What is going on with the Village of Lombard? This town is slipping down a very dangerous slope. They are allowing a ton of new apartments to be built in the city of Lombard. Property values are down and taxes are at an all time high. The other issue is that the village has allowed five high-interest loan stores between Main Street and Westmore on Roosevelt Road. What is the incentive to move to Lombard with a higher crime rate, high taxes and poor test scores in schools? I thought I elected new people who had a clue. I guess I was wrong. Sincerely, Your Average Joe Taxpayer.

Your concerns were forwarded to the Village of Lombard, which provided the following answers:

Regarding the two approved apartment projects that are slated to be developed in Lombard (at the Highlands of Lombard and Aimco Yorktown Apartments), both of these projects are intended to meet the demand for quality rental units in the community. The third project (Woodmoor Development on the former Ken Loch Golf Course property) was approved by DuPage County. The monthly rental costs for the units will be in the $1.85 to 2.20 per square foot price range (or approximately  $1,665 to $1,980 a month for a 900-square-foot unit).  These projects are new construction and are being tailored to meet the demand for units among young professionals seeking new modern units or empty-nesters looking to move out of their existing home but still stay within the community.  Recent studies have shown that there is significant demand for housing to meet these markets and can be found on our Village of Lombard Web site http://www.villageoflombard.org/74/Community-Development.

Regarding the loan stores on Roosevelt Road, two of the stores are new establishments while two others were relocations from tenant spaces that were already located along Roosevelt Road.  These stores are intended to meet an existing market demand and are filling tenant spaces that were previously vacant. The other store has been located along Roosevelt Road since 2000. The village’s zoning ordinance does permit the locations of financial institutions such as banks and loan stores along Roosevelt Road though a conditional use process. Such a review is intended to ensure that the proposed use and operations does not negatively impact adjacent properties and issues such as traffic and business operations are addressed. However, the village itself does not have the authority to regulate the interest rates such a facility charges to its potential customers.—blm

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I’ve been reading about the use of license plate readers in squad cars. I recently saw a TV show on parking ticket scofflaws where a company that puts the so-called boots on cars was using such a reader—mounted on the roof of the van—trolling up and down the streets looking for violators. A worker was viewing a computer scan of all the plates inside the vehicle as they drove by. I’m all for tools to help law enforcement do their job, but how far, how wide, is the reach of Big Brother?

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All of a sudden I have people calling me on the phone or at my door naming companies I deal with, but they’re not from the companies I deal with. When I call the number on the caller ID, it’s a click and a disconnect. Companies I deal with don’t do that. It sounds like fraud to me. I make it a rule to not buy over the phone or at the door. If I want something I make a call to them and then I know who I’m dealing with. I think we all know to never give information to someone who’s calling you.

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We just marked another Earth Day. Has anyone else noticed the spectacularly wrong predictions made by so-called experts back around the time of the first Earth Day 45 years ago? Several of these know-it-alls gave doomsday predictions, stating the planet would run out of food and oil by 1980 or so. Millions of people would die from starvation, there would be no oil left in the ground, etc. Don't forget the predictions of a looming ice age. That was before global warming, I mean climate change, became the big scare. It's funny, some of the experts who were so wrong back then are still making dire predictions about the future. They have no credibility.

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Iran is three months from the bomb. Obama knew it at least a year ago—Tuesday, April 21, Fox News. Is that why our commanders in the field got pink slips? That's why military was cut to the lowest since World War II? Is that why all our great generals are gone now? Why our army, navy, marines and special forces and all our military equipment is so low that we won't be able to protect our country? Now I'm asking you, why would all this be done, and the president says, “We are safer than we were 30 years ago.” Right.

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To the person who said he or she thought College of DuPage was a good bang for the buck, obviously doesn't mind that half of what he or she paid for class went to buy booze, lunch and food and all kinds of frills for both the trustees and the president of COD, which makes it not very good money for my buck, that's for sure. And the fact that they sent out a postcard this week touting what a wonderful school it is. I think it's the shame of DuPage County. We're known all over but thanks to COD, not for anything good.

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I'm very disappointed that we have lost J & R Cycle and Ski business in Lombard. We need the business. They were a very contributing business to Lombard. If their rent was raised, I don't know why the owners or whomever would want to raise rent and take the chance of losing that business. Thank you.

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Lombard calling. I want to compliment Trees “R” Us for the nice job they did trimming our trees and also to the nice clean-up they did. They did a nice clean-up job. Thank you. Bye bye.

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Lombard calling. I called in last week and left the SPEAK OUT message about how unions are bullying businesses with their big rat and I was misquoted in the paper. I make a mental note of the businesses that are harassed and bullied by these people and I make sure that I go back after they open and become a customer. The wording last week said that I do not go back and become a customer. I definitely go back. I'm trying to fight bullying on my own grounds. Thank you.

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To the person who called the union person a rat, get your history straight. It could be a majority of employers who are rats. Read “Death in the Haymarket” by James Green. And also, try raising a family, let alone oneself, on the minimum wage. Thank you. Bye.

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I had a sign in front of my house that I had put there for years about the Annie Ryan walk for a brain tumor. She died of a brain tumor when she was very young. Somebody took my sign and I am really, really upset that anybody would do anything like that.

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Pedestrians and bicyclists who use the Prairie Path need to pay attention when they arrive at Main Street in Lombard. There are stop signs on each side of the path. Do I have to provide a definition of the word “stop”? There are also yellow signs on each side of the path with black letters. The signs say “Pedestrians yield to all lanes of traffic.” Again, that seems pretty clear. I have a little hope that some pedestrians might adhere to the messages of the signs. I have next to no hope for bicyclists. It seems like hardly any of them abide by the rules of the road.

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This is Villa Park calling. I recently sat at the train tracks waiting for a passenger train. It took approximately 10 minutes to roll across the intersection. In that time, I observed an officer across the street—with the gates down and the lights flashing and the bells going off—pull into a parking lot. I believe I saw 15 to 20 pedestrians cross while the gates were down. We have got a problem with trains hitting children. Those people should have been cited and the officer should have gotten a reprimand.