What sort of legislators would vote to put future rate increases into the hands of ComEd? Do you know what kind of legislators? Ones who have to be replaced.

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This is Lombard calling. The new crosswalk at St. Charles and Elizabeth is very nice, but with the cement sticking out into the street, what are we going to do when it snows?

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This is Lombard calling. I was under the impression it is not allowed to rake leaves into the street; however, in my neighborhood people are doing it. I imagine it takes tax money to clean up the leaves in the street. Now I wonder if Lombard enforces this or if the village even cares about this action. It does not feel good to do a lot of hard work collecting leaves, filling bags or spending money on bags, electricity to vacuum leaves and gasoline to mow leaves when others are using tax dollars to clean up their leaves they intentionally put in the street.

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Lombard calling. I want to congratulate the village board for adopting the strongest municipal transparency policy in Illinois. Peter Breen, you ought to pat yourself on the back. Aren’t you one of the ones who voted not to allow anybody to answer SPEAK OUT? Talk about transparency. The village board seemingly has the worst transparency in Illinois. What about telling us what’s going on with the convention center? Nope, transparency isn’t there.

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Hi, Lombard. Does anybody remember Zitt’s pet store? What was the name of the monkey?

A poll of a few longtime Lombardians indicated that the monkey had an out-of-this-world name: Sputnik.—JAC

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If we have a plumber come to our home, we expect good quality work. The same would go for a roofer, handyman or a furnace guy. What about our representatives? Should we hold them to the same standard of excellence?

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Hi, I’m just wondering if they still teach reading in school. There have been several instances where signs clearly state “no skateboarding allowed” yet the youth of our town think it’s OK to skateboard there. I’m just wondering if they still teach reading in school.

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I’m calling to comment on Peter Roskam’s article on the free trade agreements. I believe that Peter Roskam is only telling half the story. True, they will open up new markets for our manufacturers in the United States, but also part of these free trade agreements will be the removal of tariffs from goods coming into our country. This allows our manufacturers to build plants in foreign countries that have the agreements and they can then hire foreign workers at a much lesser rate and ship the goods back into the United States without a tariff. So, like I said, I believe Peter Roskam in the future should tell both sides of the story, not just what he wants people to believe.

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This is a concerned resident of Lombard calling. Maybe it’s time Lombard started to look for getting its water elsewhere because I sure don’t want my water bill going up any more than anyone else does. It’s time to start shopping for better water service or cheaper, Lombard. Let’s get to it.

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Lombard calling. In response to the caller concerning Spooktacular being on a Sunday, Lombard Town Centre moved it to Sunday at the request of the businesses whose sales are severely hampered and negatively impacted by the streets being closed on the busiest day of the week, mainly a Saturday. As it turns out, having it on a Sunday greatly increased the food traffic in our store and our sales were on par with what they have been on a normal football Sunday. Thank you to the Lombard Town Centre for their cooperation, consideration and collaboration with the businesses in downtown and taking into account our concerns with the event. It was a success and I can’t wait to do it with them next year.

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Hi, people of Lombard. I’m calling as a younger person concerned about where the world is going. I feel like there’s so much negativity, so many bad things in the news; I’d like to see people be more positive and I’d like to see ideas come in about how we can make a change for the future generations and how we can create more positivity and hope in the world, and how we can look out for our fellow neighbors and everything for the future. Let’s see some good things come.

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I guess I’m just amazed at comments by people who think that CEOs get paid too much. Now I’m not a CEO, but why is it any of your business what they get paid? Especially if they’re a publicly traded company, they have to answer to the shareholders; if they don’t perform they get fired. I don’t think they should have golden parachutes but if they’ve negotiated a salary of $3 million a year, good for them. That’s what capitalism is. This isn’t a socialist country. Those Occupy people want everything handed to them for free. Now I understand the cost of living has gone up, and the cost of a college education has gone up—I’m paying for my daughter’s college education. But come on; this is America. We have right to make as much money as we want.

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Hi, this is Lombard calling. I am thrilled to death that the Lombard Park District is paving the path in Madison Meadow park. I’ve waited now almost 25 years to be able to enjoy the park fully by roller blading and pushing baby strollers and walking without having to worry about getting my feet wet in bad weather. I am thrilled that our money is at work and everybody will be able to enjoy it, and lighten up Lombard. Come on out and start walking. I hope they mark the path so we know our distance and how many miles we’re hiking.

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Hats off to whoever is behind the painting of fire hydrants in Villa Park. What a refreshing use of them. It brings a smile every time I drive by one. We need more of that in the world today.

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Hi, a lot of people are complaining about the train whistles and I don’t like the whistle blowing any more than anyone else but there are a couple of points that should be made. Number one, Lombard is under a quiet zone; number two, the quiet zone applies only for horns being sounded for railroad crossings. What’s happening here is they are sounding their horns to warn construction people, track workers, that a train is coming. If you will listen to the horns they sound a long and a short, followed by a succession of two short horns. This is not greeting people, this is warning them. That’s the requirement. Number three, this is not Elmhurst. The work is being done here, not in Elmhurst. When Elmhurst was having its switches done five or so years ago, there was plenty of noise there, too. And finally, when the work gets done here the whistles should go away for a little while. But when they start working on the Great Western Trail bridge or the tunnel under the tracks at the station, you’ll have the whistles back. Sorry to point that out but that’s the way things are.

