Once again, with all the snow, Lombard’s way of plowing is really annoying. All the main roads, all the snow is plowed into the middle of the street, in between the two lanes either going north/south, east or west; you cannot make left-hand turns into anything. You have to go to the nearest side street, turn around and come back. I mean, really. This is stupid. It’s been going on for years. There has to be a better way. I’ve never seen any other town do it like this. You can’t make lefts into anything, even to the medical building over by Maple and Main Street. You couldn’t make a left-hand turn into a parking lot. You’d either have to turn around and come back or come in the entrance over by the library. There has to be a better way. Snow plowing all the snow into the center lanes; absolutely stupid and wasteful.

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I’ve lived in Lombard for over 20 years and the snow plowing this year is terrible. It’s Jan. 2 and we haven’t seen a snow plow on our street for over 24 hours. They don’t salt after they plow; they should at least salt the intersections on residential streets. Seems they wait until the snowfall’s over before they come out, until it’s well over.

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Northwest Lombard here. I’d like to thank the neighbor who shoveled my driveway while I was out briefly on Sunday. However, I don’t know who to thank. It was very kind of you. Also, thank you Steve D. for helping me get out of the driveway on Monday in the bitter cold. I appreciate it. And as for that, thumbs up to the Village of Lombard for plowing my little back street—eventually—but a big thumbs down because the nice job my anonymous neighbor did of clearing the snow was undone by the large pile of snow that ended up at the end of the driveway sometime after I came home. It was the worst possible time to have to get shoveled out because of the frigid temperature. There’s got to be a better way to handle the snow on the streets than shove it into our driveways. And, I noticed, it wasn’t just my driveway.

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The Village of Lombard did a wonderful job in plowing the commuter parking lots. There’s only one thing they didn’t do; the parking lot next to the fire department cannot be accessed by way of a left turn because there is snow piled in the middle of St. Charles Road. They should have plowed a passage so cars could turn left from there. Other than that, they did a wonderful job in a difficult situation and I applaud the Village of Lombard. Thank you.

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Lombard calling. We’re obligated to shovel our personal sidewalks, but I happen to live on a corner and the village plows 5 feet of snow up on the sidewalk I just cleared. How do we handle that? Are they going to come back and fix it or am I going to get a ticket?

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Hi, Lombard. We had a lot of snow on Jan. 1 and I would like to thank public works employee Dale for the excellent job he did plowing with his pickup truck and not throwing snow half-way up the apron like some other public works employees do, because they drive way too fast. Dale was driving the 20-25 mph that he is supposed to be doing as a public works employee, getting rid of the snow off the streets. So, hopefully Dave Gorman takes notice of this excellent employee, who actually drove the speed limit and plowed the correct way, where snow is not thrown back half-way up our driveways after we’ve already shoveled or snow-blowed and our driveways are clean. Thank you very much, Dale, for an excellent job.

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Our area was hit with about 20 inches of snow in less than a week’s time, complicated by blowing winds and below-zero temperatures. Lombard Public Works crews worked almost around the clock for most of that time. Since the village will not answer SPEAK OUT questions, I thought readers and complainers in SPEAK OUT may gain some insight from an excerpt from Lombard’s Snow Plan, which was found on the village Web site.

But before I go there, I must caution residents to remember that this storm accounted for dangerous conditions for village public works, police and fire personnel. With temperatures below zero, although the streets have been plowed, salt could not be used as it is ineffective under these conditions. On Tuesday, the village was investigating alternative means of “de-icing” village streets.

The plan states that it is the goal of the Lombard Public Works Department to provide a snow and ice control program that is prioritized as follows:

•Maintain accessibility to all streets in the village for emergency vehicles. Accessibility is defined as snow depths not sufficient to prevent drivability by emergency vehicles when said vehicles are properly operated.
•Maintain major street drivability for the general public.
•Maintain minor street drivability for residents.
•Provide normal driving conditions for all major streets.
•Provide commuter parking facilities and public building accessibility.
•Provide clear corners within a two-block radius of all schools to increase visibility for both drivers and school children walking to and from school.
•To accomplish this carry plowed snow past all cross walks instead of pushing snow against corners.
•Provide normal driving conditions for all minor streets.
•Provide vehicle access to private garages located off alleys, providing there are not cars in the way and the plows can get through.
•Remove snow in areas plowed to middle of road.
•Push back corners in plow zones.–blm

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In the Trib Local there was an article about the Hinsdale school system checking district residency of all of the students by means of a utility bill, or property tax bill. Districts 87 and 46 should be doing the same thing; it is a proven fact that students falsely stating residency within the district cost the school system around $10,000 per year in unearned tax revenue—our tax dollars. I have it on a very good source that this is happening within these school systems and needs to be addressed ASAP.

