Lombard calling. I was hoping that the District 87 superintendent, Dr. Larson, would be taking the summer off, and those of us who read the Lombardian would get a break from his apparent left-leaning diatribes on education and Betsy DeVos. But nothing doing. Lo and behold, I see his column in the June 22 issue. Here’s a column idea for you, Dr. Larson, but I doubt you’ll touch this with a 10-foot pole—funding the pensions of educators like you. According to an opinion article in an April, 2016 issue of Forbes online, and I quote, “By 2017, Illinois income taxpayers will be on the hook for more than 10,000 educator pensions paying more than $100,000. The number of six-figure pensions increased by 57 percent in just the past two years – from 4,767 in 2013 to 5,930 in 2014. Then by 2022, again I quote this article, “Over 20,000 Illinois teachers/administrators will have pensions exceeding $100,000 annually.” I’m sure you’ll be pulling in a nice six-figure pension at some point, too, thanks to hard-working taxpayers like me in the private sector. You’re welcome.

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Regarding the proposed “road diet” and bike lanes on Westmore-Meyers Road from Madison to St. Charles Road the village states there have been more than 200 traffic accidents in the past three years along this corridor. My guess is that it is Westmore-Meyers Road from St. Charles Road to Butterfield Road that had that many crashes. I seriously doubt that many occurred between Madison and St. Charles, where they are proposing the bike lanes. Please provide accurate data for the road between the proposed locations; don't use statistics that try and justify the construction of unnecessary bike lanes. My guess is if the village is paying for the study, it will say what they want it to.

Your comments were forwarded to Village of Lombard officials, who responded: "It’s important to remember that the road diet is a consideration at this point and has not yet been confirmed. The reason that this design is being considered is because this stretch of road has a higher than normal amount of accidents, that have impacted vehicles and pedestrians. Public safety is the village’s highest priority and these types of concerns are not taken lightly. The accurate data for the road has been provided, as there have been nearly 200 traffic accidents in the same stretch of road that is being considered for the road diet. Crash data from the Lombard Police Department states that since 2011 there have been 305 accidents along Westmore-Meyers Road.  The data shows 59 (2013), 63 (2014) and 62 (2015) for a total of 184 crashes over the most current three-year period. These figures do not include any crash data south of Roosevelt Road, as Westmore-Meyers Road south of Roosevelt Road is DuPage County’s jurisdiction. Construction and traffic patterns rely on statistics to provide information, in order to make informed decisions. As such, a feasibility analysis is currently under way, that will provide information that will help direct future steps taken will. Any decision made will not be made due to a decision by the village, but will be based in numbers and traffic study results, all of which will be provided to the public. If constructed, the Westmore-Meyers project will provide a significant safety improvement in addition to the accommodation of multi-modal transportation. For information on the proposed road diet, visit www.villageoflombard.org/roaddiet, and please feel free to contact public works with any questions you may have at 630-620-5740."—JAC

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To the person last week stating that the residents of downtown need a break from Cruise Nights as they would like to sit on their balconies without noise or fumes and suggested they move it to Yorktown, let's put this into a little perspective. There are a total of 11 cruise nights each summer.  That gives you 354 nights to enjoy your balcony. Cruise Nights has become a much-needed foot traffic event for our downtown.  Hundreds of people visit our downtown and businesses each Saturday during the summer. As a downtown business owner and resident, Cruise Nights provides great family fun during the summer along with revenue to the businesses. Downtown Lombard needs the foot traffic events much more than Yorktown. Instead of complaining about a great event happening in our downtown, enjoy your balcony on the other 354 nights and join in on the fun during those 11 nights.

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On July 1, the state will have $23 billion in unpaid debt. Yes, eventually when there is a budget passed we will be paying more in taxes. You could replace every Democrat in Springfield with a Republican tomorrow, but the debt will still be there and we will still be paying more in taxes. The numbers have always been there. On the day Bruce Rauner took office he knew that he would have to increase taxes, but he didn't want to take the responsibility for it. How do we know this? He has never yet fulfilled the most basic of his Constitutional duties; he has yet to propose a balanced budget. He has been dishonest in his promise to the Republicans who sit in Springfield, supposedly representing our interest. Every six months they get a donation to their campaign funds for doing what the failed governor tells them to do. We get the government that we deserve. Vote them all out of office.

