Hey, Lombard. I'm confused. On Page 2 of the March 23 Lombardian, it says that the Village of Lombard is using an incentive agreement to attract new businesses for Sam's Club and Bluestone, but they can't do anything about getting a grocery store in downtown Lombard. Well, how about writing up a letter with incentives and sending it to some of our grocery retailers in the Chicago metropolitan area or maybe other parts of the country? Maybe they'd like to take advantage of those same incentives. Bye.

Your comments were forwarded to the Village of Lombard, which provided the following response:

“The village’s Economic Incentive Policy is available to all perspective developments that are looking to open or expand a business. Each individual incentive agreement is specific to each proposed development project. They may vary in order to better suit the needs of different projects. It is important to note that the approved incentive agreements were intended to offset extraordinary development costs and benefit the community, including providing for traffic signal enhancements, reconstructed roadways and additional stormwater detention. The village has been actively marketing the new program to prospective businesses that may seek to locate in Lombard in general, as well as the key vacant development sites in particular. This outreach includes conversations with potential grocery operators who have expressed interest in or near the downtown area. This will be an ongoing effort.

“Similarly to a home, the sale of privately owned property and businesses are the responsibility of the current owner. The legal role of the local government does not include functioning as realtor to solicit to companies within the private business market. A common misconception is that the village dictates or controls which specific businesses can occupy a specific location. The village’s role is purely as a facilitator and informational resource. For more information on how retail stores come to be in Lombard, please view our new online series titled “From Ground Breaking to Grand Opening: Retail in Lombard” available at www.villageof lombard.org/retail.”—blm

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There are good arguments on both side of the library debate; however, the pleas for more meeting rooms and smart boards by home schooling parents makes me angry. If those parents choose not to use the public school system, do not double down our tax burden by asking us to pay for a private home school in the library. It's your choice to home school so you should pay for it. We also have very good private schools for those who are frightened of the public schools. Use them please.

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The Villa Park Post Office does a great job of delivering our mail, but getting to the post office is now dangerous. The pot holes for the drive-through and the building are more than enough to damage most cars. Please, Mr. Postmaster, get the holes filled.

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Once again this past week someone missed the point in supporting the millions of dollars our library wants to spend on remodeling. It's nice to have meeting space, but not at this cost. The village has two halls for meetings. Even the youth can tell you they communicate much more these days on their phones than in person. There is plenty of room in the current structure for meeting rooms—let's just improve what we have—and remember it may not be necessary to have any library in 15-20 years. The library meeting is next Monday at 7 p.m. Our tax dollars are at risk.

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Lombard calling. I just wanted to know with all this talk of raising gas taxes and taxes with our secretary of state and everything else to balance the budget in Illinois and also the federal government wants to raise gas taxes, when are our Congress people going to get on our page, the people's page and pay the taxes that we do and get into the Medicare that we do and get everything that we do? This is ridiculous. We are getting taxed to death and what are they getting? A free ride. And in Illinois, Madigan has got to go. Thank you.

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Villa Park is installing a traffic signal at Villa and Roosevelt. This will greatly increase the amount of traffic on Villa. As it is now, many people do not stop at any of the stop signs on Villa. It will become a noisy and dangerous street if police do not patrol it more.

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Hi, Villa Park calling. We seem to have a different set of laws in Illinois as evidenced by the alleged corruption of our leaders for the past few years. A new 2016 law allows for people in this country illegally to now be able to obtain a license to practice law in Illinois. So, you wonder what’s wrong with the legislature and the court system when you have a lawyer in the courtroom who’s here illegally. Talk about hypocrites and a fine how-do-you-do. We need to end the sanctuary cities and send the illegals back to where they come from. Why are we rewarding the wrongdoers?

An article found online at rebootillinois.com about new laws for 2016 states, “Undocumented Illinois residents–like people who were brought to the U.S. as children–will be able to obtain law licenses in 2016. Before this law, people who weren’t citizens or going through the naturalization process couldn’t qualify.”—blm

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To answer the caller when teachers strike they're asking for more revenue, that means it comes out of the taxpayers' pocket, don't tell me it's not about the children. Seriously? And then you say it doesn't even go into the classroom where it belongs but for salaries? Excuse me? What do you think is going on in the classroom all day? They need to be paid, and they need to be paid appropriately so your students get a good education. Also, you say if it's misappropriated; where else would it be going to? Many of those teachers work several hours at night. They don't just leave at 4 o'clock and close out. You definitely have to think about that if you don't realize that. Also, we feel fortunate in this economy to have a job? Apparently you are not educated enough to know that the economy has improved drastically. It is very hard for a lot of businesses to find good employees because the economy is doing so well. Thank you.

