Editor’s note: The Village of Lombard contacted SPEAK OUT with regard to the following comment, in order to provide a response: “"I did not realize the impact of the Places for Eating Tax on the Lombard economy until I saw that the Lombard Chamber of Commerce is holding its annual State of the Village address with the village president in Glen Ellyn. I guess the tax is a little too much for the chamber to bear. How unfortunate.”

The response is as follows: “The village was not presented an opportunity to respond to the SPEAK OUT originally printed in the Feb. 9 issue of the Lombardian. Below is the village’s response: The State of the Village is presented at an event that is not hosted by the Village of Lombard, but by the Chamber of Commerce. The Village of Lombard does not choose where the event will take place, as we are guests at the chamber’s event. While the Crowne Plaza Hotel is located across the street from Lombard, in Glen Ellyn, the hotel is a member of the Lombard Chamber of Commerce and offers competitive rates, per the chamber’s response to this SPEAK OUT in the Feb. 9 issue of the [Lombardian]. In regard to the Places for Eating Tax increase of 1 percent that went into effect on Jan. 1, 2016, the chamber has confirmed that their decision to host their event at the Crowne Plaza Hotel, similar to 2015 prior to the increase, was the rate per plate offered by the hotel. The location of the event holds no correlation to the Places for Eating Tax increase.

"Since the Places for Eating tax increase was implemented, there have been 12 new restaurants or expansions in Lombard, with two more proposed restaurants soon to come. While the tax increase brings Lombard’s Places for Eating tax to 2 percent ($0.60 per $30. meal, $1 per $50 meal, $2 per $100 meal etc.), the data shows that this increase has not deterred restaurant business or visitors in Lombard.

“The Places for Eating Tax Increase was implemented due to a long-term structural budget deficit due to the rising costs of state mandates, non-discretionary expenses, the rising costs of pensions and general inflationary increases, that are beyond the control of the village. It is estimated that over half of the total Places for Eating Tax that is generated for the Village of Lombard is paid for by non-residents. This prevents residents from having to shoulder the entire financial burden that stems from the state’s unfunded and required mandates. For more information, please visit www.villageoflombard.org/longrangeplan.”—JAC

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Don't forget that the Methodist church (by the Dairy Queen) has a food bank open to everyone on the third Saturday of every month. It's run by another church on that day.

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Hey, Village of Lombard. Really upset that you charge a fee to have a new window installed. I am trying to improve my home and you charge for a permit. I think that is absolutely ridiculous, considering all the piece of junk houses in Lombard that just sit, but somebody tries to improve their home and you charge them. You need to rethink your rules and regulations. Pretty sad. Goodbye.

Your comment was forwarded to Village of Lombard officials, who responded: "The state of Illinois adopted the Energy Efficient Building Act (Public Act 096-0778; 20 ILCS 3125/45 et. seq.) in 2009. Among other items, the act mandated the village be responsible for ensuring that all newly-installed windows meet the state requirements. The village implemented a permit requirement to help ensure compliance. We have worked closely with the development community and residents to help ensure that any windows that are installed meet the Energy Code. The cost for the permit is intended to cover general processing costs and any inspection activities. If you have any additional questions regarding any building codes, please feel free to contact the Community Development Department at 630-620-5750."—JAC

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If the Democrats change their name to the American Communist Party I want Putin to name Trump to be leader. His first act should be have all his families' products made in China. Wait; already done.

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In the Feb. 16 paper someone wrote that Villa Park should vote for the “modest” library improvements requested. If you think acquiring land, adding building space, increasing utility costs and a coffee area for over $10 million is modest, I'm not sure you live in Villa Park.

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How dare the U.S. government try to control immigration into our country? We should let everyone in, regardless of where they are coming from. That seems to be the belief of most celebrities, and everyone knows they're the smartest people of all. By the way, the fact those celebrities have armed bodyguards and live in exclusive gated neighborhoods doesn't make them hypocrites at all. Not in the least. Yes, we should open our borders to everyone, including criminals and terrorists. No questions asked. And if immigrants from the Middle East want to come to our country and take flight lessons, we should let them. If those same immigrants want to board commercial airliners with box cutters, we should allow it. We certainly don't want to offend them.

