HATS OFF TO THE LOMBARD CHAMBER
Congratulations go out to the board of directors of the Lombard Area Chamber of Commerce and Industry, and executive director Yvonne Invergo, for taking a stand on an issue important to Lombard business owners. (The chamber’s stance on the village’s proposal to take over monitoring of commercial fire alarms in the village can be read in a letter to the editor.)
While I agree the chamber and the village should work cooperatively with each other, I was pleased to see that, in this case, the chamber apparently did some serious soul searching and fact finding of their own, and came through for the business community.
Saying that the board “believes that consumers benefit from the competition in pricing, as competition helps keep pricing low,” the chamber went on to say that allowing the fire department to take over commercial fire alarm monitoring would take revenue away from private business. I applaud the group for jumping on the band wagon—and off the fire truck—and taking this stance.
And, while I’m handing out kudos, I guess I should not forget the Village of Lombard which pulled a presentation on the radio alarm network off the Nov. 17 village board agenda. The item was pulled from the agenda after fire department personnel learned of possible newer technology amid a backlash of inquiries came in from alarm companies, the public and business community.

IF YOU’RE READING THIS, you are one of 163 million U.S. adults who read a newspaper in print or online in the past week (Scarborough Research 2011), according to new facts from the Illinois Press Association.
Did you know that, according to the National Newspaper Association, 79 percent of all U.S. adults, not just newspaper readers, have acted upon a newspaper ad in the last month?
In fact, in 2010 advertisers spent $25.8 billion to get the word on their products out to the public through newspaper media platforms. Last year, consumers paid more than $10 billion to purchase print newspapers.
More than 70 percent of small business owners and more than 74 percent of those in management have read a newspaper in print or online during the last week (Scarborough Research 2011).
So, if you’re reading this, don’t stop. And if your family members or neighbors aren’t, encourage them to do so.