{"id":5337,"date":"2025-10-17T06:14:07","date_gmt":"2025-10-17T06:14:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/5337\/"},"modified":"2025-10-17T06:14:07","modified_gmt":"2025-10-17T06:14:07","slug":"reading-city-council-redirects-nearly-1-million-to-upgrade-oakbrook-baseball-field","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/5337\/","title":{"rendered":"Reading City Council redirects nearly $1 million to upgrade Oakbrook baseball field"},"content":{"rendered":"

City Council has approved reallocating nearly $1 million in federal funding to improve the baseball field at Oakbrook Homes.<\/p>\n

Council recently voted unanimously to reallocate $990,250 in Community Development Block Grant funds originally intended for citywide sidewalk improvements to the Reading Housing Authority\u2019s ongoing Oakbrook Homes revitalization project.<\/p>\n

The funds will help complete the final phase of playground and athletic field upgrades at the 530-unit public housing complex at 1001 Scott St.<\/p>\n

The sidewalk project originally slated for 2024 and 2025 was postponed because it could not meet the Nov. 1 federal spending deadline, said Jamar Kelly, city finance and deputy managing director.<\/p>\n

Kelly said the city had to find a shovel-ready project that could use the funds quickly and the Oakbrook project fit that and other criteria.<\/p>\n

Kelly also confirmed the sidewalk repairs would be pushed to future budgets.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat will be built into the budget for next year,\u201d he said, \u201cand we\u2019ll be discussing that with council.\u201d<\/p>\n

Oakbrook Homes, Reading\u2019s largest public housing community with approximately 1,600 residents \u2014 more than half of them children \u2014 has been undergoing a multiphase transformation focused on improving living conditions.<\/p>\n

The current phase targets outdoor spaces, including a central playground and the baseball field, which holds deep community significance.<\/p>\n

The field was very active in the 1970s when a city-county league played there, David Talarico, vice president and director of facilities for the housing authority, told council during a recent presentation.<\/p>\n

Reading City Council to vote on $1 million for outdoor project at Oakbrook Homes<\/a><\/p>\n

Use fell off in the 1990s and the field was neglected, he said. But after he and some others skimmed the grass off the infield, use resumed within a week or so.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople just came out there with the kids,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd next thing you know, there were pickup games.\u201d<\/p>\n

The planned upgrades include new dugouts, an announcer\u2019s booth with storage underneath, accessible paths, picnic stations, grills, lighting and security features.<\/p>\n

Council members voiced strong support for the project, but acknowledged community backlash over the reallocation.<\/p>\n

Councilman Jaime Baez Jr., who grew up in Oakbrook, said: \u201cIt\u2019s just a little bittersweet, right? I am happy the money did not go unused, and we want what\u2019s best for that community. But I can\u2019t disregard the fact that there\u2019s a bitterness, the taste it\u2019s leaving, that the money did not go into what it was purposed for.\u201d<\/p>\n

Council President Donna Reed stressed the ongoing need for sidewalk repairs citywide.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt just can\u2019t be undercut because walk on any block and the issues are there,\u201d she said, and it\u2019s every neighborhood.\u201d<\/p>\n

Reed expressed frustration, saying the sidewalk project has been ongoing since 2019 with interruptions and needs to be completed.<\/p>\n

City Managing Director Jack Gombach also emphasized the importance of shovel-readiness in making the decision.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe most important factor in this determination is shovel-readiness,\u201d he said. \u201cThe housing authority is the best-suited partner because they will have the ability to spend just under $1 million by October 15 as a project partner.\u201d<\/p>\n

Officials said the authority was ready to break ground quickly.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"City Council has approved reallocating nearly $1 million in federal funding to improve the baseball field at Oakbrook…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":5338,"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-5337","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\/5337","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=5337"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5337\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5338"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5337"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5337"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5337"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}