City Council took action Monday on a series of measures aimed at improving downtown infrastructure, responding to neighborhood parking concerns and addressing routine city operations.<\/p>\n
Council President Donna Reed opened the meeting, postponed from Jan. 26 due to heavy snowfall, by thanking the city\u2019s public works crews for their storm response.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese guys and women have really gone beyond the call of duty,\u201d Reed said, calling attention to the long hours crews spent systematically clearing streets.<\/p>\n
Among the most significant items on the consent agenda, council voted to authorize submitting an application for a $3 million PennDOT multimodal grant.<\/p>\n
If awarded, the funding will support a project to convert existing bus-bay configurations along Penn Street into more efficient on-street parking, increasing parking availability and improving the downtown streetscape.<\/p>\n
Information provided to council described the project as maintaining midblock crosswalks and advancing \u201ca safer, more accessible pedestrian environment to support business access along this key corridor.\u201d<\/p>\n
The grant would require a 30% local match, which the city plans to cover through its capital improvements projects budget.<\/p>\n
Parking violations<\/p>\n
Council also imposed a six-month moratorium on violations and penalties tied to no-parking restrictions at the intersections of North Fifth Street and Oley Street, and North Fifth Street and Douglass Street.<\/p>\n
The restrictions were originally implemented to improve traffic safety by increasing sight lines, but residents have complained about the loss of parking in the neighborhood.<\/p>\n
Councilman O. Christopher Miller said the action was meant to be consistent with a similar moratorium approved previously in the Hampden Heights area.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe main reason for this bill is consistency,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Other business<\/p>\n
Council voted 4-2 to deny a conditional use application for the conversion of a single-family home at 1123 N. 12th St. into a two-unit rental property.<\/p>\n
Council heard the request of the applicant Michael Stoner last month.<\/p>\n
Councilmembers Vanessa Campos and Rafael Nunez casted dissenting votes.<\/p>\n
Council also approved several routine ordinances and budget amendments, including a measure adjusting the 2025 Public Works administrative budget to cover outstanding repair invoices for Schlegel Park Pool.<\/p>\n
Earlier in the meeting, council honored the retirement of Timothy Krall, city engineer, and\u00a0 Maria Kantner Wright, Citizen Service Center manager.<\/p>\n
Kantner Wright was recognized for more than 36 years of public service in multiple roles at City Hall.<\/p>\n
Krall, who served 14 years with the city after a long engineering career, said the position was an answer to a prayer.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt has been 14 years that I\u2019ve really enjoyed,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s been a wonderful place for me to work.\u201d<\/p>\n
Council also heard public comment on topics including snow removal, city services and housing costs.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"City Council took action Monday on a series of measures aimed at improving downtown infrastructure, responding to neighborhood…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":106015,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[349,857,182,139,28,736,128,130,129,706],"class_list":{"0":"post-106014","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-reading","8":"tag-berks-county","9":"tag-essential-reading","10":"tag-local-news","11":"tag-news","12":"tag-pennsylvania","13":"tag-reading","14":"tag-reading-city","15":"tag-reading-city-headlines","16":"tag-reading-city-news","17":"tag-top-stories-reg"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106014","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=106014"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106014\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/106015"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=106014"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=106014"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=106014"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}