Office Of The Mayor
Thomas M. McMahon


Mayor’s Report To City Council
October 8, 2007

Crime and Public Safety:

Crime Statistics

Serious crime is down 25% for the first 9 months of the year.  Persons shot is down 40% from last year and the previous three years.  Recently, arrests were made for the shooting on Wunder Street and three purse snatchings. This afternoon police arrested a person who robbed a variety store.  We are having less major crimes and police are quickly solving many of those that occur, taking more criminals off the street.

VIN Etching

Our second Greater Reading VIN Etching program took place on Saturday September 29 at the Fairgrounds Square Mall.  We did VIN etching on about 50 vehicles and most also enrolled in the HEAT decal program (Help Eliminate Auto Theft), administered by the Reading Police Department.  The program was successful and we expect to hold our third Greater Reading VIN etching program in the mid 2008.  My thanks to the Pennsylvania State Police, Muhlenberg Township Police officers, volunteers for various insurance companies and the Pennsylvania Auto theft Prevention Authority for making it a successful event.

Reading Police Canine Unit

Chief Heim, Keith Claytor, PauletteWilliams, and I were pleased to receive a $5000 contribution on September 27 for the Reading Police Canine Unit from Michael Smith, CNA Vice-President Reading and Pittsburgh Branches.

Cameras

The RFP for vendors to submit proposals went out in the beginning of October.  That’s one step closer to our goal of putting up cameras in parts of the City to monitor public spaces

Police Officer Examinations

Over 230 persons signed up to take the police officer examination that will be given Saturday October 13.  Approximately 40% of the applications are from interested Latino candidates.

EPA Public Meeting

An EPA Public meeting to discuss the Exide cleanup and Bernhart Park will be held on Thursday October 11 at 6:30 p.m. at the Muhlenberg Middle School which is at  801 Bellevue Avenue.  This meeting will focus on the explanation of the remediation steps regarding the lead contamination from Exide Technologies. 

Graffiti Removal

We have now completed 20 weeks of the City/County coordinated graffiti removal effort. Cleanups took place every other Saturday morning in targeted parts of the City.  My thanks to  the participants that included our Public Works Department, the city sold waste coordinator and county community service workers.

I want to again remind the public that they need to report graffiti by calling into our Citizens’ Services Center at 1-877-727-3234.  Our Public Works Department continues to remove graffiti and we encourage homeowners and business owners to help by removing graffiti as soon as it appears.

Public Works:

Deb Hoag was named Pennsylvania Public Works Woman of the Year last Thursday at the Pennsylvania Public Works Symposium in Valley Forge.  This award is quite an honor, and Deb is certainly worthy of it.

At its last meeting, City Council awarded a contract to Hirneisen Electric, Inc. for the replacement of the streetlight system in the East Bank development and the installation of new street lights on Hancock Boulevard adjacent to Reading Body. 

Work will begin in a few weeks when the contract is fully executed.  Public Works staff met with the contractor and concerned citizens of East Bank to review the lighting proposal. 

A pre-bid meeting was held last week for the repair of walls along Skyline Drive.  This is a cooperative project with Berks County, Alsace Township, and Lower Alsace Township.  Bids are due in a few weeks and work will begin shortly thereafter.

Economic Development:

The City of Reading was proud to welcome a new AAMCO business on September 29 with a ribbon-cutting ceremony at their 1117 Lancaster Avenue location.

Neighborhoods:

The next Citizens’ Codes Inspector training session will begin on Tuesday, October 9 at
5:00 p.m. in the Penn Room in City Hall.  Interested members of neighborhood groups are asked to contact the Office of Neighborhood Development at 610-655-6277 for more information about the program.

The architectural firm of Simone Collins will present their revised proposal of the City Park Master Plan on October 29 at 7:00 p.m. at the Penn’s Common Court Apartments.

Meeting room is on the ground level in the rear of the building.  City Council, staff and the public are cordially invited.

Three new and revived Neighborhood Organizations are in the planning stages.  They are located in the 13th and Linden neighborhood, Pendora Park neighborhood, and the neighborhood near the UGI building on Morgantown Road.
As a result of our meeting with PennDOT and our public works department along with the UGI safety committee and Representative Caltatirone, Rt 10 now has additional safety markings in both directions at the curve at UGI. Additional signage will be coming shortly.

The Office of Neighborhood Development will begin their “Lessons in Leadership” Series in November.  All interested neighborhood organizations area asked to please contact the Office of Neighborhood Development at 610-655-6277 for more information on any of the following classes – Running Effective Meetings, Cultural and Diversity Awareness, Team Building or Conflict Resolution.

Miscellaneous:

We are pleased to welcome Joe Ayala as the City’s Diversity Officer and Information Manager.  Joe began his position with the City October 1. 

We were happy to see the recognition given to Reading poet Wallace Stevens, where a state historical marker was dedicated on October 1 at the Pulitzer Prize-winning poet’s birthplace,  323 North Fifth Street. My thanks to WEEU’s Charlie Adams for taking the lead on this as ell as the literary festival going on now in the month of October. Commissioner Judy Schwank, Commissioner Mark Scott and Ellen Gallagher assisted with the arrangements.

Congratulations to Dr Anna Weitz the new president of Reading Area Community College who was officially sworn in today at the Miller Center. Dr. Weitz brings a great deal of experience to RACC and is becoming very involved with the community. I encourage council members and business leaders in the Greater Reading area to meet with Dr Weitz and learn more about the services that RACC offers.

Upcoming events

Skate America is returning to Reading and the Sovereign Center October 26 – 28.  This is an Olympic-style international figure-skating event featuring 3 days of competition in ladies’ and mens’ singles, pairs and ice dancing.  This event attracts more than 60 world-class figure skaters from approximately 12 countries.