what is the Reading area like?

[hc7612]

Originally Posted by Rick O'Shea

by one of the major morning programs - today show, maybe? I can't recall.

But Reading itself does have the problems with crime - it is a smaller city with less resources to deal with the issue, and the undesirables have been coming in from NYC and Philly.

You can't really go wrong in Berks county anywhere outside of the city. Wyomissing is nice but expensive. Blandon was mentioned by a previous poster, is also fine, as is Muhlenberg, Temple, Fleetwood, Topton. If you get 15-20 miles out of the city you can find really nice rural areas.

If you want suburban, Wyomissing, Shillington, Mohnton, Sinking Spring, Exeter are all decent areas.

They actually listed Reading first as places to buy Real Estate. I hope people were listening because our house is on the Market. LOL! She stated it was an old industrial town making a comeback. I have been seeing this. People like Al Boscov and others have really invested in trying to bring Reading back, with places like The Goggleworks. All of the outlying communities are wonderful. Now, if we could just clean up a few "bad" pockets in the city center, it would be outstanding.

[Negotiator75]

Originally Posted by mra68

Interesting. Thanks for the heads-up.

Is Wyomissing too close to the bad areas of Reading? It's hard for me to tell on the map.
My dad grew up in Middletown (near Harrisburg) so he'll be glad to hear that area is on the way up.

For that matter, is Douglassville too close to the Chaos too? We were considering Exeter, Douglassville, Lower Alsace or maybe Wyomissing as candidates to buy a house in with good schools & easy commute to Philly and KOP..

[killyforever]

Originally Posted by Negotiator75

For that matter, is Douglassville too close to the Chaos too? We were considering Exeter, Douglassville, Lower Alsace or maybe Wyomissing as candidates to buy a house in with good schools & easy commute to Philly and KOP..

Douglassville is a very nice area, but is known to have some of the highest taxes in the county. However, it would be ideal for a commute to Philly/KOP since 422 runs right though it (traffic gets heavy just before KOP, though).

I have lived in Berks County for 10 years or so. IMO, you do not need to worry about crime outside of the inner city. I lived in Exeter and I could be in the city within 10 minutes (our address was actually Reading), but it was a safe, clean area that was a nice place to live. We only moved because we wanted to be in the country with a bit of land. The whole of Berks County is a nice place to live. Just stay out of the city.

[mrh5103]

Don't live in the city. But the surrounding suburbs are wonderful. Areas like Wyomissing, West Lawn, and Sinking Spring have great school districts (Wilson and Wyomissing). I would highly recommend these areas to people raising children. There is very little crime. The suburbs are the complete opposite environment of the city; it's unfortunate that the Reading label spills over to the suburbs sometimes. The city of Reading is also doing a lot to curb crime, and it is definitely showing.

[DEENYCPA]

Originally Posted by Duderino

I already provided my assessment of Reading, but I'll elaborate a little more.

I lived there while I attended Albright College for a couple of years. The area around Albright is certainly one of the nicest in Reading. You will find large and gorgeous older homes. A short drive up Mt. Penn and you can see a really awesome view of the city at night from the Pagoda. There is also a lot to offer on 5th street and a short drive on Rt. 12 will bring you to some great shopping in Wyomissing. Among other things, the Sovereign Center is a great asset to Reading as well, because it is a decent venue that brings some impressive artists to the area while helping to "jump start" the abysmal economic atmosphere in Reading. These are the positive memories I have of Reading.

No more than five blocks away from the area in which I lived, however, you begin to get into some slummy and blighted neighborhoods. I rarely went into the downtown area, because you'd constantly hear about muggings. The city council is actively trying to gentrify the downtown, but there are PLENTY of strides to be made. I could go on, and Reading has a lot of potential to recover from industrial decline, but it will not happen overnight.

Here's a report from the Brookings Institution that may be of interest of those looking to relocate to the Reading area:

http://www.brookings.edu/es/urban/pa/Reading.pdf

I would agree with this post. I have lived near Albright College for the past 4 1/2 years and let me tell you this area is up and coming. I own and reside in a home in in this area and you can't live in any better place. You are in the center of EVERYTHING, (freeways, highways, stores, malls, restaurants,etc). Of course I stay out of DOWNTOWN reading where the more slummy areas are. Before moving to Reading I lived and grew up in Brooklyn, NY so I know when it comes to slummy. I didn't live in these parts but walked right through them and saw it everday. I believe every state has it's good and bad parts. NY has its good and bad parts just like Reading has its good and bad parts. Now its your decision where you decide to live and consider home again. Just wanted to share my point of view...

[BigLake]

I was just in Reading about 5 days ago (visiting family). I hadn't been there in roughly a dozen years. I had heard negatives about blight, crime, overpopulation in center city, etc., which I'm guessing to some extent are all true. Expected the worst.

However, in my very brief reaqcuaintance I was enormed w/ the city. Folks, this place is a gem in the (re-)making. It will take some years but there are far too many attributes for this city to be down for an extended period. Let me list a few:

• location (near massive east coast metros-- even loosely part of one)
• architecture: great housing stock, beautiful row houses, etc.
• infrastructure: highways, railroads (unfortunately only small reg. airport)
• available workforce
• culture and history: PA Dutch, etc.
• Sports: Reading Phillies, football + Phil. teams nearby
• landscape-- gorgeous rolling hills

One of the few places in the US I would even remotely consider moving to from Chicago.

[Wolfman89]

Having lived in Reading for 20 years come this October and having walked down just about every street at about every hour of the day and having relatives in every borough and township in the area I feel I can give a good idea as to the Reading experiance.

Reading its self is a pit. there is little to do and most amenities are overrated. Reading used to be nice. Maybe a decade or so it was a decent city..now it is garbage.

The main hub is Penn street but the only real businesses on Penn are a handful of pawn shops, a bar or two, a porn shop and the ghetto stores on north penn. The southside is mainly run down and dirty with the smell of trash eminating from every block. The northside is nice in one small enclave near Albright. the rest is somewhat of a warzone for the unclaimed territory of Reading. The coup de grace of fail is the west side. If youre brave enough to venture on to the west side at night you should have a will prepared. The kids lack sence of any kind. They dart into the street and set off fireworks randomly all year at all hours of the night.

The mere fact that I don't actualy know anyone who hasn't been jumped in Reading..including myself is a bad omen in its self.

The Goggle works is waaay overhyped and RACC is about as ghetto as a school can be.

Now outside of Reading is differant by far. Everyone who lives here can attest that there is this sence of relief the second you reach areas as close as Mt Penn, Muhlenburg, Lancaster Ave, West Reading or anywhere else touching the city..everything is much safer and cleaner...however everything is also more dull. There is a lacking of things to do in the county..unless chilling at 24 hours redners floats your boat...if you have kids here the one thing they will be is ingenuitive.

This is my last year in Reading before heading off to college...cant come soon enough.

also..most interesting place to be if you want to live in Berks is Kutztown or Hamburg..wonderful towns..and I believe buses run out those ways.