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Lombard calling. You see, deciding that the guy from your party in Springfield is trying and the guy from the other party is not, is why we have the problem that we have. Conroy is no more walking in lockstep with Madigan than Breen is walking in lockstep with Rauner—which he is. It is not two months, but rather it is two years that we have been without a budget. Everyone currently in Springfield has failed us. Everyone who has been there for the last two years needs to go because they have proven to us that they cannot do the job. Rewarding the guy from your party because he is from your party is just rewarding failure.

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The swamp addicts in Washington will stop when they get voted out of office because they were all brought in by the head creature Trump. They’re all billionaires. He’s hired people who don't even know what they’re doing. They have no concept of how to run a government. That’s why you have swamp creatures. As he said, he would clear the swamp and he certainly did. He put them all in Washington. Bye.

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I want to comment on how nice the poppies look in the parking lot on the north side of the tracks. Congratulations to the person who came up with that idea.

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This is Lombard calling. This is to the person who is complaining about Cruise Nights. If it weren't for Cruise Nights, downtown Lombard would be dead. Cruise Nights has made downtown Lombard what it is, and every Saturday night the stores in Lombard seem packed. If you don't like it, move. Cruise Nights will stay and should stay in downtown Lombard forever. Thank you.

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Those Americans who lived through the second term of Bush and the terms of Obama have to be cynical. It was a disastrous 12 years. Americans are losing, but not the politicians. Cut our new president some slack. Saying he wasn't elected by the people is disheartening and dishonest. Don't be jealous of his money. Trump was elected by the people through the Electoral College. Let's see if he will work for us. Many of the politicians have not and will not. I'm waiting to see if my vote was wasted. If Trump succeeds, we all win and America wins.

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I was just wondering about the viaduct on Main Street, the I-beam above. Why can’t we paint welcome to the Village of Lombard across the I-beam instead of having an ugly brown I-beam when you pull into town? Thank you.

Your inquiry was forwarded to Village of Lombard officials, who responded: “In 2011, the [Lombard] Village Board adopted the downtown Lombard revitalization guide book, which identified the viaduct on Main, south of St. Charles Road, as a potential location for branding and marketing improvements. Village staff contacted Union Pacific Railroad, who owns and maintains the viaduct structure, and rejected the village’s suggestion of adding decorative modifications to the existing underpass. Therefore, plans for modification of this location were then put on hold.”—JAC

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Lombard here. I want to give a shout out to the Westin Lombard for saving our American Cancer Society Relay for Lombard Addison, Lombard and Villa Park. Earlier we were in danger of having to cancel due to the inclement weather and the Westin came through and offered their ballroom for our event and it was fantastic. Thanks so much, Westin, for all that you did for us and please patronize this great establishment. Thanks so much.

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Peter Roskam seems like a coward who will only meet with supporters. He was elected to represent everyone in his district. If he's worried about guns then why does the NRA give him a 93 percent favorable rating? The voters will ultimately decide his fate. Until then he'll just keep on hiding.

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I feel so sorry for you people who live in Lombard and you can't use your balconies on Saturday night because of Cruise Nights. Oh, my goodness. You mean to tell me that’s stopping you from using your balconies? How interesting it would to look beyond your balcony and watch all the cars and the people. I've driven through town on many Saturday nights and I don't see anybody sitting out on their balcony before Cruise Nights ever started. So, get over it.

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I actually agree with Dr. David Larson on one thing: federal influence should be kept out of our local public schools. Common Core and other measures create a blanket standard across the states; and while STEM and STEAM are the modern foundation for all schools' curricula, I think it's best left to the local school systems and school boards to implement those standards based on the make-up of their schools. However, the flip side that coin, leaving the federal—and state—government out of education, is that school districts will get less money. There wouldn't be any no-strings-attached funding. Tough call.

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My question is to Villa Park. We pay you a lot of tax dollars. We've got thousands of potholes all over Villa Park that have been there for months, years. When is somebody going to go and fill those in or does the whole town have to start coming to you when they've got problems with their front end, tires, and stuff like that? It seems that our new village president isn't doing anything yet. Thank you very much.

Village of Villa Park Public Information Officer Kylie Cerk responded: “As with any citizen complaint, staff requires specific locations and/or addresses to properly address the issue. Depending on the concern and to follow up, staff may also need direct contact information and the full name of the resident. This information can be reported to the [Villa Park] Public Works Department at 630-834-8505 or e-mailed to publicworks@invillapark.com. Additionally, an online contact form or an official complaint form can be filled out on the village's Web site at www.invillapark.com/FormCenter/."—JAC