to spend $900,000. Where is the outrage?

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I just wanted to suggest something for the Village of Lombard, how they can use the Westin Hotel to our advantage. We can’t park on the streets if there’s an inch or two of snow, we can’t partially block the driveway, even if we leave room open for somebody to walk through, so I don’t know where you expect people to park when they visit or family comes over, so I suggest that Lombard gets a bus that can take people up and back so they can freely park over at the Westin Hotel. I think that would be a great idea, put it to good use and since we have nowhere else to park our company except in front of our house, I think they ought to take that into consideration.

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Hi, this is Lombard. During a board meeting, they had two opportunities to be fiscally responsible for taxpayers’ money. One, an ambulance that could save us money in the long run and time down the road. And, two, regarding the village vehicle sticker for the seniors; I feel, even being a lay resident, that there was enough information and enough of a case put forward for them to make a decision to save us some money. We hire and elect these people for the intelligence they have and they should listen to those people because our village trustees are not expert in everything. And here again, it seems apparent we don’t have the best people for the best interest for the village sitting on the village board.

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Hi, I just went outside and saw that someone had ripped up our Christmas display—three little gifts and a big red box and they ripped out the cord. At first I thought that maybe something had knocked it over and then I saw how it was ripped out of the front lawn. Well, that’s nice. This has happened to us before. How anybody thinks this is funny is beyond me, but it’s very aggravating and I think it’s a sin that you can’t decorate your own front lawn without somebody driving along, thinking, “Ha, ha, ha; let’s rip this up; this is so fun.” Sorry for venting but this really does upset me; but that’s what they wanted. Bah, humbug.

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Good morning, this is Lombard calling. To the police who keep giving parking tickets and everything else, please regard more so the bullies on the road who go faster than they should and don’t obey the speed limit, as well as the skateboarders who harass drivers and the pedestrians who almost make the drivers hit them. We need to enforce that more instead of the little petty things. Please make sure the people who speed get their tickets, the people who harass other drivers and the kids who harass the drivers and the pedestrians who almost get hit. Please enforce this. That would be very nice. We don’t want to make it like the big cities or make it worse. Thank you and have a wonderful day and Merry Christmas.

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I just wanted to say, isn’t it ironic that in the same newspaper that they have the teachers’ salaries listed, that also earlier in the paper they had the notice of property tax increase for Lombard Elementary School District 44? The teachers seem to be paid very well; some of them in excess of $90,000, and I know that doesn’t include benefits or anything else. So, it’s just ironic to me that they are asking for tax increases for District 44. Thank you, bye.

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There are three things I think we have to do to make America great again. Number one, get rid of the U.N.—the worst organization ever, I think. Number two, get rid of the EPA, which seems to be killing America. Number three, let’s get someone in the White House who really cares about America.

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I’ve been a resident of Lombard for some time now and would have to agree with the caller in last week’s SPEAK OUT about some of our trustees, that their motivation to serve the public has nothing to do with passion to serve the community; but for their passion to be self-serving and continue to operate in their small circles, instead of out in the community. The public is paying attention. As for Mr. Breen, continue to work with the Lombard Town Centre. As for Mr. Gron, thank you for your services. I’m sure it was a very hard decision to make.

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Hi, I’m a 24-year resident of Lombard and I just want to say that the town has never looked more beautiful at this time of year. The seasonal decorations, especially at St. Charles Road, are absolutely gorgeous. I’m proud to walk down the street. Thank you.

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Lombard calling about the emergency phone call I received at 10:15 p.m. that awoke me from a sound sleep. I did sign up for the emergency broadcast phone calls but I do think 10:15 at night is a little late to be calling unless a tornado’s coming. All right, wake everybody up from their sleep if there’s a tornado coming, but as the child of elderly parents, as well as being a mother, when you’re awakened at 10:15 at night from a sound sleep to a phone call and the caller ID says emergency on it, it makes you very nervous and very upset. It took me a long time to get back to sleep last night. So, please, unless it’s a true emergency, such as a tornado coming, don’t call after 9 p.m.