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For 200 years Illinois has been passing budgets, and paying its bills and its employees. Rauner has been in office for 760 days and has yet to fulfill his constitutional duty of proposing a balanced budget—his 2015 budget was in the red by $2.2 billion, his 2016 by $3.5 billion. He walked away from the negotiation table with the state's largest union more than a year ago. The state has a debt in the billions for unpaid services rendered, severely eroding our opportunity for long-term economic growth. It is time that each party start thinking about whom to run for governor.

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The library explained that "Due to ethics concerns, the park and village boards could not discuss their referendum." The question was, why didn't the library discuss the ground rules for building a new library with the village and the park prior to announcing the referendum publicly? They could have approached the park and village for discussions before deciding to go to referendum. That might have influenced their decision and would not have the ethics impact they referred to after they announced the intention to go to referendum. That answer was library "spin."

Your comments were forwarded to library officials, who responded: “The Library Director Barb Kruser and Board President Ginny Carlson met several times with members from both the village and park prior to the public announcement of their intention to go for a referendum. Both municipal entities were receptive to the idea and expressed desire to work closely with the library to achieve the community's goals if the referendum was successful. Once the referendum was officially announced to be on the November 2016 ballot, members of both the village and park boards were unable to discuss any plans regarding the new facility. Currently, administrators and board members from the park, village and library are hard at work on agreements that will satisfy both those who voted in favor of a new library and those responsible with protecting Lilacia Park and the safety and convenience of Lombard residents.”—JAC

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Getting higher teaching degrees at taxpayer expense is not "continuing education." That is taking taxpayer money for personal gain. Who should investigate this?

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Hi Lombard. I can’t believe they're considering more bike lanes. My wife and I live on Madison in the middle of the bike lane section. We have yet to see them used, unless you count a broken-down UPS truck.

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I’ve seen another flag violation. There's a home with the flag hanging vertically over the front doorway and there's a square cut out of it so that anybody on the porch can be seen through the hole. Clear desecration of the United States flag.

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To the person who called and said we should give President Trump a break and also said that the last administration was a catastrophe, first, President Obama got us out of the largest recession since the Great Depression. Unemployment has been at what is considered full employment for a long time. He also brought Osama bin Laden to justice. I will give President Trump a break when he apologizes for running such a hate-filled campaign that was so distasteful to women and minorities. President Obama had no scandals; he is very considerate and kind; a great family man. I would take no-drama Obama back anytime. He is a real gentleman.

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Hi, this is Lombard calling. On my evening stroll tonight, I saw numerous signs of "Love thy neighbor. Love thy neighbor that is black, brown, of a different religion. Of the LGBT society. Love thy neighbor that is human." It listed numerous other love thy neighbor comments, but not one that said "Love thy neighbor that is Caucasian or love thy neighbor that is white.” So, everyone can hate the white man but love everyone else. That's the interpretation I got from love thy neighbor. That's very Christian of you. Goodbye.

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Hi. I read in SPEAK OUT that District 44 is going to pay the tuition costs for two of the assistant superintendents to get their doctorates. I was very surprised Dr. Robey's response was that all staff are eligible for tuition reimbursement as a part of District 44. I didn't realize administrators had a union because I could see that being union-negotiated, but on further inspection I found that they aren't union-covered. This is a large expenditure. I'm surprised it was not brought to the attention of the public before it was voted on. Again, I agree with the person who said there are many other areas where that $100,000 could be better spent. I would like Dr. Robey's response as to [how] all staff members of District 44 are eligible for professional development cost reimbursement? Thanks.

Your comments were sent to Superintendent Dr. Michael Robey, who responded: "Any time a citizen has a question or concern, they can always contact us directly for quicker and more detailed answers. All employee e-mail addresses are on our Web site at sd44.org. If this individual would like to contact me directly, [he or she] certainly can at mrobey@sd44.org. You are correct that our administrators do not belong to a union; however, all of our employees either have a contract or an agreement by which we operate. Everything that the board votes on is done in open, public session with a publicly posted agenda. Any member of the public is free to attend any public meeting of the board of education."—JAC

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Peter Roskam seemingly not listening to his constituents is nothing new. I wrote to him and other legislators before the Affordable Care Act was passed into law. He was the only one to ignore me; not even a form letter response. Why? Apparently because my views did not mirror his. Now he's ducking out of town hall meetings. Can Roskam.

