Office Of The Mayor
Thomas M. McMahon



Mayor’s Report To City Council
March 10, 2008

Public Safety

Camera System

You have seen the article in today’s paper regarding the camera system. Our goal is to have the first phase of 22 cameras and a central monitoring system in city hall by this summer. On completion there will be a total of about 75 cameras throughout the city.

As the proposals have ranged from $1.2M to $1.4 M we are trying to pin down the timing of the funds from Washington and Harrisburg and the exact amounts from each so we can award firm contracts to suppliers. A maintenance agreement will be a part of the contract.

We plan to have a mix of fixed and movable wireless cameras at strategic points around the city. I am confident that after the implementation, we will see a substantial improvement in both the actual crime decrease and the perception of crime in the city.

My thanks to council as well as our elected officials at the state and federal level who have seen the need and supported this funding effort. The Berks Economic Partnership has played a strong role with its Washington DC representatives to make sure the funding stayed at the top of everyone’s priority list. This is another good reason for us in the city to support the efforts of the BEP.

I want to thank the Greater Reading Young Professionals who hosted an inaugural gala on March 8 to raise money to support the Security Camera Fund for the City of Reading.  So far they have raised over $13,000 which will be very valuable for us on discretionary expenses in getting the system up and running. Their web site is: www.active.com/donate/gigi

Again we appreciate their work to help make the city of Reading a better place.

Cops N Kids

Our child literacy program where we collect books, read them to children and distribute them to the children is doing well. There is a faithful group of volunteers who arrange for book collections, and who work with the school district to schedule read-ins with volunteers.

With the ongoing support and encouragement of Chief Heim and Chief Talbot, more officers are becoming active in the program. This is an excellent example of how the officers can get to know and better communicate with the children in the school district.

This program was first noticed at a meeting I attended three years ago at the Reading School District that was set up by Council President Spencer to bring Bev Bradley down here from Bethlehem, PA.

In Bethlehem, she has organized a strong program in their schools that has collected over 140,000 books for kids. My favorite quote from Bev is that “When you put a book in a child’s hand, you can change a life”

Please check out the web site for the Greater Reading Cops ‘N Kids program at: http://grcnk.org/

Copper theft burglaries

The announcement of the ordinance regulating identification of scrap sellers and oversight of the salvage yards is helping us track stolen copper. We have seen a slight decrease in copper thefts as the program goes into full operation. I want to thank the scrap dealers who have cooperated fully with us to abate this particular problem.

Canines

We are in the process now of selecting handlers for the dogs. At the moment we are testing five dogs to see which ones will qualify. Training will start in about a month. For this cycle of the canine corps, we are using donated dogs, vs dogs purchased on the market, as the experience has been favorable.

We will be training the dogs ourselves, as has been our past practice. At the same time we are rehabbing the property at the airport that was used in the past for training the dogs.

For the cross training of drug sniffing dogs, we will be using some outside help.

As in the case of the cameras, we have an involved civic group assisting, the Friends of the Reading Canine Corps and I want to thank them for all their ongoing support.

Public Works

The RFP for a contract for Program Manager and Construction Manager will be issued shortly as part of the planning for overhaul of the waste water plant.

The role of this company when selected will be to work directly as an arm of the city in making sure that the design and construction moves forward to meet the time and budget deadlines, as well as to be in a lead position to assist us with the development of a funding package for the entire project.

Economic Development

The announcement of a major project along the river by Giannesca Development will be a big boost for the city of Reading. The project includes 2,000 units of residential housing, both apartments and condominiums, 300,000 sq. ft. of office space and about 150,000 sq. ft. of retail space. During construction we estimate about 4,000 local jobs and then about 900 permanent jobs. The time line for full occupancy is about eight years.

Neighborhoods

The Pendora Park Neighborhood Association will have its First Annual Easter Egg hunt on Saturday, March 22, at 1:00 p.m. at the Pendora Park Field House.  The event is for children age 8 years and younger.  To volunteer or for more information, please contact the Office of Neighborhood  Development at 610-655-6277.

Centre Park Historic District will be holding their annual Town Meeting on Tuesday,
March 11, at 7:30 p.m. at their headquarters located at 707 North Fifth Street.  You can become a member of Centre Park at the meeting tomorrow night or by calling 610-375-7860.

They also have another spaghetti dinner to support Crime Watch on April 12 at Adriennes Inn on Centre Ave.

Miscellaneous

The Pagoda’s 100th Anniversary celebration will kickoff on April 12 as part of the 2008 Cherry Blossom Festival.

Reading’s Great American Cleanup 2008 is scheduled for Saturday, April 19.  Reading Beautification needs about 2000 volunteers to make this annual event a success.   Please contact Reading Beautification at 610-655-6277 to volunteer.