When is the Islamic school going to get rid of those mobile classrooms? I thought there was a time limit. I frequently use Highridge Road and have heard other people talking about it. Aren’t they supposed to be gone by now?

According to Melissa Headley, Villa Park's assistant director of community development, “The Islamic Foundation had intended the trailers to be temporary only for a year or two while the school building got constructed – however the construction has been reliant on donations/fundraisers – which have not come in as much as they thought in this economy, therefore the temporary classrooms are still there. The village has been meeting with them every construction season for the past three years, and they continue to make progress, but not at the speed that they had originally envisioned. This year, they are planning on working on the gymnasium.”—Chris Fox

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This message for the lady or gentleman who left a message in the June 22 SPEAK OUT for the teachers, it looks like you’ve obviously done some, what would be, advanced mathematics. Since you did do that mathematics, you can go thank a teacher for that.

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Two weeks ago I pointed out we indeed had “boots on the ground” in Libya even though Obama has denied it from day one. On June 22, Obama parsed by saying we have “no soldiers” in Libya. I guess his handlers told him that CIA operatives just might actually wear “boots.” Citing just one example: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/31/world/africa/31intel.html?_r=1.

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Kudos to Trustee Breen and Trustee Wilson for inquiring on “repealing” the village communication policy. This apparently was one person’s “personal agenda” to avoid answering questions. Demand answers. How ironic that the same time you are working on a transparency policy for the Web site, everything else goes into hiding. 

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On March 30, the Lombardian wrote that according to the Lombard finance director, “There have been no defaults on the bonds.” On June 8, the report of Independent Auditors, Crowe Horwath LLP stated in their official report commissioned by the village, “... and was not able to make complete scheduled interest payments during the year ended Dec. 31, 2010.” So did the village make all payments or miss at least one full payment? This misinformation or “spin” is unacceptable and why did the village manager quit responding. Who is he accountable to?

Sorry, we are unable to obtain an answer to your question due to a new village policy, which was approved by Lombard trustees on May 19. It is against village policy to acknowledge or respond to any item that is from an anonymous source. Anyone with questions regarding the village should contact the Lombard Village Hall at 630-620-5700 for assistance.—blm

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The Republicans got our country into this mess because Bush didn’t pay attention to mortgage problems on his watch, which is what got us into this predicament. The rich must be taxed higher, along with corporations and oil companies. Republicans are stalling deficit reduction negotiations. Why else would the Republicans drive our country into deficit, unless they think it will help and defeat Obama in 2012?

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Excellent article about emergency sirens. Two questions remain and I’d appreciate a response from the emergency communications center. One, do the sirens sound for the duration of the immediate danger? That is, if the siren sounds for 10 minutes and then stops, does it mean that it is then clear? The second question is, area radio stations cover a wide area and their information is not up-to-the-minute. Frequently the warning will be for a general condition over a five- to eight-hour period, which is not a practical guide for hiding in the basement with pillows. What, specifically, i.e. what radio or TV station, Web site or dial-in number is the best source of current status, specifically for Lombard and Villa Park? And, if it does not currently exist, has the communications center considered setting up a phone in service where a recording is updated to give the status of a danger?

Sorry, we are unable to obtain an answer to your question due to a new village policy, which was approved by Lombard trustees on May 19. It is against village policy to acknowledge or respond to any item that is from an anonymous source. Anyone with questions regarding the village should contact the Lombard Village Hall at 630-620-5700 for assistance. However, in the article to which you referred, Lombard Fire Chief Mike Torrence said there are no all clear sirens. He suggested listening to a portable radio as they provide up-to-the-minute information during storm situations. If the sirens are going off, it is because it is a dangerous situation. Also included in the article were two Web sites which were listed in a village press release. The Web sites, which are for additional weather and safety information, can be found at www.iema.illinois.gov/index.asp and www.stormready.noaa.gov/ links.htm.—blm

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Hi, SPEAK OUT, this is Lombard calling. In response to the person complaining about the Lombard pool, which is actually called Paradise Bay, which was closed on a day a couple of weeks ago, you also talked about the outrageous price of pool passes. To be honest with you, I ordered my pool pass early on and if you did your homework like I did, you would realize that for a family of four, if you purchase your pass early on, all you have to do is go six times and you get your money’s worth. If just three of you go less than 10 times, you got your money’s worth out of that pool pass. As of the Fourth of July, I’ve already gotten my money’s worth out of that pool pass. If you purchase it now and go 10 times between now and the day it closes, you still get your money’s worth out of that pool pass. So, consider that and do your homework for the outrageous price. It’s very easy to go enjoy that. And it’s not outrageous. Sorry you had to go on the day it closed, though.

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I read in the Lombardian a couple of weeks ago that village employees are not getting a raise until another study is done to compare private sector to government sector salaries. Anyone knows that there is no comparison, that government jobs entail so much more than the private sector as far as security, etc. Also, my question is, Does the study include village manager salaries? Are we going to compare these, too? Seems to me Mr. Hulseberg got a 5 percent raise last year—the worst recession year. Let’s also do a study for village manager salaries to be fair. Also, as a resident, I would like to know how much the study is going to cost.

