Hey, Thanks, Lombard Park District. You are truly the crown jewel of Lombard. Your programs are great; Paradise Bay never gets old with our kids. The splash pad is a big hit. Keep up the great work. Lombard is a great town with so much to offer and so many wonderful walks of life. Let’s not be so negative all the time. Just one suggestion for the Taste of Lombard. Have the Jaycees charge $5 to anyone who can’t prove they live in Lombard, and add more Lombard restaurants from Lombard, of course.

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When the village manager finishes the pay and benefit study for his employees, can I get a copy of it? I asked my boss for two free days off every month and he is still laughing. Maybe the study will help convince him.

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Mr. Hulseberg, the village manager, with his idea of community development, sure has changed the image of Lombard over the past 10 years. Instead of our reputation as a Lilac Village, we are described as the village that doesn’t pay its bills. I am personally embarrassed to be living here, and branded as being a Lombardian. Col. Plum must be turning over in his grave with the way we are letting this happen.

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Truth is, Cruise Nights is a relatively pleasant community event. While not the sole reason for the demise of Bona, I think it was a contributing factor. I have nothing personal against Cruise Nights but what I have a problem with is the lack of understanding that not all businesses benefit from it. It’s great you bought a slice of pizza but Bona didn’t make money off of slices. They made money off of whole pizzas. But for every slice they sold, how many whole pizza orders did they lose because of the reduction in the carry-out business? More people does not translate into more money. Look at Taste of Chicago. When you are downtown do you make it a point to spend money in every business that is open, and if you don’t, do you go back the other six days and make sure that you do? Probably not on both accounts. The truth is, both Bona and the liquor store began closing early this past summer for that reason. Less people coming in means less income yet the costs to operate remain the same; kind of like your personal finances—your hours may get cut or you lose your job but your bills remain the same.

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For unanswered questions concerning the proposed water tower project to be constructed at the postage-stamp-size lot at the corner of 16th Street and Westmore-Meyers Road the brief amount of information was published in the SPEAK OUT column several weeks ago in response to a caller’s inquiry. The assistant supervisor of York Township was the only source of printed information for this project. Two sources for the specifics of this project were unaware of its inception and the person who was designated as a resource person was not available. Go figure.

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To the person who called in and hated to break the news that becoming a teacher is one of the easiest things one can do, I was totally dumfounded by the ignorance of your comments: Go to college for four years and get a simple liberal arts degree and take a simple little test for a teaching certificate, was how you put it. I don’t know where you got your idea of what it takes to become a teacher, but it is so off-base. Why, I had to take an entrance exam to be accepted before I could even enroll in the education program I sought. And believe me, there were no liberal arts classes. What kind of teachers did you learn from, to make such inaccurate statements?

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Last month, President Obama signed the National Defense Authorization Act. It allows our military, yes, that’s our military, to jail and hold Americans without charges, if citizens are suspected of any action with terrorists. Just think of our armed forces arresting and throwing United States citizens in jail without charges. It’s happened before, and citizens were held in camps for years, never seeing charges or judges; just held for years in internment camps. Don’t forget those people. You just trust Obama with this kind of power? It scares me beyond all the things that this president has done on our losses of freedoms he’s put into action. Wake up. We have a dictator.

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Never has our government or any American president dictated a mandate to the Catholic Church or any other church. Just another reason to stop Obama’s health care and Obama’s using it to break the constitutional line between church and state. This Lutheran family stands and will fight with our brother Catholics and we people who believe in Christ will win this one.

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To the person who called in last week who so desperately wants to see Rick Soderstrom back on the board, why don’t you drive by the bowling alley property on Roosevelt Road, the property at St. Charles and Grace Street that sits vacant and the DuPage Theatre property? In all three cases there were developers ready to go and Rick Soderstrom was the deciding vote in not developing. He’s cost this village hundreds of thousands of dollars, if not millions, in property tax loss and retail tax loss. That we don’t need. Trustee Ware is a very conscientious legislator who does a good job and is thoughtful. What we don’t need is Soderstrom’s antics ever again.

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This is a caller just talking about the constant teacher bashing in the community and how they’re all millionaires and make every bit of money. I’m frankly a little bit tired of that as a parent. If teaching is so easy, maybe these people should just go out and get a teaching degree. The average teacher also starts out making about $30,000 to $38,000. That means they would have to work for at least six years just to break even. But if it’s so great, and so important, maybe we should keep bashing the people who mold the future of our country. Have a great day.

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Hi, this is Lombard here. I’ve complained before about the Terrace View sign that used to be just south of Crystal on Elizabeth that is now just a blank frame with overgrown prairie plants, weeds and whatnot. Why has Terrace View Pond been razed of all its nasty overgrowth around the perimeter of that pond, but they can’t raze the nasty overgrowth over one defunct sign? Come on. That pond is supposed to be appealing to kids or for going fishing with their parents. So make that pond look good, make that whole Terrace View location look good. It’s as simple as that. Please do it. Think of the children.

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I would like to suggest that Trustee Ware resign from the village board and that President Mueller re-appoint former Trustee Soderstrom to bring some common sense back to the Lombard Village Board. Thank you.

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Hey, Lombard. Instead of building that $1 million bridge to nowhere that about six people a week might use, what’s wrong with putting Craig Street through from St. Charles and crossing the Great Western there somewhere? Take a little of that pressure off the corner of Grace and St. Charles. Seems like that would be a much less expensive project and would be advantageous to Lombardians, not people who are passing through. Think about it and spend our money wisely. Pretend like it’s yours.

