Hey, downtown Lombard. I was out for a little stroll and tripped over some of those bricks in the sidewalk you've got down there. It seems like they're all over the place; by the library, downtown, uptown, over by there. When are you going to get that stuff fixed?

Your question was sent to village of officials, who responded: “The brick paver sidewalks in downtown Lombard do require more maintenance than typical concrete sidewalks and the public works department repairs trip hazards as they are found and reported. The village funds annual streetscape improvements, which include the resetting of paver bricks. The village recently completed the resetting of bricks along the east side of South Park between Parkside and Maple. Please contact the department of public works at 630-620-5740 to report any deficient conditions. Other routine maintenance such as removing weeds, snow and ice is the responsibility of the adjacent property owner.”—JAC

* * *

America calling. “Stupid is as stupid does,” said Forrest Gump's mother. More people can quote sports data than who is vice president and what our president stands for. Pay attention, folks. Your children's future is at stake. Vote smart, get facts, not a personality. By the way, did you vote in the primary? Thank you.

* * *

A little bit of overkill and a waste of tax money. American English has played Cruise Nights in Lombard for the past 15 years.  This year let’s move the stage, hurting local businesses on Park, who have been loyal for the past 15 years. Add a police command van and triple the number of officers? We have done this numerous times before, good crowd, well behaved crowd, no need for all of this overtime to line pockets. Somebody at the village made a bad decision and should have to account for all of this. What happened to cause all of this? This has been going on without an issue for years.

Your inquiry was forwarded to village officials, who responded: “Cruise Nights recently completed its 18th anniversary season and the event has grown substantially since 1998. In addition, the amount of active businesses in downtown Lombard is more than what has been in 15 years, which also adds to attendance levels. In 2015, the American English concert viewing area on South Park reached maximum capacity and attendees began to expand beyond the designated viewing area.

Out of concern for public safety, this year the stage was moved to St. Charles Road for the American English concert due to the potential of an extremely large crowd. Despite the threat of rain, this year’s American English event drew record numbers of attendees far exceeding the capacity of the traditional South Park viewing area. The new location of the stage allowed for a much larger viewing area, while only closing down St. Charles for one block. The police command vehicle served as a staging location and barrier to protect the crowd from nearby traffic on Main Street.

It is estimated that more than 2,000 people attended this event. Another benefit of the added space in the new location was the addition of an aisle that allowed for better access of patrons and provided public safety personnel with access to the crowd if needed. The amount of police officers that work events of this size is determined by the Lombard Police Department in order to best serve the safety of the attendees. Approximately five officers help to direct traffic and provide crowd control at an average Cruise Nights Event. This number was increased to 10 for the American English event to help manage the large crowd and to be available for assistance in needed. If you would like to know more, please contact the Lombard Police Department at 630-873-4400.

In preparation of the event, village staff met with business owners of various downtown eating establishments, to discuss the movement of the stage who agreed that moving the stage to St. Charles was a good option for the event. Following the event, village staff recently met with downtown business owners, including those on Park. All businesses reported positive feedback from the event and we will continue to work with them in the future. Finally, Cruise Nights and village events are not funded through residential taxes. These events are funded through the Hotel/Motel Sales Tax fund, used to support visitors, tourism and overnight stays within the area.”—JAC

* * *

Hi, I'm just reading in my Lombardian, which I truly enjoy the Lombard news. I notice we have the budget that will be in place raising the taxes on the food we eat in Lombard, taking away the subsidy for the seniors. I agree that something has to be done but what I sadly see lacking is no mention of reform on pensions. If you want to really get to the crux of the matter, why don't you take on the hard issue and start talking about pensions instead of taxing the people to death? And that goes for all the taxing bodies, not just the village. Have a good night.

In response to your inquiry, village officials responded with the following: “Unfortunately, elected officials at the local level have no say on pensions. The state Legislature sets pension benefit levels for all employees of local governments, even though it is the local governments that have to fund those pensions. Furthermore, last year the Illinois Supreme Court ruled that the state constitution protects pensions from being ‘diminished or impaired.’ This means that once an individual begins work and becomes a member of a public retirement system, any changes made to that retirement system cannot be applied to employees already in that system, and would only apply to new employees. There is no doubt that pension costs are a strain on municipal finances, and are a major reason that budget changes were needed. But again, it is an issue that local elected officials have no say in. This will need to be resolved with the state Legislature, the governor and the Illinois Supreme Court.”—JAC

* * *

This is Lombard. I'm aware of the no texting and no phone calls while driving laws. I think they're fantastic. However, I have a comment. Please, someone explain how that does apply to the police department. The Lombard Police Department seems to be constantly driving around Lombard glued to their laptops. I tried to wave a police officer down and he never even saw me waving my arms out of my car window because he was busy on his laptop while driving. Please explain to me the policy for the Lombard Police Department with regard to using their laptops in their cars while they're driving. It's very confusing to me. Thank you very much, have a great day. God bless Lombard.

Your inquiry was forwarded to Village of Lombard officials, who responded: “The hands free communication law does contain an exemption for law enforcement officers or operators of emergency vehicles while they are performing their official duties. Many of the communications between emergency dispatch centers and police officers is done over the mobile data computers because of the confidentiality or sensitivity of the information being dispatched. This is done so that the response of emergency responders is not compromised. At all times however, officers are responsible for operating their vehicles in a safe and attentive manner. This would include not typing or reading for extended periods of time while actually in motion. Please feel free to call the police department at 630-873-4400 if you have any additional questions.”—JAC

* * *

After following Mr. Trump's actions and comments during the presidential campaign and especially the last 10 days to two weeks, the opinions expressed in the letter to the editor article a couple of weeks ago regarding Mr. Trump as the GOP presidential candidate seems to be more spot on as the campaign rhetoric continues. Well, my opinion is Ms. Clinton is quite pathetic and would not make a good leader of this country. It should be quite obvious to anyone with any sense that putting Mr. Trump in that position of president of the United States would be suicide for this country, not to mention a worldwide embarrassment. Thank you.

* * *

Hi, Lombard calling. Has anyone from the Village of Lombard walked through the train station they built and seen how filthy it has become? It's actually starting to stink. Not only that, there are number of cracks. Bye.

Your comments were forwarded to Village of Lombard officials, who responded: “The village is responsible per an agreement with Metra to maintain the underpass tunnel and the ticket station, and both are cleaned by public works staff. However, the constant flow of commuters continues to generate trash throughout the day. A power washing of the tunnel will be done before the end of the summer. Please contact public works at 630-620-5740 or publicworks@villageoflombard.org to report particular maintenance issues. The village does not maintain the platforms, so please contact Metra at 312-322-6777 to report issues specific to those areas.”—JAC

* * *

Hi. I'm the one who called about a recent event at Madison Meadow park but I did not say all the streets across from the park had “no parking” signs on one side of the street. All the streets had parking signs on one side of the street except Edgewood, and we were the ones who had the problem getting out of our driveways. Thank you.

Ed. note: After listening to your first call a few times, here is what you said: “I'm calling about Sunday, the event they had at Madison Meadow park. All streets across from the park had no parking signs on one side of the street except for Edgewood and we all had a tough time getting out of our driveways. Thank you.” The words “except for Edgewood” were inadvertently omitted. In the first call, you said the other streets had “no parking” signs, yet in the second call you said they “HAD parking signs” (caps per your emphasis). I’m guessing you meant “no parking” signs. Either way, it appears your point was that you and your neighbors had a tough time exiting your driveways because cars were parked on your street, which does not have the “no parking” signs.—JAC