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Subscribe to RSSThe New York Times recently profiled life in Reading. Getty's Spencer Platt visited this week.
Related: Tom Brokaw, Tough choices for 'financially distressed' city
Spencer Platt / Getty Images
A man walks down the street collecting cans on October 20 in Reading, Pennsylvania. Reading, a city that once boasted numerous industries and the nation's largest railroad company, has recently been named America's poorest city with residents over 65,000. According to new census data, 41.3 percent of people live below the poverty line in Reading. Reading has about 90,000 residents, many of whom are recent Hispanic arrivals who have moved from larger eastern cities over the past decade. While a manufacturing base offering well paying jobs still exists in Reading, many companies like Hershey, Stanley Tool and Dana Systems have either moved elsewhere in the United States or to Mexico in search of cheaper labor. The number of people living in poverty in America, 46.2 million, is now at its highest level for the 52 years the Census Bureau has been keeping records.
Spencer Platt / Getty Images
Women shop for clothes at a thrift store on October 20 in Reading, Pennsylvania.
Spencer Platt / Getty Images
An out of work couple eats lunch at the Central Park United Methodist Church which has a soup kitchen and food pantry on October 20, 2011 in Reading, Pennsylvania. The church feeds thousands of needy Reading residents monthly and relies on donations and volunteers to keep its increasingly popular programs operating.
Spencer Platt / Getty Images
Homes are seen next to a closed factory on October 20, 2011 in Reading, Pennsylvania.
Spencer Platt / Getty Images
Men wait for groceries at the Central Park United Methodist Church weekly food pantry on October 19, 2011 in Reading, Pennsylvania. The church feeds thousands of needy Reading residents monthly and relies on donations and volunteers to keep its increasingly popular programs operating.
Spencer Platt / Getty Images
A view of downtown Reading on October 19, 2011 in Reading, Pennsylvania.
Reading, Pa., was once a destination city, buzzing with factories and overflowing with retail stores, but as NBC's Tom Brokaw reports, today, it is a far different place.
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A picture is worth 1,000 words, but these do not tell the real story of the City of Reading. While people can continue to focus on all of the negative statistics and stories about this community, there is another story to be told.
The "empty" factory in the 4th picture was the former Willson Goggle Factory, transformed into the GoggleWorks Center for the Arts in 2005, a thriving arts and cultural center in Downtown Reading. This art center is one of the anchors of Entertainment Square--what the picture does not capture is the IMAX theater directly across the street or the Miller Center for the Arts (a theater) or the GoggleWorks Apartments currently under construction--a construction site that cannot be missed when passing by or the new Italian restaurant, Panevino that just opened or the Baptist Zion Church, an engaged community church, directly across from the houses next to the "empty" factory or RACC (Reading Area Community College) and the Schmidt Technology & Training Center, one of only a few training centers like it in the United States.
The aforementioned "Central Park," correctly spelled Centre Park, is one of the most beautiful historic neighborhoods in the City of Reading and possibly the entire County of Berks (I grew up there I may be biased), these large homes boast Victorian architecture and well kept neighborhoods.
The City of Reading was once in the top 12 industrial centers in the nation. As the United States has become deindustrialized (see Detroit), so has the City of Reading. While the city has certainly changed since the early 1900's, the change should not be seen as a negative. Since 2000 the County of Berks has experienced an over 5% population growth. We have a growing Hispanic population--a growing demographic that cannot be ignored--nor should they. Hispanic owned businesses have increased by 47% in the state of PA over the last nine years--that is 9% higher than the national average. in 2010 there were over 700 Hispanic businesses in the City of Reading alone. This group has also contributed to the City's rich cultural diversity.
Berks Economic Partnership, an economic development organization represents the entire county of Berks, but the organization and their partners all recognize that a strong, thriving urban core is important to the economic success of the entire county. The organization continues to see companies considering the City for their expansion or relocation needs--which is hopeful; the City is still on the table among these decision makers.
Most important to note, is the poverty in the City of Reading cannot not just be found in our great City, it is spreading across our great nation, in what is now a global economy, this is everyone's problem and reality, not just ours, in the 5th largest city in PA, now known as the "Poorest City in America."
Businesses come, businesses go. In this city especially, good luck to them. Just because some businesses are currently being put up, doesn't promise that they'll be around for very long. There's no "extra" money to be spent by today's working and non-working poor population, making it harder for those businesses to stay in business. As the number one poorest city in the U.S., most of us are living as though we're in a third world country. Rodents, roaches, bedbugs, diseases, drugs, crime, and all the ugly creativeness of the most ghetto. And we're in the Almighty United States, in one of the wealthier states at that! We're suffering. It is a national problem growing too rapidly, this poverty epidemic. Whoever sais "it's not so bad" is more fortunate and obviously can't fill our shoes, or speak for the rest of us. It's bad. On top of that, the city makes things so much harder for us with all these stupid parking tickets and all the other monies they're trying to collect from it's people when there is no money. We're poor! Me for example: I owe Over $1000 in parking tickets alone, not to mention all my past due bills and the kids at home, I'm about to go to jail if these courts don't get my money which I do not have. I feel like a prisoner in my own residence just because there's no money for nothing. My electricity's currently off. I have electric running here from a neighbor thru an extension chord. And I was in the electric bill assistance programs. It's not enough. Finding a good job here is next to impossible. I wanted to own a small ceramic business one day, which is rather cheap vs others, but it all cost way too much money right now! The American Dream has become an American Nightmare. And I don't see things getting better. My hope for a better future is really going out the window. I may even consider moving to a different country - just a thought, but wait, I can't even afford an airplane ticket! Where's the true sympathy from every branch of our government? The cold season's arrived again. At least cut our ridiculously expensive parking tickets in half, so we can use the money to pay our electric bills! We don't want to go to jail or be homeless. But since it's so hard to find that type of money, sadly, it's what we're facing. They're trying to take money from where there is none! - Mike W., from Reading, PA, America's Poorest City