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Being a concerned voter I’m looking at the differences between Chris Nybo and Mr. Dillard. In looking at the Web site I notice that Citizens for Chris Nybo it says contact us at P.O. Box 915, Lombard, IL 60148, but I can find no information on who is leading that up. As a concerned voter, could you tell me who is sponsoring the P.O. box? Who is on this committee, Citizens for Chris Nybo? There are certain people I don’t like and I would like to know if those people happen to be sponsoring him. Thank you very much and have a good day.

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As we read SPEAK OUT and see how the village management make so many decisions that don’t make any sense, ask why. Is it because they can? As the saying goes: “It may be legal, but is it ethical and for the common good?” If you are reading this now, you obviously care about Lombard’s future. Ask your friends to get involved also and be informed. Remember, the village manager won’t answer your questions because he can’t.

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Lombard calling. The only way Lombard is going to bring back the downtown area is to change the scenery ar the village hall. Simply stated, the village manager, Hulseberg, thinks it’s OK to spend downtown TIF money on a sculpture costing about $30,000 in front of his office. On the other side, you have Village President Mueller trying to chisel down the Lombard Town Centre budget by $3,500. President Mueller hired Hulseberg. Some things don’t make sense. No wonder the village hall can’t answer questions asked by SPEAK OUT callers.

A press release from early May 2011 stated that the statue is currently on the village hall property on a temporary basis, rather than having to keep it in storage until it can be moved to a permanent home, which was, as of that time, slated to be 218-226 W. St. Charles Road.—JAC

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All you people who read SPEAK OUT, you see, the government wants to shut down the Occupy movement. The Occupy movement has a legitimate complaint, very legitimate, but they’re trying to suppress it and wash it down the drain and destroy everyone from complaining. Therefore my resolve is—and you people should have the same agenda—return nobody back in office, Republican or Democrat. Do not vote them back into office. Vote somebody else in. I think this is the only way we are going to get change. They’re thumbing their noses at us and trying to shove it down our throat. Enough is enough. Before mayhem and rioting in the streets occur in our neighborhoods, do not return the politicians back in office. Goodbye.

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Hey everybody out there, you know what NIMBY stands for—not in my back yard. Well, I’m not sure, but somebody just told me NYBO, and you know what NYBO stands for? Not your best option. That’s Nybo—not your best option. Have a nice day.

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This call is in response to the caller who said that a teaching job is the easiest thing to get. You have misinformation. First of all, you need to have majored in teaching and you have to student teach. You cannot just become a teacher with a liberal arts degree. Second of all, you have to get a bachelor’s degree; it is not just a junior college, it is a bachelor’s degree. Third, once you get your bachelor’s degree you are low man on the pay scale. You must get further educated by getting a master’s degree and further hours all the way up to a PhD to increase your salary and make lots of money. So just a simple easy degree and take a couple of little tests is not the correct information. In fact, you have to take three separate tests to just become a teacher and a different test for each content area if you want to teach different content area. I suggest you become informed and educated on the information before you call up and make up stories. Thank you.

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Hi, Lombard calling. The concept of the neighborhood school went out the door with the one-room school and the day that first yellow bus rolled off the assembly line. School redistricting, boundary changes and closures have been a part of the history of District 44 for many years. This is predicated by the ever-changing population demographics. It is not against or for anyone, it is simple a matter of fact. I’ve experienced a number of these events in the years I’ve been a Lombard resident and I empathize with you. I know it is a very emotional process. However, children are adaptable; it would seem the adults have a harder time with the change. Many of the students involved already take the bus. It is a matter of economics that it is better to transport these children to another excellent school that is underutilized rather than adding on to an existing facility. As a taxpayer of Lombard, I want the district to do what is in the best interest of all taxpayers. As an adult, I would say to you: Be an adult. Your response to this will directly impact how your child makes the transition.

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Hi, this is in response to the woman who had to pay $68 to get her driveway plowed and how the village came and put big lumps of snow again in the driveway. I just wonder if the village, for seniors who have their taxes frozen, which means their income flow, could have a system where they make sure they don’t do that; where they would go back and take care of what they did. Some other towns do things for the seniors. Hopefully Lombard would start doing that for seniors with limited income. Thank you.

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When our president gave the State of the Union pep rally, otherwise known as the class warfare pep rally, the other day, and our governor gave the State of Disaster speech here in Illinois, there are some new Democratic code words out there. One of them is “investment.” That is how a Democrat says, “I am going to spend more of your money” without actually saying it. Both of them used the term “invest in education.” That is how a Democrat in code says, “I am going to pay off the teachers union by buying more votes for me and fellow Democrats with your money.” Interesting code that they both use. It’s very funny how the state’s broke, the nation’s broke but both of them want to invest—let’s be real—spend more money. And to you teachers who don’t think you’re the problem in this state, 17 1/2 percent of our budget annually now goes to pensions.

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Hello, SPEAK OUT, Lombard calling here. You know, in 2008, when our fearless leader took office, everybody would have to pay $30,000 to pay off the national debt. It then went to $34,000 and now it was reported that is now $48,000 that our fearless leader has risen our debt-load, per-person in the United States. It is on track to go to $50,000 per person by the time he goes in for re-election. I hope to God, I hope to anybody, that our fearless leader gets fearlessly voted out of office.