A recent article in the neighborhood section of the Chicago Tribune deals with “Budget Involvement” by the Lombard trustees, and as to whether there should be oversight of the six main village departments by the trustees. Trustees Gron, Giagnorio and Ware would rather resist such micromanaging. Excuse me, but after the mistakes made with the Lombard Westin, as well as the recent downgrading of Lombard’s financial rating, not to mention the fact that watching the spending of the dollars paid by Lombard taxpayers is one of the main functions of the village board, and what they get paid for, I would suggest these trustees re-think that position. What was even more disturbing was that these same trustees declined to even participate in a workshop on the budget plan until after the election. Would they also be willing to forego their salaries for that period of time as well? These trustees need to step up to the plate and earn their elective salaries, as our representatives, assuming they are still in office after the election. If not, then maybe the voters made the right decision on April 9.

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Good to see the village finally put the unmarked police car on the auction block. The purpose of doing this was to make more money on the sale because of the interest from the Ryder Cup. Too bad that was more than six months ago. Not really news anymore.

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Will Keith Giagnorio deliver on his promises for Lombard? I doubt it. Remember, Gianorio’s doesn’t deliver.

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All three Lombard presidential candidates claim to have the downtown’s best interest in mind. So why is it so hard to find signs for one of them in the storefront windows? You’d think the local business owner would have support among his fellow entrepreneurs.

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The recent cheap shot taken by Lombard officials toward various candidates really shows their lack of class and brains. This is the reason nobody wants to get involved in local politics. Because of unwarranted personal attacks by desperate individuals it will continue to diminish the interest in local government. They should resign their seats now, before they get voted out in the next election.

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As many are aware, a brochure went out from the Clean Government Alliance, P.O. Box 4, Batavia, Ill. That is the lowest thing I have ever seen put out in our village. I truly would like to know, even though the election is over when this is printed, who is the Clean Government Alliance? I went online, typed it in, did a Google search; there is no such entity online. If it’s who I would think it is, being that the brochure talks about Giagnorio, Gron and Ware, you all should be ashamed of yourselves. Absolutely ashamed. Where has our village gone in the 40 years I’ve lived here?

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This is Villa Park calling. We just got the paper and out came an ad from it from the Heidelmeier campaign and it says, “common sense leadership.” I don’t think so. Common sense. What they’re saying is he didn’t use common sense when vulgar pictures of him were posted on the Internet, so if that’s his excuse and reasoning for making such a stupid mistake, but then to have an advertising piece that says common sense leadership? I don’t think so. He’s not capable of leading people. If you voted for him, you deserve to live in a town like Villa Park.

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I think it is atrocious that Lombard District 6 Trustee Bill Ware was unable to answer the candidate questions posed to him because he was busy at work and busy with the role of being acting village president. If he is in public life, Mr. Ware should take the time to answer questions. I cannot imagine that the role of acting village president takes that much of Mr. Ware’s time. My guess is, that if Mr. Ware was not running unopposed in the District 6 race, he would have taken the time to answer these questions. It is too bad someone else did not run against Mr. Ware. He seems very arrogant to me. Thank you.

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One of the candidates responded to the question about the village answering SPEAK OUT questions that a caller might be misinformed or have the wrong facts. I say to that, that’s where SPEAK OUT would be useful because then those misconceptions and misinformation could be put to rest by the village in a way that reaches lots of people. Think about it. Isn’t that why SPEAK OUT tries to get answers—to set the record straight?

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Hello, Lombard calling. With regard to the Greg Gron or Dan Whittington signs up in downtown Lombard, you know what, Greg Gron has been virtually nonexistent in terms of his leadership in downtown and when Dan Whittington was president of the Lombard Town Centre, more than 50 percent of the businesses and storefronts were empty. So, you know what? It doesn’t matter who you voted for; they’re both going to be bad.

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Dear Lombardians. I want to thank my neighbor for coming to us to ask us why we still had “Christmas” lights up, since it is now April. Thank you for your patience. Thank you for accepting my answer that they are not Christmas lights but a string of white lights to help people see our cement and brick stairs better. We prefer no one fall and hurt themselves. So, to all our friends and neighbors, instead of calling SPEAK OUT with your complaints, talk personally to the “offender.” You, too, may find a reasonable answer for your concerns, and really, last I understood, we still live in a free country. If people want to decorate with Christmas lights all year round, extend a little grace. Remember the Golden Rule and what your mother taught you. If you can’t say something nice, don’t say anything at all. Bye now.

