To the people calling in asking about the new crosswalk at Lincoln and St. Charles—the crosswalk was approved as part of the downtown revitalization plan to assist downtown in becoming more pedestrian friendly. Prior to the crosswalk many people were crossing there to get to the train, sprinkler park and businesses in an unsafe manner. The new crosswalk provides a safe crossway for people trying to walk through downtown without having to walk two blocks to the next crosswalk. There is more than enough room to drive around someone turning left onto Lincoln and downtown has only lost one parking space due to the crosswalk. I live in downtown Lombard and welcome the new crosswalk. It’s nice to see the village taking the revitalization plan seriously and working to make necessary changes.

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This goes out to he person stating facts out of the “Rules of the Road”; if in fact, you are ignorant enough to walk into traffic on a busy street, in my opinion, it is your own fault if you get hit by a vehicle. Common sense demands you use your head in these situations. Please don’t be so foolish as to take it to the letter of the law; perhaps those of you who would like to exercise your “right of way” as described by the submitter of those rules would also use your “rights” to wait for a garbage truck to come along just before you step off the curb.

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Lombard, it’s nice Mueller can afford to do all these outings in the downtown Lombard area. I’m sure he can afford it but the rest of us can’t because of the high taxes. Also, raking the leaves from the parkway into the street, why shouldn’t we do that? The parkway belongs to the village and the village planted the trees. They should be happy we fertilize and mow the lawn. Additionally, people who can afford a boat should be able to afford to store it elsewhere and not the driveway.

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When I was a pre-teen, 60-plus years ago, I saw a Christmas tree in a home in October. I wondered. My neighbors told me that the child in the home would probably be deceased by Christmas and were celebrating early. To the person who is upset because Halloween decorations are displayed in the middle of September, what difference does a couple of weeks make?

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To the person who thinks I’m a secret Democrat, perhaps you are right, although I’ve been a registered Republican since I was 21, many years ago, and have usually voted that way. All I see now in the GOP and tea party is greed. I know we have debt—that is all they talk about—but I feel like the Democrats that government has its place in our hearts, in our lives, and has an obligation to the mentally and physically disabled, and the aged. In other words, I feel the compassion of the Democrats. I once read a quote that said, “A society will be judged by how it treats its most vulnerable citizens.” That quote touched my heart.

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Hello, I’m just calling to tell people how I feel about our country now. I’m 86 years old and I’ve never seen it run the way it’s being run now. I wish we had more statesmen and fewer politicians because I don’t see any way out for us the way it’s going. I feel really bad.

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Hello, I’m calling from Lombard. I’m sitting here reading the Lombardian right now, the SPEAK OUT column, where someone mentions that animals are out more at night because of the time of year. Remember to watch for them on the roads, but you only have to stop for them when they’re in the marked crosswalks. Don’t forget.

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Hi, Lombard calling regarding the two drive-up lanes at McDonald’s. There are two drive-up lanes so you can get through faster. However, when there are three or four cars in line, that doesn’t give you the right to bypass everybody and come around and cut someone off to get into the second line.

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Hey, President Obama, I’m not in favor of all these tax breaks to all the companies either, but if you take away those tax breaks, what do you think is going to happen to the price of oil? Do you think it’s going to go down? No. It’s going to go up to make up for the tax breaks we’ve given them. They’re going to raise the price of oil so their profits can stay in line. So I don’t think that’s going to work. What do you think is going to happen if we do away with the real estate interest credit on our income taxes? Do you think that’s going to boost housing? No. That’s going to make housing even worse because people who are willing to put 20 percent down on a house and who deserve to own a home will not buy them because there’s no benefit for them any longer on taking a tax break on their income tax. Come on, President Obama, wake up and smell the coffee. This is not that difficult.

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What is the current status of Peter Roskam, our representative in Congress? His mentor, the late Henry Hyde, led frequent town meetings to inform constituents regarding specific bills that were being considered or passed by both houses of Congress. State interim Sandack and state Sen. Nybo sent out questionnaires to their constituents giving them an opportunity to express their concern. Mr. Roskam has a guest column in the Lombardian that is political content only. People need jobs now. Town hall meetings have been suggested to Mr. Roskam. He has been invited to a local food pantry held on the second Saturday of the month at the Salvation Army in Oakbrook Terrace. Likewise, it has been suggested that Mr. Roskam visit the foreclosure courtroom of Bonnie Wheaton and observe the proceedings. In both of the aforementioned opportunities to have contact with his constituents, Mr. Roskam has been a no-show. We also expected Mr. Roskam to be a leader and a spokesmen for his constituents regarding the ongoing shortages of vital generic medications.

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Why has the village of Lombard transferred over $300,000 of tax money to the Helen Plum Library pension fund instead of putting it into the underfunded police and fire pension funds of Lombard?

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This is Lombard calling. I would highly advise that Lombard get some decent security in the local businesses after Glenbard East gets out of school. It’s 2:30 on Monday and you can’t even go for coffee without 40 kids cutting in front of you all ordering for one another. For the normal business person who has 15 minutes to catch a break and a cup of coffee, we can’t do that because the person behind the counter is too afraid to tell the kids to back off and wait in line appropriately. If we could have an officer or two around the fast food areas just south of the school, that would be great.

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I think the residents’ frustration and distrust of the village administration is shown in the village having to cancel the community forum because of lack of interest. Who wants to sit at a table and discuss issues when they will not answer simple community questions in SPEAK OUT? Issues have been brought forward during this forum in previous years and they still have not been addressed.  I can’t wait to read the “spin” the village manager puts on the reason for canceling the the forum. The whole idea that SPEAK OUT is anonymous and the village can’t handle that is baloney. Elections are anonymous, you can place anonymous complaints on the village Web site that get addressed and the surveys the village wants us to answer are anonymous. Why are those OK? 

