Reading voters will get a chance to select candidates to serve in several City Council positions in the May 20 primary election.
This year voters will cast ballots for candidates running for three council district seats. The openings are in Districts 1, 4 and 5.
The winners of the primary will face off in the November general election.
Candidates for the district seats will be elected to four-year terms.
Incumbents are indicated by an asterisk.
City councilors are paid $6,250 annually.
We asked the candidates three questions:
Question 1: In light of Reading’s designation as a city revitalization and improvement zone, or CRIZ, what strategies do you support to attract businesses and promote economic growth in Reading?
Question 2: How do you plan to engage with residents to ensure their voices are heard in the decision-making processes?
Question 3: What do you see as the main issue in your district and how would you work to address it, if elected?
City Council District 1
(Vote for one)
Democrats
*Vanessa Campos – no response.
Denise Johnson – no response.
City Council District 4
(Vote for one)
Democrats
Ray Baker
Age: 33
Education: Penn State Dickinson School of Law; bachelor of science in criminal justice, University of Baltimore.
Work experience and community involvement: Assistant district attorney, Berks County, since 2017; Reading Charter Review Commission, 2019; Berks County Democratic Committeeman since 2018, and executive board member since 2022.
Answers:
1. I support working directly with developers to get the empty buildings on Penn Street into the market to attract businesses, restaurants and tenants, all of which will liven up the heart of the city. We need to create a more friendly downtown atmosphere by making Penn Street vibrant and safe, especially on weekends during the summer months to encourage festivals and business activity. We should reach out to Allentown and Lancaster, where CRIZ improvements were successful, and learn what specifically has worked there. Eliminating barriers to business startups, improving our marketing efforts for businesses and fast-tracking infrastructure improvements are all strategies that we should explore. If the downtown heart of the city isn’t thriving, the rest of it will struggle, and the CRIZ designation should be the key to helping the city grow and thrive.
2. I intend to be available to residents for any concerns. I’ve knocked on hundreds of doors this spring, and there are so many issues folks have that need attention. I have left my contact information at the doors I’ve visited, and if elected, I will send all constituents my contact info so they have a way to reach me to have their voices heard. Additionally, I hope to hold quarterly town halls in the district to invite residents to hear what is happening at City Hall and to hear what their concerns are that I can work on in City Hall. Residents in District 4 can be assured that I will fight hard for the improvements they care about.
3. While I think District 4 has many unique issues from needing a Bad Dog Owner Ordinance to implementing traffic control devices on Hampden Boulevard, I believe the issue facing everyone from the 13th Ward all the way to Northmont is the cutting up of rowhomes into apartments. This creates poor apartments that can’t be resold as single-family properties. This also creates a dearth of parking on our narrow streets. I plan to introduce an ordinance banning the further dividing of homes citywide.
Emmanuel Rodriguez
Age: 36
Education: Graduate of Reading High School, 2007; associate degree in specialized technology in culinary arts, Le Cordon Bleu Institute of Culinary Arts, New York, 2011; bachelor of arts in business management and leadership, Bellevue University, Bellevue, Neb., 2023.
Work experience and community involvement: Culinary chef instructor at Tec Centro Berks since October 2023; volunteer ordained chaplain at the Embassy of United Chaplains.
Answers:
1. Here are some strategies I would support to attract businesses and promote economic growth, keeping in mind the specific needs and opportunities of our city by leveraging the CRIZ designation effectively by targeted marketing and recruitment. I would support it by highlighting the specific CRIZ benefits: Emphasize the tax benefits, streamlined permitting processes and other incentives the CRIZ offers to potential businesses. I would also support that we as a city establish a dedicated CRIZ office or online portal to guide businesses through the permitting and approval process efficiently. Promote mixed-use development by encouraging mixed-use development that combines residential, commercial and retail uses to create a vibrant and walkable community.
2. I plan to hold community engagement events, town halls, meetings, etc., to get everyone involved and ensure that they know that their voices are the ones that truly make a difference.
3. The main issue in District 4 is public safety, we can sit and talk about it for years but my main goal is to get involved to see what needs to be done to make the streets within my district safer for not only the residents in District 4 but all those that travel within District 4 whether it be to work, school or just taking a day to drive and enjoy the true beauty that lies within District 4. I will talk to whomever needs to be spoken to whether it’s at the city, state or even federal level so a change can be truly done. We can sit and talk about all the changes we want to see but public safety should be prioritized before all as it deals with everyone as a whole.
Republican
Gary D. Colby
Age: 58
Education: Law degree, Georgetown University, 1996; Ph.D. in anaerobic microbiology, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Va., 1993; bachelor of science in chemical engineering, Virginia Tech, 1988.
Work experience and community involvement: General counsel for Clearly Clean Products LLC since 2019; partner at several full-service national and international law firms, 2006-19; associate attorney 1997-2005; technology commercialization professional, National Cancer Institute, NIH, 1995-97; law librarian, Georgetown University, 1994-95; microbiology researcher, Virginia Tech, 1988-93; member of board of directors, Schuylkill Chamber of Commerce since 2023.
Website: https://www.linkedin.com/in/garydcolby/
Answers:
1. CRIZ provides an opportunity to spend local, and later state, funds to reward commercial investors, perform certain infrastructure improvement projects and to thereby grow Reading’s tax base. Managed wisely, CRIZ funding can drive sustained growth in Reading and ultimately lower individual taxes. Managed unwisely, CRIZ funding can be squandered on projects selected to benefit selected individuals, contractors or businesses, without contributing significantly to the city’s future. CRIZ funds are managed and spent by Reading’s CRIZ authority, a group of appointees whom Reading’s City Council oversees and manages. My experience overseeing and managing the growth of commercial companies enables me to help our City Council oversee and manage Reading’s CRIZ authority to direct CRIZ funding wisely and to our city’s sustained benefit. My identity as a moderate Republican (think Reagan/Bush, not Trump) on a Democrat-dominated council will help to ensure that CRIZ funding is directed to public, rather than private, interests.
2. In addition to regular email group communications with District 4 residents who opt-in to receive such messages, I plan to meet regularly with community organizations, including church and school groups. I take my status as a representative of District 4 seriously and will actively reach out to district residents both to keep them informed about business before our City Council and to solicit their input and views regarding that business and how it ought to be conducted. My more than 40 years of experience as a servant leader of client companies, governments and other organizations has required that I develop and practice the art of keeping clients informed and soliciting their feedback and direction. I will continue those practices as a City Council member.
3. Reading’s City Council District 4 is a prime source of revenues for the city, but does not include a single square inch of CRIZ area. As a district which will be a primary funder of the city’s CRIZ efforts early on, but which may see only limited return later, our district’s City Council representative must strike a balance between using city revenues for early funding of CRIZ authority operations while continuing adequate delivery of city services and ensuring that our district benefits proportionally in the future, when city revenues increase as a result of the CRIZ program delivering development — that is, that the CRIZ program “lifts all boats” in Reading, including our district’s. My 40-year-plus background in long-term commercial development ensures that I can safeguard the investments that our district will make in the CRIZ program and ensure that our district shares the benefits that will arise from it.
City Council District 5
(Vote for one)
Democrats
*Rafael A. Nunez – no response.
Sheila Perez – no response.
