Office Of The Mayor
Thomas M. McMahon


Mayor’s Report To City Council
April 23rd, 2007

Public Safety:

Thanks to Pennsylvania Attorney General Tom Corbett and his staff and other law enforcement agencies who came to tour some of the City’s hot spots last Wednesday. We had a very productive session and there will be continued conversation with Chief Heim on various resources that the AG’s office may be able to provide. The Attorney General is making contacts for us with cities that have similar crime situations.

Congratulations to Reading Police Officers Robert Bowers, Angel Cabrera, Christopher Cortazzo, Craig Hevalow, and Willliam Kase for receiving the Berks Women In Crisis Excellence in Law Enforcement Awards for 2007. Additionally, Officer Hevalow received the Outstanding Officer of the Year award from the agency. The City extends its congratulations to these fine officers in the recognition of their work.

I mentioned last month about the monthly crime status meetings which brings command staff, platoon lieutenants, along with supervisors and officers together to discuss crime and disorder issues. I am happy to present tonight a summary of the crime statistics in Reading for the first three months of 2007 in comparison with the first three months of the previous 4 years.

We know that crime statistics can vary every month and I hope that the progress we are seeing here will continue throughout the year, and we must be aware that there will be variations. Nonetheless, if we support the entire crime fighting plan of Chief Heim, we have an excellent chance of seeing this downward trend continue.

It should be noted that these statistics are not generated by the mayor’s office. We simply put them in graph form. The statistics are generated by our police officers and these same statistics are reported to the Pa State Police and the FBI.

In the area of vehicle thefts, I am happy to attach that chart as well.

The dramatic decrease is due in large part to the increased efforts of the stolen vehicle task force patrol officers, their sergeants, along with the help of the Pa State Police and the people from the Pennsylvania Auto Theft Prevention Authority.

Once again a reminder that the VIN etching program will be held at the Fairgrounds Square Mall on Saturday May 19 from 10 am until 2pm and it is free for city and county residents. This is a program where the Vehicle Identification Number of your vehicle is etched onto the glass making it much more difficult to sell if the car is stolen.

Great American Cleanup

Our thanks to everyone who participated in the Great American Cleanup on Saturday. It was an outstanding success with good participation by Public Works, Reading Beautification/Office of Neighborhood Development who had over 40 teams signed up for cleanups starting Friday evening and continuing until Sunday afternoon. This represents 1,293 volunteers. In addition, there were ten organizations that did not have exact volunteer counts. Added to this we had between 60 – 100 community service volunteers as well as two groups rescheduling from the rainout last weekend.
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These 40 or so teams focused on 30 – 40 locations in the city. Many were chose their own neighborhoods, while others were assigned. Because of this was an accumulation of bags, debris, and tires at many locations around the city, most of which was picked up today.

Call Center and Graffiti

I want to remind folks to call the Citizens Services Center for complaints about trash, street lights out, traffic signals out etc. We also encourage you to call about graffiti locations and type of graffiti so we can begin our spring graffiti removal campaign. You will see a lot of action on this over the next three weeks.

I would be interested in hearing from citizens about their experience with the call center and they can call the mayors office at 610-655-6234 with their comments.

Recent Events

Thanks to all who contributed their time and sweat equity up at the Pagoda last Thursday planting hyacinth bulbs donated by the Temple Greenhouses. Organized by the WEEU staff and their General Manager Dave Kline, this will beautify the City of Reading’s 100th Anniversary celebration of the Pagoda in 2008.

Kudos also should go to all who participated in the Cherry Blossom Festival ending this past weekend. From cherry pie and Japanese tea at the Pagoda to a wonderful dragon leading canoe flotilla, the events showed how multiple organizations can produce an exciting event to showcase our Greater Reading area.

Financial Report

As this administration promised, the first quarter financial report showing the status of the various funds was delivered to council members two weeks ago. Any questions can be directed to Ryan Hottenstein.

Upcoming Events

I am happy to report that today NBC Sports and the U.S. Figure Skating organization announced a multiyear partnership under which NBC will broadcast live high-definition coverage of Skate America, an Olympic-style international figure skating event.

Skate America, which in 2007 takes place here in Reading, Pa at the Sovereign Center, will feature a live, two-hour broadcast on NBC Sunday, Oct. 28.

The event is an Olympic-style international figure skating event featuring three days of competition in ladies and men's singles, pairs and ice dancing. The event attracts more than 60 world-class figure skaters from approximately 12 countries.

Fair Housing Conference

The Human Relations Commission will be hosting their annual Fair Housing Conference on Thursday, May 17, 2007 starting at 8 a.m. at the GoggleWorks. There are several educational workshops that will be available. Please contact the Human Relations Commission office at 610-655-6141 to register for this conference. Lunch will be provided.