Hi, Lombard calling. The north side of my street is really disgraceful. Several homes have junk, garbage, bottles, papers, rusty old toys, an old motorcycle, etc. strewn in their front yards for everyone to see as people walk or drive through the downtown area. Isn't there any village ordinance that prohibits this kind of clutter strewn all over? Do we have anything or any law in place to protect surrounding homes? There is no reason to have this blight continue in the neighborhood. Come on guys, get out and clean up your front yards.

The Village of Lombard provided the following response: “Yes, the village does have codes that help to maintain our beautiful community. The village’s Code Enforcement Division is available to report possible violations of village code. Please feel free to call 630-620-5757 to report any violations or to find out about the status of any violation or compliance efforts that are currently ongoing for a given property.”—blm

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The recent call in SPEAK OUT indicated libraries will be needed in 20 years. Yet the Villa Park Library expansion/renovation is being designed to provide “meeting space” and more computer areas. Neither one of these should be worth the $12 million figure quoted at the last public meeting. Villa Park already has two halls for meetings. Public computers will be much less needed in the future as home computers, tablets, phones, etc., have all the computer information at our fingertips without going to a library. There is a public meeting in early April at the library. Please join me there to ”speak out” against waste of our tax dollars. I believe we should spend the minimum needed to repair the current building only.

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To the person in North Lombard gloating over the good fortune of having John as a mailman, this is a reminder, he is only on loan to you, when soon he will return to the more appreciative residents two blocks south.

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Good morning, Lombard calling. I was just looking over the election results statewide and there doesn’t seem to have been a single race in which a Rauner-backed candidate went up against a Madigan-backed candidate and won. Interesting.

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Hi, this is Lombard calling. I’m wondering what the progress is in bringing a new grocery store to town. It’s been years since Mr. Z’s went out of business and the empty Kmart on Roosevelt Road is also available. We have to have new grocery stores in this town. Two grocery stores with over 40,000 people is not enough. Please update us and let us know what our village is doing to bring some new grocery stores to our village. This is very, very needed. Many other towns close by are getting Mariano’s, Caputo’s and many other chains. Where are our grocery store chains? Why isn’t Lombard trying to get new business in this town for grocery? Thank you.

Your questions were forwarded to the Village of Lombard, which provided the following: “We are pleased that Sam’s Club is coming to Lombard to add to the grocery shopping mix. The village has also forwarded interested grocers to other sites available in the village. The village adopted an Economic Incentive Policy to help businesses open their doors in Lombard. The policy facilitates an “explore all options” approach and can be used to address extraordinary costs associated with new developments without negatively impacting existing taxpayers. However it is still incumbent upon a willing tenant and a willing owner to reach agreement on the property sale. A common misconception is that the village dictates which specific businesses can occupy a specific location. The village’s role is purely as a facilitator and informational resource. We cannot force a property owner to sell their property to a specific business. 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.villageoflombard.org/retail.”—blm

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Before we continue to thank the village for the flashing light at Main and the Prairie Path, I have a comment. You do not have to stop for the flashing light. It is only a reminder of the crossing there. Once a pedestrian or bicyclist enters the crosswalk, you must yield to them; if they are on the side waiting to cross, you do not have to stop for them. If you stop, there are still three more lanes of traffic—if you can’t control all four lanes do not stop and wave anybody across.

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Hi, this is Lombard calling in regard to see if someone can help me. What is the Lombard ordinance for how many dogs a Lombard resident can own. We have a neighbor who has four dogs who recently moved in; they're outside and they bark constantly. My other question is, what is defined as excessive barking by the Village of Lombard? Is it an hour, two hours, three hours? Just curious in regard to the legalities of owning four dogs and allowing them to bark constantly, if that's legal in the beautiful Village of Lombard. Thank you very much, have a great day and God bless you all.

Your queries were sent to the Village of Lombard, which answered with the following: “No more than three dogs of more than 3 months of age can be kept at a given residence, as per Section 90.02 of the Village Code. If there is incessant barking, please feel free to contact the Lombard Police Department, as such activities may be deemed to be a nuisance, per Section 90.17 of Village Code.”—blm

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Lombard calling. I see that my state representative, who ran unopposed in the primary is standing with those who think the Illinois House of Representatives should stay in session during the time of the primary and subsequent annual Easter break. The governor, of course, could call a special session and require everyone to return to Springfield, but I have to agree with him when he says that would be a waste of time because nothing would be done anyway. Rep. Breen, maybe you should use the time to sit down and think about all the ways you voted against the interests of those who elected you to office. Thank you.

