Here in Reading, we’re blessed to have a couple of “towns” within our city.
On hallowed ground in Riverside — also known as “Baseballtown”— future big league all-stars such as Rocky Colavito, Greg Luzinski, Larry Bowa, Scott Rolen and Jimmy Rollins honed their skills against other top prospects before throngs of spectators in Reading Municipal Stadium, now called FirstEnergy Stadium.
Baseballtown refers not only to a physical location but Reading’s rich legacy of professional baseball going back to the days when Babe Ruth, “Shoeless” Joe Jackson and Honus Wagner took the field at Lauer’s Park in north Reading on their way to the majors.
Baseballtown Charities raised more than $1 million to build Gordon Hoodak Stadium, a miniature version of the old stadium, to give city boys and girls a beautiful and safe place to play ball.
The other “Town” is right next to the Reading Eagle offices. We’ve watched it go from concept to reality over the last year or so.
Reading CollegeTowne, Alvernia University’s downtown campus, took root in September in the five-story former CNA Insurance building.
Housed within the 260,000-square-foot brick building at 401 Penn St. is a mix of educational and community space meant to integrate the college with the city and help spur economic development.
CollegeTowne hosts the O’Pake Institute for Economic Development and Entrepreneurship, which is the college’s new small-business incubator, as well as the school’s communications program, Berks Community Television’s studio and living space for students
There’s also a Starbucks on the first floor and space for community organizations.
And that’s just the first phase of what has already been one of the most exciting developments in recent memory for the downtown.
It goes to show that perhaps the straightest path to revitalization of Reading’s downtown area is not through the labyrinth of government-funded entities but by way of private initiatives focused on a building or part of a block at a time.
The success of CollegeTowne and Baseballtown has me pondering what other Town overlay designations might be beneficial to Pretzel City.
How about ”SteveTowne?””
I’m not asking for much, just a hulking vacant or underutilized building or two in the downtown. We could knock out some inner wall and connect a couple of upper floors with a skybridge.
You never hear about any crime or see people using the ground like a trash can in Baseballtown or CollegeTowne, nor would you in SteveTowne. It would be the responsibility of anyone who witnessed littering to confront the offender: “How would you like it if I dropped my trash on your living room floor?”
SteveTowne would host a traditional sandwich shop. Perhaps we could recreate Chubby’s sandwich shop, which closed more than two decades ago, by mining some DNA from its former storefront in the 300 block of Penn Street.
The presence of a taco truck – better make that two – would also be essential.
The jingle of a Mr. Softee ice cream truck would be as dependable as Old Faithful – let’s say 12:30 p.m. and 3:30 p.m. daily. Mr. Softee would be expressly prohibited from SteveTowne around supper time (what’s with that?).
Besides feeding the body, SteveTowne, like CollegeTowne, would feed the mind and spirit.
It would host businesses and organizations that complement and support one another, as well as incubator spaces for exchanges of ideas. The floors above would contain apartments so people wouldn’t need to leave SteveTowne after work.
In the spacious atrium, there would be a soapbox, a throwback to the days before mass media and certainly social media. Anyone could get on the soapbox to re-enact a historic famous speech, such as Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream,” or those from our nation’s founding fathers, or simply to express an idea.
With each generation we seem to be losing our mastery of the English language – both the spoken and written form. This would help improve speech and encourage people to stand behind their words and defend their ideas.
Like Baseballtown, SteveTowne would pay tribute to an important part of Reading’s history. The racketeers gallery would include artifacts, photographs, newspaper articles and books on Reading’s famous organized crime figures, the illegal casinos that operated in the early to mid-20th century and state police raids on the dice games.
Maybe you don’t like my concept. That’s fine. Start your own town.
By the way, does anyone have $5 million to spare?
Source: Berkshire mont
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