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Hi, this is Lombard calling. I just want to give a head's up to the new shop that opened up, Lilac Spa and Nail and it's located at 141 W. St. Charles Road. I stopped in and got a pedicure. The people are wonderful. They're friendly, the place is clean and the pedicure was wonderful. I recommend you give it a try. Thank you.

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Lombard calling. I want to use Lombard businesses. I want to help my local town, but when a new business comes in and says they're located across from the Metra station, are they not familiar with Lombard? I wandered all around, across both ways north and south from the Metra station. The business wasn't there. They're way east of the train station. They're not conveniently located across from the train station. They shouldn't advertise that way.

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Why is it that Peter Roskam doesn’t have time to meet with his constituents but he has time to go to Kosovo? Fellow voters, please remember when he comes up for reelection that he apparently doesn't have any time for us. Thank you.

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Hi. This weather is wonderful. Who even knew this would be February? I would just like to say it's so great to see so many new faces in the community. When everyone's out when the weather is nice it's so great; talking to neighbors you haven't seen all year, it's fantastic. I love going out for bike rides and just walking around the neighborhood and watching the squirrels run about. It's really great and when the birds tweet just makes me smile. So, I'd like to thank the weather for making my day this past week, for making my week. Thank you, weather, and have a good one. Hopefully it stays like this although I know it's not supposed to. Thanks again, weather, hope to see you soon.

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This is a Democrat calling. I am not whining because Trump won the presidency; I'm not crying because we lost. What I'm doing is I'm terrified of the man you Republicans elected into office. You elected a man who apparently has no sense of what he’s doing, what he should be doing. You elected a man who is seemingly in bed with the Russians. You elected a man who has been accused of assaulting women. You elected a man who has put every deplorable person he can find to high offices that should be maintained by people with political stature who know what they're doing. They don't believe in education, they don't believe in helping the middle class, they don't believe in anything except lining their pockets. They don't believe in climate control, they just want more money in their pockets.

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Regarding Lombard drivers, here is another one that is potentially dangerous: left-hand- turners who pull so far out from the white line, and especially are facing diagonally as if pouncing to turn. When you do that, one, you risk being thrust into oncoming traffic if hit from behind, and also, you past-the-white-line turners make it nearly impossible for us turning left from the opposite direction to see what's in the lane next to you—being so far out there blocks the view of oncoming traffic. Please be more considerate.

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Hello, I'm a Lombardian. Have you seen the lawn care in this town? Oh my gosh. People are just leaving their worms on the sidewalk right after it rains, and then they get dried up and it's my job to scrape them off. Seriously, guys, you need to take care of your lawns. I was walking by my friend's house and they had grass blades that were several inches too wide. Now look. If we really want to be a village of hard-working Americans, we cannot allow our worms to be on the sidewalk and we cannot allow our grass blades to be too wide. This is what's destroying America; not immigrants, not any of that. It's the grass blades. Goodbye.

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Good morning. I'm calling, I guess you would say, in defense of the Lombard Post Office. No, I do not work there nor do I know anyone who does. I think they are providing excellent service. Our mail is here approximately the same time every day, every carrier, 900 block of Hammerschmidt, kudos to you. As far as lines in the post office, do you call the grocery store and complain when you have to wait in line to pay for your groceries? Or if you go the movies and have to wait in line to buy a ticket? Lines are a way of life. Why is the post office demonized because they have lines that may move slowly because people need different things when they get up to the window? But, lines at other businesses are never mentioned. I think the post office is doing the best job it can with what it has. Thank you.

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My congressman, Peter Roskam, chairs a panel on tax policy and wants to raise the age of eligibility for drawing Social Security benefits and qualifying for Medicare. From his time as a legislator in Springfield he collects a pension of more than $34K that he applied for in the month of his 55th birthday. He has said that he would be voting to repeal the Affordable Care Act, which would strip the health care of a million Illinois citizens, and he refuses to participate in any more in-person town hall meetings. It is time to find a new congressman.