Sorry, we are unable to obtain an answer to your question due to a new village policy, which was approved by Lombard trustees on May 19. It is against village policy to acknowledge or respond to any item that is from an anonymous source. Anyone with questions regarding the village should contact the Lombard Village Hall at 630-620-5700 for assistance.—blm

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Question. Does Lombard get reimbursed when we send Officer Greg Sohr and Chico to Bolingbrook and Itasca for help, or is that on the Lombard taxpayers’ bill? Just wondering. Hope you can answer this since it’s anonymous.

Sorry, we are unable to obtain an answer to your question due to a new village policy, which was approved by Lombard trustees on May 19. It is against village policy to acknowledge or respond to any item that is from an anonymous source. Anyone with questions regarding the village should contact the Lombard Village Hall at 630-620-5700 for assistance.—blm

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This is a shout out to Glenbard East for having so many good graduates this year. I read the paper and they really have a ton of awards. Way to go, Glenbard East.

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This is Villa Park calling about the teachers. Let’s hear about unions. The people are overpaid and underworked. That’s all you had to say, because they cry about every little thing. That’s what you call a union worker. That’s what a teacher is; underworked and way overpaid.

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Lombard calling. The caller on June 8 said something about having a son who goes to private college and the professor’s aide teaches the class. Well, why is the parent such a poor consumer that he or she would pay good money for that, to pay good money for a teaching assistant, instead of doing the research where you find a college where a professor teaches the class? Not so hard to do, and the parent said think before you speak. Why don’t you check it out before you pay that high tuition?

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I read numerous comments in SPEAK OUT about the administration in Lombard. Now they refuse to comment on issues their bosses—the citizens of Lombard—bring up. Let’s get them out of office. Are there enough people in Lombard who are dissatisfied with the current administration to get them out, via recall. Anyone want to try?

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Unincorporated Lombard calling, York Center. I just wanted to say that York Township maintenance is the best, whether it be a winter storm or the storm we just had. their clean-up is the best. Many thanks to the crew for all their hard work.

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Hi, my name is Mrs. John Q. Public. I was very sorry to see in SPEAK OUT District 44’s new rule of grades based on only tests. All of my children have improved their grades by doing homework and class participation. They don’t do well on tests, and we feel it is their responsibility to get homework done and get involved in class. Let’s just have the kids take computer courses and tests at home, and eliminate the teachers completely. Think of the savings.

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What’s going on with the village board and the policy with the staff to not answer questions? I saw a meeting where two trustees said they thought they were voting for something else, and that’s as far as it went, that I know of. I hope they will elaborate on what they thought they were voting on.

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In my job, if I have performance and the outcome isn’t what everybody thought it would be, and I went to my boss and said, This would go way better if you gave me a lot more money, my boss would laugh at me and I’d be fired. In 1960, basically, we as a nation decided to start massively funding public education in this country. One thing has happened; every time there is a massive influx of money into our educational system, “because we need more money to teach our kids better.” Guess what? The education scores and standards go down. Everyone can agree that since 1960, we have seen a dramatic decline in the educational system in this country, but yet they keep coming with their hands out and saying, Reward our failure. We want more. It’s time to stop rewarding failure. I don’t care how much a teacher makes, but our system is broken and we need to stop rewarding failure.

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Hi, this is Lombard calling regarding the signs on Wilson. Whether the signs are there or not, everybody, it’s a state law that if there are people in the crosswalk you need to stop for them. In driving by faster so you can pass them faster is not only against the law but pretty ignorant, too.

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To the person who called and said a caller was wrong to suggest that people who call in with questions, then get an answer from residents, is not a good idea because they might be wrong, I agree with that caller. How do you know that person who called about the crosswalk, say, was accurate—not to say he or she wasn’t? It’s just that when people call and put their two cents’ worth in, we don’t know where they got their information, or possibly misinformation. I like the idea of Lombardians helping Lombardians, but I think it’s more important to get the facts from the source, and obviously that’s not going to happen.

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Mr. Mueller, this is in regard to the old bowling alley in the empty lot on Roosevelt Road. You had mentioned at one point that you were working with Sonic to build a restaurant at the old empty lot where the bowling alley was. Sonic has been trying to make an agreement with Villa Park for almost two years and they’ve been having issues. Why don’t you try to get them back? There’s plenty of room. It would be a great opportunity to have a very large name of a restaurant to have in Lombard, with a lot of traffic, and a lot of people would be going to it.

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A couple of months ago I had the village over here because I had flood problems from the three neighbors to the west of me, and the village came over here and told me to dig a ditch around my garden. Well, five years making my garden in the corner of my property, I had water under it and have to pump it out now, because a neighbor put a pump, which is illegal, 20 feet from the house and the water sprays out and goes onto my property.

