Bloomberg Article on 11.2010

Why Don't Cities Recover From ACT 47

Firefighters, The New Political Scapegoat

In November of 2009 the City of Reading was accepted into the Distressed Cities Program (ACT 47). The program was designed to assist financially distressed communities access to financial planning & assistance. The city was assigned a financial coordinator in December, and a plan was released in May. As of Fall of 2010 the city is busy attempting to implement the parts of the plan to meet the 2011 budget process.

Below is a listing of ACT 47 related news stories from WFMZ 69 news. We feel they have the mosty accurate, unbisased news following the situation. The stories only stay active for a period of 1 year.

The Fire Department issues at hand:

5/28/10 ACT 47 PLAN

What is ACT 47??

More ACT 47 Information

WFMZ 69 News Stories

• 2/8/10 Reading State of the city report
• 3/3/10 Act 47 Plans Laid Out For Reading
• 3/8/10 Municipal Leaders Rally In Harrisburg
• 3/16/10 Managing Director Calls It Quits
• 3/19/10 Mayor Names Interim Managing Director
• 4/8/10 Residents Sound Off About ACT 47
• 4/27/10 Residents Make Suggestions for Reading Woe's
• 5/6/10 Reading's ACT 47 Plan Unveiled
  
• 5/6/10 ACT 47 To Affect Reading Unions
• 5/9/10 Recovery Plan Raising Eyebrows
• 5/10/10 Reading City Council Talks ACT 47
• 5/26/10 ACT 47 Community Meeting Held
• 5/28/10 Final ACT 47 Plan Revealed
• 6/11/10 ACT 47 Has Enough Votes To Pass
• 6/11/10 Reading Approves ACT 47 Plan
• 7/12/10 Reading Considers False Alarm Fee Increase
• 7/20/10 City May End Lease With Authority
• 7/20/10 City, Water Authority Square Off
• 8/30/2010 Higher Bills In Reading
• 9/8/2010 Council Learns City Deficit Larger Than Thought
• 9/13/2010 Managing Director Freezes Spending
• 10/1/2010 Budget Calls For 22% Tax Hike, 50 Job Cuts
• 10/4/2010 Mayor's Proposed Budget On The Table
• 10/18/2010 City Council Gets To Work On Budget
• 11/11/2010 Budget Could Include Double-Digit Tax Hike
• 11/17/2010 Parking Authority Seeks Ways To Help City
• 11/22/2010 Reading Landowners Get Ready For Tax Hike
• 11/22/2010 Mayor: PA Municipalities In Serious Trouble
• 11/23/2010 New budget Impacts Fire Department
• 12/2/2010 City Looking For State Money To Help With Plans
• 12/6/2010 City Services: Cutting To The Core
• 1/24/2011 Reading Appoints New Managing Director
• 1/31/2011 Mayor Delivers State Of The City Report

We will be following the City's of Pittsburgh & Scranton to see what may lie in-store for Reading & and it's public safety

• Scranton Fire Department Site
• Pittsburgh Fire Department Site
• Pittsburgh Case Study From the PFM group
• Pittsburgh Recovery Plan
• Scranton 2002 Recovery Plan
• Pittsburgh 2010 Recovery Plan

Another citizen supported group has also begun a plan to attempt to guide Reading through their recovery plan. You can read more about them here