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This is Lombard calling. I read in the Nov. 30 Lombardian about “Click It or Ticket.” What is this? It is our desire, and our responsibility if we want to wear our seat belts. And it’s not targeting anybody in the vehicle because the law is not going to be effective until Jan. 1, 2012. So the threats about Click It or Ticket should be our responsibility and not a revenue source for the police department and the village.

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I don’t know if you noticed the base rate on your water bill has gone up, but it’s gone up 16 percent. Now that’s not a lot in dollars, but is anybody making 16 percent more this year than they did last year? And, that does not include the raise you’re likely going to get socked with for Mr. Rahm Emmanuel.. This is just a service charge the village gets for the pleasure of sending you a bill, which it appears they don’t even send because you mail your check out-of-town. Thank you, whomever is responsible.

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You see all these places that are advertising 40, 50 and sometimes 60 percent off. Do you know what that tells me? That apparently we’ve been overpaying all these years. I would bet they’re not making less profit; I think we have been overpaying. They’re giving us a little bit of a discount. I don’t believe it. It seems they jack the price up and tell you you’re getting a bigger discount. I think we’ve all been overpaying for years.

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Hi, this is Lombard calling. To the individual who wants to know why the village won’t tell you about the two cameras at Main and Madison, and what they’re for; it’s pretty basic—you don’t have to be a rocket scientist to figure this out. Just pick up your phone or drive to the village hall and ask, “What are the cameras for?” They’ll answer your question. I’m sure they will. It’s just that they don’t want to keep answering questions through the newspaper. This is my guess with the situation. You can get answers from the village. All you’ve got to do is make a phone call and just show a little effort. They’re there to answer your questions and I’m sure they will.

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This is Lombard calling. I’m sitting here reading the Wednesday, Nov. 30, Lombardian, and I’ve got a question. What is it anybody’s business, except the person who gets paid, to have their name and salary range to be flat-out put in the newspapers? If anybody really wants to know, they can go get the information either online or from the board of education. There is no such thing as privacy because they work for a school? You’ve got District 45’s and District 44’s salaries for every single employee that is named. I think there should be some kind of confidentiality. Thank you.

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Hi there. This is Lombard calling with regard to the people who live by the train tracks and complain about the train noise. I’m confused. When you moved in, were the train tracks not already there? It seems like you’re the same people complaining about the airplane noise who live right next to the airport. You know there’s a train that comes through here and they are very busy tracks. So, if you don’t like the train track noise, don’t buy a house by the train tracks. Stop whining about silly things. God bless America. God bless everybody. Merry Christmas.

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This is Lombard calling. May I ask why the most beautiful park, Madison Meadow, is home to the ugly mulch piles? Those piles are out of control and growing bigger every year. They harbor rodents and bugs and attract all kinds of wildlife, such as the coyote that calls it home. Do you really think people use that mulch around their home? It is also a safety hazard to the children of Lombard. Children are quite often seen playing on those piles. Someone is going to get hurt really bad one day and the park district is going to have a lawsuit on its hands. Why don’t you extend our garden plot so more people can garden in the summer? Come on, Lombard, I’m sure you can find a better dumping site instead of our beautiful park. Thanks for your consideration.

“It is the park district’s goal to remove the wood chip pile entirely no later than this [coming] summer,” stated Paul Friedrichs, executive director of the Lombard Park District.—JAC

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What a shock to find that the Burger King on Roosevelt Road closed. Those of us who work in the shopping center are curious to find out what restaurant will move in. Thank you.

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Hello fellow Lombardians. I just want to thank our elected officials and village staffers that showed up at the Jingle Bell Jubilee. Special kudos to President Mueller and state Sen. Kirk Dillard for giving up their Saturday night to support our community and mingle with residents. Sen. Dillard even passed out candy to the children. In a time when taxpayers and voters have many questions about what government is doing, it’s refreshing to see our elected officials engaging with the public. Great job by all involved and Merry Christmas.