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Villa Park here. It was just a few short months ago when I considered moving to Lombard to get a chance to better mine and my families’ lives. It seems in the past year or so, the crime rates and bizarre behavior of the village board has risen beyond reason. I have now completely ruled out Lombard as an alternative. What is going on over there? You people need to stand up and be heard. Sounds as if your local government has run amok.

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The article on the Lombard Public Facilities Corp. (LPFC), written by the Village of Lombard, apparently as damage control, states “The payment on the ‘C’ bonds was not made,” and “The village is not responsible for any shortfalls on the ‘C’ bonds,” and then goes on to state, “This, however, does not mean that the LPFC has defaulted on a payment.” What? In the real world if you do not make a payment, you defaulted. The LPFC can also request the village board appropriate money to cover a shortfall. If the village board has already passed a balanced budget, where do they get the money to cover this shortfall? It states the debt can be restructured; they just tried this and it did not happen. Then they talk about foreclosure; that’s always a good thing for the taxpayers. This project is in trouble and it seems as though the village is trying to “spin” their way out of it.

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Lombard calling. It seems to me that the new Lombard village policy of not acknowledging or responding when residents call SPEAK OUT can only be considered a power grab from the top down. This policy apparently has generated and created feelings of hostility from residents and I feel every Lombard trustee who voted to approve this ought to be voted out of office. Is our village board now taking lessons from Chicago? This is disgusting. Shame on them. What happened to honest, open government?

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Hello Lombard calling. OK, I just had breakfast at a great little restaurant I didn’t even know existed until we happened to be riding by on our bikes. Lily’s Cafe is the place in the little strip plaza by 7-Eleven on Finley in downtown Lombard. My boy and I had an excellent breakfast. I had biscuits and gravy with two eggs on top and my son had pancakes and sausage. The food was superb, and the place was very clean. I figured if I didn’t know it was there, and it’s been there for six years, how many other people don’t know it’s there? I would recommend this place all day long.

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Hi, this is Lombard calling. I think policemen, firemen and teachers deserve the pension and benefits they get because they serve us, keep us safe, prepare our kids to be the future of our nation and the rest of those, public works people and village people, need to start doing their own retirement and not living off the taxpayers.

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Lombard calling. I was very disappointed to see so few flags out for the anniversary of 9/11. Everybody had a flag out after the occurrence. What happened, people? Did you lose it, can’t find it or are you too lazy to put it out? The blocks across from the park on Grace Street were the houses where I saw the most flags out. I don’t understand. The flag should be flown every day, anyway. Where are those flags, people?

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Hi, does anybody know why the Union Pacific Railroad that goes through Lombard insists on constantly wailing its horn every night? It’s to the point where it’s ridiculous. Is it absolutely necessary to hit the horn the entire length of Lombard as they travel through it? I just don’t understand the necessity for this. Nothing is worth it. There’s no reason they could possibly give to keep us all up every night. I know there are ways to get quiet zone in towns; maybe we could work on this. Does anybody have any suggestions why we need to be kept up all night for these engineers who blow their horn constantly? Some justification would be nice. It would be nice to hear some reasoning behind this aside from just petty meanness. I just don’t understand it, so perhaps somebody could shed some light on why this is necessary and maybe we could all work toward getting a quite zone in Lombard. I’m getting tired of it and getting tired of being up all night.

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I’m calling from Lombard and the reason I’m calling is to thank the person who was second to last in the SPEAK OUT column in the Oct. 5 paper. It is true that what is happening—and I tried to make this clear because I first called about train horns and I didn’t need to know all about the blowing of horns at pedestrians or street—they stand on the horn all throughout Lombard; at 3 or 4 a.m. and I’m a light sleeper, I hear it and I can’t stand it. It’s happening in Villa Park too. I’ve talked to people there. For some reason it doesn’t happen in Elmhurst. There are three crossings at least in Lombard and they are staying on the horn throughout all of Lombard. That’s excessive use of the horn and that’s what I’m complaining about. I appreciate the caller who called in who knows train engineers. I do, too. It’s excessive, it’s silly and it seems to just bother people in Lombard and Villa Park.

While the new village policy is not to comment on anonymous inquiries such as those in SPEAK OUT, the Village of Lombard issued press releases related to complaints that have been received about train horns. The first release, dated Oct. 10, states, in part, “The Village of Lombard has fielded numerous complaints about the out-of-the-ordinary sounding of train horns throughout the day and night on the Union Pacific railroad.” The village said work being done on the railroad tracks requires that the horns be sounded; however, the press release also states that the village was not notified of the work—or that the trains horns would be sounded. The work (Finley Road, Elizabeth Street, Main and Grace Street crossings) was scheduled to be completed as of Monday, Oct. 10. The press release further states that the Union Pacific Railroad indicated the horns were sounded as a safety precaution for pedestrians and vehicles because not all gates in the work zones were functional (railroad employees were stationed at the intersections with stop signs). “The village has received many noise complaints about the trains sounding their horns during the night,” according to the press release, which notes that the complaints have been forwarded to the Union Pacific Railroad so residents can make a formal complaint. However, the press release notes that the village is “unable to prevent the trains from sounding their horns.” A second press release from Oct. 11 indicates that there will be signal work being done at the Grace Street crossing Oct. 28-31, and the horns will be sounded when trains pass through to ensure the safety of the crews, in compliance with the Federal Horn Rule. More information on the project will be available in the Wednesday, Oct. 19, edition of the Lombardian and Villa Park Review. Anyone wishing to file a noise complaint can contact the railroad at 888-877-7267 or with the Illinois Commerce Commission at 800-524-0795.—JAC