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Good grief. The chamber of commerce can’t find someplace in Lombard to host their luncheon? I guess this unnamed place that raised their rates must be none other than the Westin. They couldn’t have it in the Bill Mueller room, I suppose. Anyway, 150 people? That doesn’t seem like very many people with the number of businesses we have in Lombard.

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To the reader who’s tired of Rauner put-downs, he has something that even President Obama doesn’t; a line item veto. He was elected to get Illinois’ financial house in order. Instead, he holds the state hostage to promote his pro-business agenda by trying to break the unions. Why bring our quality of life down? Don’t you like paid vacations, time and a half overtime, health insurance, etc.? Where to you think that comes from? Meanwhile, our state gets in a deeper hole.

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This is Lombard calling. I'd like to find out why and when Casa Real closed up. It was in that Ultra Foods shopping center. I thought it was supposed to be doing really good business. I'd like to find out when they closed up and why. Thank you.

According to the Village of Lombard’s response, “Casa Real closed on Feb. 22. The restaurant closure was a business decision by the tenant and was not the result of any actions by the village.”—blm

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Jesse White is not going to be sending out notices for when license plate stickers have to be renewed. Does that mean I’m going to be spending less in taxes? Where is that money going? What are they doing with it? Cut my taxes instead if just pocketing the savings. Food for thought, ladies and gentlemen.

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It’s interesting that the lengthy March 9 SPEAK OUT response regarding the Lombard chamber’s luncheon for the 2016 state of the village failed to mention the name of the previous venue that wanted to provide a substantial rate increase for this year’s event. Wouldn’t that venue be the Westin? Isn’t the Westin the venue that Lombard’s recent leaders told us was going to be so beneficial for the village? Of course, the Westin is instead a major financial burden. For about four years, the village has refused to cover the shortfall on bonds issued for the hotel. That refusal has damaged the village’s credit rating. The chamber’s SPEAK OUT response also mentioned that the attendees of this year’s event, which wasn't even in Lombard, included village department heads. Who paid for their admission to the state of the village? If they are full-time staff members, why would they need to be informed of the village’s state? Wouldn’t they already know?

This comment was sent to the Lombard Area Chamber of Commerce and the Village of Lombard for response.

The chamber provided the following response: “The Lombard Chamber of Commerce is a private not-for-profit organization, committed to providing our members with a responsible management of their financial contributions, and as such will continue to use venues that provide our events with the most competitive prices. The past State of the Village Address was hosted by a restaurant in the Westin. The event was not hosted or catered by the Westin and was altogether a separate event from the Westin and their services. The chamber maintains positive working relationships with all of our past luncheon host restaurants and we look forward to working with them in the future. The decision to host this event at one of our members’ locations, which provided us with excellent service and a price point that matched our budget, is in line with our purpose as an organization. For more information, please feel free to contact us at 630-627-5040.”—blm

The Village of Lombard provided the following response: “The Annual State of the Village Address is a one-time-a-year event, in which the village president presents information to the chamber of commerce and its members, on the overall state of the village. The presentation given provides information from village departments including police, fire, public works, community development, finance and the village manager’s office. In order to answer any potential questions from attendees, the heads of these departments did attend this event. The village is proud to support the Lombard Area Chamber of Commerce and to attend this event in order to provide resources for residents and business owners.

“The Westin Lombard Yorktown Center is a complicated issue. It is important to clarify that the Village of Lombard does not own the Westin. The Westin is owned by the Lombard Public Facilities Corporation (LPFC), which is a not-for-profit entity that is separate from the village. Beginning in 2011, the LPFC began asking the village to appropriate for the debt shortfall every six months. The village’s decision not to fund the shortfall over time was made after careful research and due diligence conducted by staff and an independent recommendation provided by a consulting firm. The Village of Lombard is working closely with the LPFC, the hotel, the restaurant, bond holders, bond insurer and others to find a solution to the debt shortfalls.

“It is also important to remember that the Westin is a very busy hotel. The Westin generated over 130,000 room stays in 2015. These visitors generate a significant amount of revenue for local businesses in the community, which in turn generates significant revenue for the village. For more information, please feel free to call 630-620-5718.”—blm