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Kudos to School District 44 for hiring the P.I. to sniff out people illegally enrolling their children in the school district, we, the taxpayers of Lombard are supporting. Thank you. Finally some logical thought processes. Can’t wait to see the P.I.s tackle the rest of the grade level. One question. Are the families who committed fraud and enrolled their children in District 44 schools when they were not taxpaying residents required to pay back the district for the cost of their children’s education?

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Yeah, it’s another Halloween and the little kiddies are coming around getting their treats, which is really beautiful. My problem seems to be that children are coming to the door with their parents, older than me, and I’m 60 years old. No wonder the society of children will never grow up. They seem to be 18 years old and their mommy or daddy is still letting them outside to trick or treat. How ridiculous it is. Children, why don’t you let the little ones, maybe up to the age of 12, trick or treat, and when you’re a teenager, why don’t you just start to grow up?

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Hi, Lombard. Great to see we’ve got those poor, overeducated college students out of Iran’s prison. Hard to believe they would be hiking along the most dangerous borders in the world with multiple armed conflicts going on and crazed radicals on each side of the border. What do you think? Are they Democrats—they seem very idealistic, they have their head in the sand, don’t think too clearly? I think they are liberal Democrats but I think it’s great we rescued them anyway. We need more of them in this country. Good job, President Obama.

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This is Lombard calling. I’d like to know if any crafty person or scout leader is interested in some candles for whatever wax project you might like to make. I’ve got so many candles that are only burnt halfway down and I’d like to get rid of them. I know, years ago we used to use the old candles for different craft projects. If so, please let SPEAK OUT or the Lombardian know.

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I’m happy to see that District 44 investigated to make sure children who attend our schools live in the district. Those homeowners are not paying District 44 taxes and it burdens the system. I’m also glad that the district is doing its best to get Medicaid reimbursement for special education services. It’s probably easier than getting what our state owes the schools. At $260,000, though, I bet that’s a fraction of what the services cost; the list is long. Let’s hope officials keep seeking to save taxpayer dollars by finding ways to keep costs down; maybe teaming up with other districts to share services and eliminate duplication. Regardless—Medicaid or property taxes, we’re all paying for it.

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This is an uninformed conservative. I hate to burst your bubble, you liberal Democrat, but, let’s take a look at our own economy in the state of Illinois. Gov. Quinn raised the taxes; Sears Roebuck is considering leaving; Baxter is considering leaving—do I need to go on? When you raise taxes it forces companies to look elsewhere where they don’t have to pay the large taxes so they can continue to keep employees employed. When you lower taxes, it gives more capital so they can keep people employed. When you raise taxes, it cuts the capital, which means they have to cut spending, which means they have to lay people off. This is simple economics.

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Hi, this is Lombard calling. I was driving through Villa Park and noticed all of the awesome fire hydrants. I was wondering if there is a map showing where they are. If you could find out, that would be great. I’m a faithful reader of SPEAK OUT and the only thing I have to say is if you have a dog, please stop having it do its business on my lawn.

“We have a huge map here,” said Village Manager Richard Keehner Jr., adding, “It’s like 5 feet tall.” He further said that “there’s got to be close to 70 [hydrants] completed,” and roughly 1,100 hydrants throughout the village. Hydrant decorating is over for the season and the village board will pick three winners for first, second and third place. Keehner said hydrant painting will resume in the spring. To view the map, visit the Villa Park Village Hall at 20 S. Ardmore Ave., Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. “Have them come on in,” Keehner said. There is also a photo gallery at www.invillapark.com.—JAC

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Hi, this is a northeast side Lombard resident calling about the homeless problem at the Lombard Lagoon. It doesn’t seem to be only at the lagoon but also the other day it was raining and we went to the library and there were multiple homeless people in the library using it as some kind of refuge from the weather. What can the village do to maybe find opportunities for them to have shelter during these times? It’s daunting to not be able to take a child to the park because these homeless are arguing about their liquor and headphones.

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If everyone gets the Lombard Pride paper and garbage cans are supposed to be on the side or the rear of the home, why do some people still have them in the front yard? It seems our code enforcer should be checking that out. It just looks a little nicer if they’re not in the front yard.

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Good morning, Lombard; could you please fix the pothole in front of Sunset Knoll park, going northbound on Finley? It’s about 8 inches in diameter. Please fix that.

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There are a lot of new taxes being proposed and fees and everything else to pay for past shortfalls in the budget. What I think should happen is every politician who retires, a part of his or her pension should be taken away to replace the burden they put on us. They caused the problem, we didn’t. Let them pay for it. Let them get less; less hospitalization; less pension; less bonuses or whatever they get. Take the money away from the politicians who have retired. Now they want to walk away from this mess and we who are living are faced with the problem. We should not be faced with it. They should be made to pay.