As a taxpayer and also a reader of the Lombardian, my question is, the Tri-Town YMCA has a portion of Manor Hill. I am just wondering if the Tri-Town YMCA pays District 44 for the use of the building and use of the facilities when the school is actually closed; if they pay for the janitors, if they pay rent. What do they actually pay for or is the taxpayer subsidizing the YMCA in Lombard? If so, I do not think that’s fair because I would not contribute and I am paying taxes for the school district. Thank you.

Tri-Town YMCA Executive Director Joanne Mitrenga responded: “Tri-Town YMCA is not subsidized by the school district. We do pay rent each month to District 44.”—JAC

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Why does the police department think they can put cheap plastic signs in the parkway, when any other residents do it, it is against the law? Practice what you preach and follow the laws that the rest of us have to.

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In the winter, during a snow storm, who is responsible for the village? Such as calling out snow plows or alerting the local officials? Where were these people during the recent rain event? Somebody in the village had to be working or responsible for alerting other officials of problems in the village? How about some accountability?

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Congratulations to our new village president and trustees whowere sworn in on May 2. What a great evening it was for Lombard.  Everyone was smiling and hugging, with the exception of trustees Fitzpatrick and Breen. They seemed to be very unhappy. Perhaps they should file a grievance with the Clean Government Alliance.

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I wonder if the door to the village hall hit former Trustee Wilson in the backside when he left the last meeting. I sure hope so. One can only hope that same door closes on trustees Fitzpatrick and Breen in two years. Lombard does not need them on the board.

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Hi, this is Lombard calling. I just wanted to complain about all the obnoxious cheering that went on at the last board meeting and I was wondering if anyone could get me the phone number to the Clean Government Alliance. I have sent something in the mail but it came back as no such person. Thank you.

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Villa Park residents. You heard it announced at the recent April meeting that the village wants to seek home rule authority to raise your taxes. Pay attention to your local government. Thank you.

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To all my fellow Lombardians, addressed to the village, the trustees and President Giagnorio. I received my tax bill and I commend you on the fact that my tax bill for the Village of Lombard for the year 2012 is $194.14. What I’m calling for is the pension fund money is $344.09. The pension fund is almost twice the amount I’m paying for my services. I would think that the people would be outraged. I would think that the village should rectify this situation and I would think that President Giagnorio would take the leadership role in this as his first major hurdle. How ridiculous to pay that much for people once they have retired when all of us ordinary citizens have to provide for ourselves. Thank you very much.

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This is Lombard calling. Those purple banners in Lombard are very nice. We really like them.

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On Sunday, May 5, I saw street lights on in the middle of the afternoon at the north end of town. Our family does its part to not waste electricity, not just to keep the bill lower but also to be more green. I think Lombard should do the same.

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We’re getting bombarded with an increase in taxes of all kinds, the cost of everything is going up, the cost of gasoline is ridiculously high and our politicians aren’t even addressing the issue. The other thing is, I think because of all this going up, we’re getting less, we’re being taxed more and more, I think it’s time the politicians start taking a cut in pay. Either give up some of their benefits or cut their salary or wages, whatever they’re getting. They’re causing the problem; we are not causing the problem and we can’t pay for all this nonsense. Shout loud and clear and let’s get this thing started and let them start taking less pay. Good bye.

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In the Wednesday, May 1, Lombardian, Dr. Larson, superintendent of District 87, says the way to show gratitude to a teacher is to surprise the teacher with a surprise visit. Oh, perhaps I should surprise my doctor with a surprise visit to show my gratitude. In this day of high security in the schools, and the idea that a teacher is a professional, who wants to be interrupted? My kid is being taught by that teacher. I don’t want some parent interrupting the teacher with a surprise visit. What a poor idea.

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To the person who said we shouldn’t complain about the noise of living near the railroad tracks and flooding because we are living near bodies of water like creeks, rivers, etc., and that we made a choice to live there, what an insensitive thing to say. The railroad tracks and bodies of water were there, yes, obvious to the naked eye. But, this recent storm had people getting flooded who never had it before, and they live nowhere near water. I do not live in a flood plain and I got water in my basement. So did many other people. In some cases, houses that weren’t there before popped up later and caused flooding issues for others. Think before you open your mouth.

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Hi, if you get this in the paper, my laptop, which is an Asus Eee PC, was taken from my window sill on North Park and I would really appreciate getting it back. It’s a midnight blue laptop. It’s got some photos and stuff on it that I would appreciate getting back and also some of the gigs I’ve got on it. So if you would please return it to the police department, no questions asked. Thank you so much. Bye.

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Lombard calling. George Bush is at it again. Gas was $3.87 a gallon. Today its $4.15. There he goes, taking care of his friends in the oil business again.