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Exit polls show that more than half of Republican voters felt betrayed by Republican office holders. It does not bode well for the self-described head of the Republican Party in this state, who won his only elected office with 50.3 percent of the general vote. What the previous caller was trying to say was that perhaps the young state rep should not be hitching all of his horses to the Rauner bandwagon. Why not blame Madigan? He has a proven track record and he's negotiated budgets with five of the last governors. If you don't think the government workers should get the pension they've been paying into all of they careers, maybe you should tell them that the next time you call 9-1-1. They will still show up.

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Hi. Villa Park calling. I’d like to know if Villa Park is mixing well water with their city water. I tried to get several answers and no one seems to know. Maybe SPEAK OUT can get some answers for me. Thanks.

Village of Villa Park Village Manager Rich Keehner Jr. responded: “In brief, no, the village is not mixing well water with water received through the DuPage Water Commission (DWC). This act requires authorization from the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency (IEPA) and would require substantial well water testing/analysis prior to mixing and backflow prevention. This act would also require permission from the DuPage Water Commission. If you require additional information, please contact me.” He can be reached at 630-592-6051.

Vydas Juskelis, Villa Park Public Works director, also noted: “The wells are meant for emergency use only. I only recall needing to operate them once or twice since the village switched to Lake Michigan water in the early 1990s.”—JAC

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We're a nation of laws. If you come in illegally you break the law. Our politicians take an oath to uphold our laws. Why haven't they? What is it most people don't get about having laws to protect us and our country? To those people, all I can say is, why do you have locks on your doors? Maybe to protect you from someone coming in and harming you? Now do you get it? There's no money for veterans because we're supporting millions of people who are here illegally who are not needy. They have homes, new cars, food stamps, medical, clothing, everything we've worked for our whole lives. It took Americans many years to accomplish this.

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To the caller who says President Bush is the worst president and dismantled our military, here are some facts that you should reflect on—and based on that statement it would have to be President Bush. President Bush is the one who sent our troops into Iraq for an unjustified war, that siphoned the needed military to finish up what we had started in Afghanistan. Then, after the war, it was President Bush's administration that dismantled the Iraqi army; threw out all their military officers. Now, today, a lot of those officers are the brain power behind ISIS. Then we also supported a corrupt president in Iraq. That's why you have the problems you have in Iraq today, because of the failed policies of the Bush administration from the Iraq War, which was not justified.

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Thanks to our Villa Park officials for the 2016-17 budget. It looks good and we should be able to spend less than we take in—what a concept. Let's hope and pray that our state officials get the idea.

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Yes, this is in response to the April 6 issue, a person who began his or her SPEAK OUT entry with “April showers.” Yes, we're having the same issue. We have two sump pumps—one used to never run; one only ran during moderate to heavy rainfall. Now they both run intermittently all the time, even with the smallest amount of rain. We've been here since 1993 and we went a whole decade without a single problem. Now we have these frequently running sump pumps all of a sudden. Also, we have backyard flooding, which we didn't have for the first 10 years we lived here. What has changed are the inappropriately large homes on these small lots in our neighborhood and we have an area that used to be a wooded area that now has large homes built on it, so I can’t help but blame that. That's our story. I hope you resolve your issue. Thank you.

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Good evening. This call is to commend the person who has restored my belief in humanity. Mr. Dave Gorman of the public works department, Village of Lombard, knows how to do customer service. This resident was treated as a human being, not a number; responded to "the issue at hand," within two days with a follow-up call and within two weeks had resolved "the issue" with another follow-up call. All done with respect and professionalism. Mr. Gorman, you know who I am. Thank you and the world needs more people like you. Bye bye.

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Hi, Lombard calling. I just thought I’d let people know I just got off the phone with a woman from the Village of Lombard who tells me that Lombard is no longer going to be doing it recycling extravaganza for electronics. She would not give me any more information but just basically said the village is no longer offering recycling. I just thought I’d let everybody know we’re paying for this type of service, yet our village is no longer doing it for us. I think this is terrible. Thank you.

The following response was received from the Village of Lombard: “Electronics recycling had previously been available to residents for free but due to a complex matter involving state law, the cost for 2016 would be $21,000. The village is exploring options to assist residents with this unanticipated and unbudgeted expense. A decision regarding electronics in the Recycling Extravaganza, or other possible options, will be made by summer. This is a statewide challenge, not unique to Lombard. For more, please call Lombard Public Works at 630-620-5740.”—blm