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Hi, this is Lombard calling. If you haven’t been on the Prairie Path yet because you’re waiting for some better weather, it’s here and you’re going to find a big surprise. It looks as if Commonwealth Edison has had their tree trimmers go out and take about 50 percent of the trees out of the south side of the Prairie Path. I’m thinking they need a big ol’ fine leveled against them for this atrocity and maybe they also need to get out there with some brand new trees and plant them. What do you think? So long.

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Lombard. Some people seem anguished and aghast when they call SPEAK OUT about a village problem and the village refuses to respond. But why should the village respond? If a newspaper doesn’t get delivered, I don’t call the village hall and ask them why. I call the newspaper and they quickly resolve the problem. Similarly, if I have pot holes in my street, I don’t call SPEAK OUT and ask why, I call the village hall. They are the people who fix these things, not the newspaper. It seems a rather obvious approach but apparently the concept of going to the source is difficult for some people to grasp.

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Just because a candidate can afford all those signs does not mean he will be a good village leader. I hope you read what the other candidates had to say and voted for one of them, not the one with all the money.

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This is Lombard. It’s April 3 and next week at this time our elections will be over. Unfortunately for the Village of Lombard and its citizens, it seems like Mr. Giagnorio will be the new president. That’s very much a shame. Also, I’d like to thank my District trustee, Greg Gron, for finally coming out of the woodwork one week before the election. And on March 27, one of Mr. Giagnorio’s cronies said that the only way to end it was to walk out. They didn’t want to have idle time and bickering on TV. Another joke on the Village of Lombard.

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So Greg Gron said he opened a business away from Lombard so as to be “viable” and not have a similar business to what is already here? What about all the hair salons, dentist offices, etc., that dot the landscape? It’s good enough for them.

Did you miss the part where Greg Gron wrote that it would have been a conflict of interest? He added that village officials are not allowed, by state law, to operate any business in a TIF area.—blm

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There are good people in the world. I’d like to mention a nice gentleman who filled and paid for my gas at the station at Main Street and North Avenue. I’m sorry I didn’t ask his name. I wish to thank him for his generosity. I hope to be able to pay it forward for someone else.

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Lombard calling. Welcome to the village of dirty tricks. Do you remember School District 44 wanted an increase and what were they not telling us? They were not telling us it was going to be retroactive. You also had the raising of the sales tax; the village promised they would not raise water fees. They didn’t keep the promise. What are they not telling us? The county had already planned to raise our water fees. The last thing now is that the village is suspending all vehicle stickers? Why is this? What are they not telling us? They’re not telling us the fact that there are re-elections and the incumbents want to stay in there. So what I’m proposing is we don’t re-elect but reject. I hope we voted out the incumbents.

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I hope most of you agree with I am about to say. We should all scream and complain to the senators, congressmen and the president and tell them something has to be done about the high cost of fuel. It’s using up all our money and we don’t have any money to spend on anything else. I don’t think the president, the congressmen and the senators get paid too much, but what they do do is spend too much and tax us too high and the spending is excessive. All sports stars, Hollywood movie stars and CEOs of corporations get paid too much money and they won’t live long enough to spend it and enjoy it. I hope you people feel the way I do and I hope you all had a good, happy Easter. Good bye.

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How many years have our senators been working for illegal immigrants? If they finally make a decision and know what the word illegal means and uphold the Constitution, they can start working for the legal American taxpayers.

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Hello, this is Lombard calling. It seems to me that Lombard has become a bit of a ghost town lately; the empty former Hobby Lobby on Main Street, Blockbuster Video, the forever vacant former Walgreens on Main Street and almost the full shopping plaza on Main Street and Roosevelt, where Kiddie Klub Lane used to be and now Kmart. Please tell me how much longer are these eyesores are going to be empty and vacant? Let’s bring some businesses, jobs, restaurants and shopping back into Lombard.

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When is something going to be done about the Lombard train station that’s now a shelter for the homeless? I didn’t know that my tax money was being used to house the homeless in the Lombard train station. The commuters can’t even use the train station; the homeless people in town have taken it over. The place reeks of alcohol, the homeless people are laying on the benches; it’s a mess. When is Lombard going to address this? Metra says that it’s Lombard; Lombard says that it’s Metra. The commuters have a right to use that train station. When is something going to be done? Thank you.