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I know our country isn’t the only one that does this; it goes on in other countries and has gone on before and it’s time for it to stop. The height of hypocrisy; the president’s wife takes a trip to Africa and takes 100 people with her. I would like to see the figure of how many millions of dollars it cost us to for her and all those people to go over there, while we don’t have money to help old people who need operations, we don’t have enough money to pay for hospitalization, we don’t have enough money to pay for children who need medical care, but we can waste money like that. You know, Obama says everybody has to pull in and cut back. Why doesn’t it start with the president from the top down, huh? How come he doesn’t give up anything; he takes more vacations and spends more money. We can’t afford a wasteful president like this. He’s a hypocrite.

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Lombard calling, I agree with the person calling about parking for the Metra; for those of us who only go into the city once in a while, I think a parking garage where the old theater was would be very handy and we people from the south side of town would come to downtown Lombard shopping more often if there was more parking.

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Some of us who live around Madison Meadow have been complaining about the Taste of Lombard and the response has been that we knew about the Taste when we moved here. Well, first I wonder how you know how long we’ve lived here. There was a time when there was no Taste. Even so, when something gets out of hand, it’s up to the village officials to change it. The Taste of Lombard started out as a way to showcase Lombard eating establishments. Now, I doubt if there are more than a few Lombard restaurants that exhibit there. This is a commercial venture and it belongs somewhere that is zoned commercial. It doesn’t belong in a residential neighborhood. No one wants pounding music until 11 p.m. on a work night and no one wants a few thousand people, many of whom have had too much to drink, walking past their house late at night. It’s time to move the Taste.

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Kudos to trustees Breen and Wilson for asking about repealing the no-communication policy. Next ask about repealing the contract of the person whose idea it was to implement the policy.

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Hello Lombard calling. I live on South Chase Street near Madison Meadow. This Sunday morning I saw some Cub Scouts cleaning up my street after the events at the Taste of Lombard. First of all, I think it’s great that these scouts are giving back to their community, and I thank them for doing a wonderful job. These boys are growing up learning how to be good citizens and should be commended for that. Secondly to all those who litter—stop it. There are garbage cans all over the Taste of Lombard. Teach your kids how to be responsible too. Oh yeah—Happy Birthday to the United States of America.

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Kudos to Lombard and the Jaycees for a great job putting on the Taste of Lombard. Even with the state of the economy, it was a success. You brought in great bands and still had a great fireworks show. I am still proud to live in Lombard.

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Here’s a plan that might give the code enforcement officers of the community development department something to do besides citing the residents and business owners of Lombard with one code violation after another—it’s intimidating. It reminds me of the British coming up with one tax after another on the colonists just to wear them down. How about using your time, energy and money for trimming the trees and vegetation around stop signs before we get to them? And how about trimming the trees that are near the street lights so the lights shine all the way to the ground and provide security? Right now we have the best lit-up trees around. Or course, that would mean they would have to work after dark to actually see where the lights shine. At least we have the budget for it.

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I would like to comment on the parade in Villa Park on the Fourth of July. It was extremely well done and I do like the new parade route because of the construction. I think it should be kept that way because it was a shady walk for all the parade route people instead of having to go down that hot, sunny St. Charles Road. Congratulations on a good parade.

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Hello, based on the Glenbard Township High School Annual Report, there are only 1,836 students participating in the fall season sports out of four high schools—Glenbards East, West, North and South. Do we think that the waiver system and the elimination of the waiver system is going to encourage sports participation in after-school activities? I think not. I think they need to reconsider how to encourage and influence students to participate in after-school activities and extend their school day based on what is available at the school for enhanced wellness and physical activity. It indicates they say progress has been made toward their goal, but I think their goal needs to be much higher than the 1,878 students they are including in this particular goal. There needs to be more things available for the students at many levels.

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This message goes out to the teachers. Those who can, do. Those who cannot, teach. We’re sorry because you became a teacher because of the money, but if the kid can’t add or read, and the parents don’t job, who do you blame? Do you blame the teacher or do you blame the parents? So, stop crying about your money. You make what you make, you get what you get and that’s it. If you look at unions, look at construction crews. Ten guys standing, one guy working. The rest of them, that’s why they’re in unions. The unions are good for nothing.

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To you senior citizens who are hurting to make a living and exist in this world, one tax to me is very unfair and I understand there are a few states that have helped out. It goes like this: Why should an older person who hasn’t had a child in school for 25 or 30 years still be taxed heavily to pay school taxes? We have to have something to live off of. Too bad, all you school teachers need more and more pensions. This stuff has to stop.

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I’d like to know how many of you agree that the politicians like to be held in high esteem but they apparently take our rights, they apparently take our money, they apparently take everything away from us. Shouldn’t we call them something else instead of politicians? I think we all should be giving them a new title; they don’t do anything for us but take everything from us; our rights and everything else. This nonsense has to stop.