Mayor Eddie Moran has declared a snow emergency, calling it a necessary step to protect residents and allow city crews to work safely.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis declaration is an important tool that ensures both residents and city services providers are prepared for potentially dangerous conditions,\u201d Moran said Friday during a press conference at the city\u2019s Public Works building. \u201cIt allows the crews to safely clear streets, keep emergency vehicles moving and prioritize public safety across our neighborhoods.\u201d<\/p>\n
In response to the anticipated 12- to 17-inch snowfall, the Reading Parking Authority will provide free parking in all city-owned garages. More than 3,000 parking spaces will be available for public use from noon Saturday through 7 a.m. Tuesday, said Rafael Batista, executive director of the authority.<\/p>\n
City officials said the free garage parking is intended to reduce on-street parking so plows can more effectively clear snow from roadways. Residents are urged to move their vehicles off snow emergency routes, which will be prioritized for plowing. Vehicles left on those routes may be ticketed or towed.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe encourage all the residents of Reading to please move their cars from the street so the public works crew can do their job,\u201d Batista said, noting authority staff will be on-site at the garages throughout the period to help if needed.<\/p>\n
Surface parking lots are not included in the free-parking program.<\/p>\n
To support emergency response operations, the 6th and Cherry streets parking lot will be reserved exclusively for approved emergency vehicles during the same period and will not be open to the public.<\/p>\n
Additional city services will also be affected by the storm, Moran said. Trash and recycling collection will be delayed by one day, and street sweeping remains suspended until further notice.<\/p>\n
City Hall will be closed Monday, and the city\u2019s Codes Office is canceling scheduled inspections to prioritize safety.<\/p>\n
Officials are also urging residents to limit travel during the storm, check on neighbors who may need assistance, and avoid pushing shoveled snow back into the streets.<\/p>\n
\u201cPlease plan ahead, stay informed and follow city guidance,\u201d Moran said. \u201cAvoid non-essential travel if possible.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Mayor Eddie Moran has declared a snow emergency, calling it a necessary step to protect residents and allow…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":167840,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[349,182,139,28,736,128,130,129,706],"class_list":["post-167839","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-reading","tag-berks-county","tag-local-news","tag-news","tag-pennsylvania","tag-reading","tag-reading-city","tag-reading-city-headlines","tag-reading-city-news","tag-top-stories-reg"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/167839","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=167839"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/167839\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/167840"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=167839"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=167839"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=167839"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}