Man charged in double homicide at Reading garage party<\/a><\/p>\nThe shooting Sunday on Muhlenberg Street is just the latest in a string of crimes that prove the need for tougher legislation and enforcement, Council President Donna Reed said.<\/p>\n
Other recent assaults include one in which two victims were beaten and robbed while waiting in line to enter an after-hours club with a history of nuisance and other complaints, Errington said.<\/p>\n
Fire risks<\/p>\n
The danger and safety risks extend beyond crime, Fire Marshal Jeremy Searfoss said, noting the problem events are being held in otherwise unoccupied former factory, office and warehouse buildings.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese buildings are absolutely not designed for the purpose for which they\u2019re being used,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Searfoss cited the former Berks Products Building at Spring and Nicolls streets as an example of the dangers tied to illegal after-hours gatherings in vacant structures.<\/p>\n
The building recently was used for a large, unauthorized event involving hundreds of people, despite being unsuitable for that type of use, he said.<\/p>\n
He also described hundreds gathering in a space on Walnut Street with inadequate exits and outdated safety systems.<\/p>\n
\u201cPut a little bit of smoke in there and it\u2019s going to be a very, very disastrous situation,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The potential for a catastrophic fire, shooting or other disaster is serious, Demko said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI deeply feel that we\u2019re going to have a mass casualty event at some point if we don\u2019t take some sort of action,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The ordinance<\/p>\n
Gombach thanked the city codes, fire and police departments for working with the administration and city\u2019s legal team in crafting what he sees as a strong, enforceable piece of legislation.<\/p>\n
The scale of the activity and the profits involved have made traditional enforcement ineffective, he noted.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019re talking tens of thousands of dollars a night. What\u2019s a couple hundred dollars in a fine?\u201d he said, noting the city needs to put pressure not just on the organizers, but also the property owners.<\/p>\n
The amended ordinance creates a structured enforcement process that can range from written warning notices and monitoring for violations to hearings before the codes and license appeals board, designation of a building as a public nuisance and revocation of occupancy permits.<\/p>\n
In urgent situations, the measure allows for expedited action, Gombach explained.<\/p>\n
The ordinance, he said, allows the managing director to authorize summary abatement, immediate enforcement in emergent situations. The process includes layers of oversight, including the ability to appeal to Berks County Court, officials said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe always want to make sure that whoever we\u2019re issuing citations to has proper due process,\u201d Demko said.<\/p>\n
Officials emphasized the measure is not aimed at legitimate businesses. The focus is on repeat offenders and unregulated operations advertised on social media.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe don\u2019t want to impact our legitimate business owners who are following all the rules,\u201d Demko said.<\/p>\n
Gombach echoed that point, saying the broader goal is compliance and safe reuse of properties.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat the mayor wants is productive, active, proper use of buildings,\u201d he said. \u201cThis process will force that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Council members showed strong support for the measure, citing quality-of-life concerns and fairness to compliant businesses.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe can\u2019t underscore how this is impacting quality of life,\u201d Reed said. \u201cIt\u2019s degrading the city.\u201d<\/p>\n
Gombach described the ordinance as part of a broader, coordinated effort to address the issue.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is part of a comprehensive strategy to address an emerging issue that is a large contributor to violent crime in our city,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Officials said they will track data and adjust enforcement if needed, noting similar approaches in nearby cities such as Allentown.<\/p>\n
For now, officials said, the goal is to stop the cycle before it escalates further.<\/p>\n
Anyone with information on the incident in the 1700 block of Muhlenberg Street is asked to contact Reading police at 610-655-6116 or provide an anonymous tip through Crime Alert Berks at 877-373-9913.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"City Council moved Monday to strengthen nuisance abatement laws a day after two men were injured in a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":169254,"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":["post-169253","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-reading","tag-berks-county","tag-essential-reading","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\/169253","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=169253"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/169253\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/169254"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=169253"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=169253"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=169253"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"Two](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/REG-L-1700MuhlenbergStreet229.jpeg\")
Two men were wounded in a shooting Sunday morning at an illegal after-hours club in the 1700 block of Muhlenberg Street, city officials said. (BILL UHRICH\/READING EAGLE)<\/p>\n