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Lombard calling. We’ve been fed the apparent hoax of global warming in spite of the fact that we’ve been cooling for over 10 years. It makes my day to see a bunch of these global warming people stuck in the ice in the Antarctic. I say they should stay there. Thank you.

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All this holiday I kept seeing commercials for feeding children overseas, for 50 cents a day. While their plight is certainly distressing and the pictures tug at the heartstrings, I know we have children in our own country, state and even locally who don’t get enough to eat. That’s where my money goes. However, one group, Heifer International, seems on the right track because the donations purchase cows, goats and sheep from which the people can get milk for nourishment and also make a living selling milk and offspring from these animals.

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This is Lombard calling. I’m reading the Lombardian of Jan. 1, Page 3, “Union Clout: What it Means for the Taxpayers.” What it means for the taxpayers is a totally bankrupt Illinois and a bankrupt United States. Unions have destroyed America and will continue to destroy America until somebody stands up to them. Thank you.

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Lilacia Park looks amazing with all the lights. Thank you for putting a smile on my daughter’s face.

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Hi. I am a postal employee and I’m commenting on the comment about someone in Lombard not receiving his or her mail before 8 p.m. during the week of Dec. 23 and comparing the postal service to FedEx and UPS. This person may not have gotten his or her mail before 8 o’clock but this person did get his or her mail daily. Thank you everyone. Happy new year. Healthy new year.

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My family and I would like to thank the Lombard Park District for the beautiful display at Lilacia Park for the Christmas holiday. I haven’t been to the park at Christmastime in a couple of years and I was amazed at the new additions to the holiday lights and displays and it was just a magical, beautiful display, and obviously took a lot of work and creativity. We just want you to know that the residents of Lombard really appreciate your efforts and hope that you have a very happy new year.

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Months ago someone discarded old furniture near the Prairie Path. I would think by now public works would have gone by, seen this and picked it up.

Dan Thomas, planner/trail coordinator for DuPage County, said that different municipalities have different agreements regarding maintenance of the Illinois Prairie Path. He believes residents shouldn’t have to do all the leg work to find out how to get such items removed, so he suggested, “Contact me and I’ll figure out whose responsibility it is.” Thomas can be reached at 630-407-6883.—JAC

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This is in response to the person who said Lombard does a great job snow plowing. This person must ride in a horse and carriage or have a snowmobile or something like that because this has got to be the worst town for plowing. For 24 hours they didn’t plow or salt in Lombard, or else the person who called in must work for the village. Have a good day.

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Lombard calling. This is already the sixth day of the year and I still see people riding around with their telephone in their ear. Don’t they know that there’s a new hands-free law, you cannot be holding a telephone in the car? Somebody’s going to get a big fat ticket.

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This is Lombard calling. I just picked up the Jan. 8 edition of the Lombardian and on Page, 2, having read the mutual admiration for the Lombard Public Works Department, I don't agree with any of it. I look forward to next week’s SPEAK OUT when the people from the village actually get a chance to say what’s on their mind. I thought the streets were horrendous. No matter that it snowed. This is what these individuals get paid to do. It’s a matter of public safety. I think it starts at the top down. I think Carl Goldsmith should have been fired a long time ago after the fiasco of Finley that went on for a year. That was finally resolved; however, this thing with snow removal has been a thorn in the village’s side right from the very beginning. So, they can’t manage one major snowstorm? I think that’s ridiculous, especially around the schools, especially on Hammerschmidt and Edgewood.

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This is Lombard calling. I’m looking at the end-of-the-year Lombardian and on the front page is one of the sections of the bridge to nowhere, loaded with people; more people, by the way, I think, in that one day on it for the picture, than will ever use it in the course of the year. Even in that picture, I have a question. There are Cyclone fences, there are parts that are Wolmanized fence. Did somebody forget something and add the Cyclone fence and the pressure-treated fence afterward, or was that in the initial design? And if it was, who the heck from Lombard thought that was a good look? You see these bridges in other towns and none of them have these cruddy pressure-treated fences added to them. Why wasn’t that part of the iron fence system and why was the Cyclone coming out the side of the hill? It’s like, let’s give your bridge to nowhere the concentration camp look. Everything about that thing just screams Lombard.

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I was going to call and complain about the unrelenting media coverage for the cold weather, which is well-deserved, but instead I thought I’d just call and thank all the people who are out there snow plowing for almost three or four days straight, no end in sight. So, thank you to any village and county that I go through; the city workers, the state workers, the local plowers, all of them. Thank you very much for your hard work.