{"id":22320,"date":"2025-11-02T07:02:11","date_gmt":"2025-11-02T07:02:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/22320\/"},"modified":"2025-11-02T07:02:11","modified_gmt":"2025-11-02T07:02:11","slug":"proposed-reading-event-ban-would-impact-pagoda-spotlight-pa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/22320\/","title":{"rendered":"Proposed Reading event ban would impact Pagoda \u2022 Spotlight PA"},"content":{"rendered":"

This article originally appeared in Good Day, Berks \u2014 Spotlight PA\u2019s<\/a> free daily newsletter for Berks County and your daily dose of Berks County essentials. Sign up here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

READING \u2014 A proposal to ban events on city property that is under construction has drawn criticism from some council members, the mayor, and a local nonprofit that recently held a yoga class at a Reading landmark.<\/p>\n

The ordinance, introduced by Council President Donna Reed, would allow police to immediately remove people on city-owned property undergoing construction and issue a $35 penalty.<\/p>\n

Reed discussed the change in council after community engagement group Barrio Alegr\u00eda<\/a> hosted the free yoga class in the Pagoda parking lot. The group obtained a permit from the city to hold the class.<\/p>\n

Reed said at a council meeting before the event that she asked Barrio to cancel the class to protect public safety, citing the construction happening on the Pagoda and the extreme heat.<\/p>\n

Mayor Eddie Moran\u2019s administration opposes the legislation and believes there will be unintended consequences to limiting community events, Reading Managing Director Jack Gombach told the council Monday.<\/p>\n

At that council committee meeting, District 2 Council Member Jaime Baez called the legislation offensive and argued it targets the predominantly Latino group, Barrio Alegr\u00eda<\/a>, noting a recent Hillclimb racing event <\/a>that council members did not protest.<\/p>\n

Anthony Orozco, Barrio Alegr\u00eda\u2019s communications director, told Spotlight PA the council should focus on more pressing issues, such as collapsing buildings and the state of downtown Reading.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf City Council cannot trust us or the judgement of our city’s administration to host a safe, inclusive, fully insured and permitted event on public property, I am not sure who they can trust,\u201d Orozco said. \u201cMore than anything, this ordinance shows who our decision makers show up for and who they distrust.\u201d<\/p>\n

Reed said the bill does not target any specific group and argued it is necessary to protect the properties under construction and residents looking to use public spaces.<\/p>\n

City Council will likely vote on the proposal July 14.<\/p>\n

In other City Hall news: City Council members discussed allowing exclusive parking to residents who apply for handicapped parking spots in front of their homes. Currently, anyone with a handicap placard can park in any handicapped parking spot. The change would benefit residents who say they do not have reliable access to handicapped spots.<\/p>\n

\u2013 Hanna Holthaus,<\/a> City\/County Accountability Reporter<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"This article originally appeared in Good Day, Berks \u2014 Spotlight PA\u2019s free daily newsletter for Berks County and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":22321,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[128,130,129],"class_list":["post-22320","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-reading","tag-reading-city","tag-reading-city-headlines","tag-reading-city-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22320","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=22320"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22320\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22321"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22320"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22320"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22320"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}