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In a recent SPEAK OUT somebody called in and was talking about homeless people using the train station as a restroom. The caller said the Village of Lombard should set up porta-potties, give them a place where they could go to take showers and get cleaned up, do their laundry, get some proper food, and when they say the village, they mean me—that I should pay for it. They said the nation would be much better off for it. I’ve got an idea. How about this person gives us his or her address, and we can send those homeless people to their house. They can shower there and get proper food there. I’ve got a feeling this person isn’t that much in touch with his or her humanity that he or she would want that. The caller is just in touch with my humanity, which means my wallet to pay for this kind of stuff. Sorry, folks, time that we enforce our vagrancy laws. I belong to a church; we have an outreach house, we feed people on Wednesdays. You’re homeless, you come there, we will help you.

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Hi, this is Lombard. I’d like to say a special thanks to the Village of Lombard, in these flooding times, especially public works. I’d like to know, where are our trustees? I haven’t seen them out doing anything, but I do see Lombard, especially public works, working very hard and I’d like to say a special thanks to them. Thank you, bye bye.

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Hi, good morning, this is Lombard calling. Could we please do away with these people on the street asking for money for their cause? I’m so for the cause but in the street? Please. It backs everything up, it creates such a traffic headache. Can we please stop it? Just have them go to a store or something. It’s ridiculous.

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Hi, this is Lombard calling, saying that there are no benches on the south side of the train tracks, so the commuters cannot have anywhere to sit. If it’s possible, maybe we could put in some benches so people could sit on the south side of the tracks, people waiting. Thanks, bye.

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In the last 20 years we’ve lived in Lombard, I’ve probably seen a Lombard Fire Department employee driving a large SUV around at least 10 times. I saw one recently and it reminded me that I’ve never seen more than one person in one of those vehicles. I think they should make the drivers use their own vehicles and reimburse them for their mileage, like other businesses do. As far as the water bill, it is going to keep going up, if you read the information from the village that we received. This is just the first of many increases we’re going to be seeing. And when that happens, I feel like the village should stop buying these large vehicles and other things we don’t need and pay a portion of our water bill. Same with Yorktown Mall. Every time I’m out there I think about all the money these retailers are making that we don’t see any benefit from. We don’t have the great park district facilities like Glen Ellyn does and they don’t have Yorktown Mall. Our taxes are very high. I would say almost as high, if not as high, as Glen Ellyn. I’m tired of paying all these taxes and getting nothing.

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This is Lombard. Recently somebody said that the solution to all of our problems in the United States is electric trains. It’ll save us time, money, expenses. Electric trains are hugely expensive to operate and there’s a problem. A train starts at A and ends at B only. It can’t decide when it’s part way to B to go over to X or Y. That’s quite the issue, again, not to mention that is one of the most inefficient ways to move people. The person also stated we wouldn’t have to be beholden to other countries for oil. The only reason we are beholden to other countries for oil is because the left-wing radicals in this country won’t let us use our oil. We have more oil than Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Iran combined. We have some of the largest oil reserves in the world, but as you know, we have a president who refuses to use our own energy. I’m sorry. I don’t want to use electric trains to only take me where they want to take me.

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Hi, I just want to leave a message to all the Democrats who voted for Obama. I would just like to know how you feel about destroying this country and you’ll go down in legacy so your kids can say, “My parents and grandparents helped destroy the United States.” I just want to say thank you for that and I hope you enjoy all the free stuff. Thank you.

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This is Lombard calling. Great job, Mrs. Cordell, Manor Hill School fourth grade, for successfully performing the Heimlich maneuver on a choking student. Way to go.

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No more status quo. Breen and Fitzpatrick must go.

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This is Lombard calling. Could the people who live on corner lots check the sidewalks for overhanging bushes? Bike riders, people taking walks, mothers with strollers and dog walkers would really appreciate having full access to the sidewalk.

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Hello, Lombard calling. I was sitting out on my balcony enjoying the nice weather, and I was watching people coming off the train trying to cross the crosswalk and people are not stopping. If there’s no traffic in one direction they enter the crosswalk. People are driving around them so they do not have to stop. When is Lombard going to put those signs back out that say that by law you are supposed to stop when people enter the crosswalk? Somebody’s going to die out here and it’s going to be on Lombard’s head. Do something about it. Thank you.

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Villa Park calling from Ardmore and Division Street, 7 a.m. Wednesday morning garbage pick-up day for the west side side of the street. I have just witnessed for the second time in the last six months a garbage truck back up to pick up garbage rather than go around. I would like to say that calling the office does not seem to help. It’s time that somebody else take care of this before we have a fatality. People trying to come out of their driveway and there’s a garbage truck backing up down the street.

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May 1, I was reading SPEAK OUT and I found the perfect store that should be opened up just outside Villa Park. It would rent canoes, generators, mobile trailers and ATVs with snow plows on them, because Villa Park can’t get this stuff right. So, when there ‘s a storm, rain, snow, anything like that, put it in Addison or Elmhurst and the store will make tons and tons of money just renting out to Villa Park residents because our village president and trustees don’t seem to care and don’t know how to run a village. And it’s our fault because we voted them in.