Good catch, Don. Thanks for reading!

I had the wrong map on my blog about Al Boscov, posted on Feb. 12, which has been corrected. 

The mistake was highlighted in Reading Eagle City Hall reporter Don Spatz’s column Tuesday, Feb. 17. 

I’m honored that Spatz called this blog “an alternate news outlet.”

I’m so glad he reads it!

I’m not doing journalism – I rarely try to contact people I mention in the blogs, and I certainly have no editorial oversight, as every proper journalist needs.

I do think Berks needs more coverage of economic development efforts, government openness, the local environment, libraries and public schools.

Spatz also says Boscov is not pulling out of the project in the 400 block of Penn Street. We’ll see. The meeting between him and Mayor Wally Scott is Thursday.

As a professional courtesy, Spatz might have given the address to my blog. I need the hits. I always link to his articles.

Berks lawyer in secret DUI case had donated to judge’s campaign

by Steve Reinbrecht

The Berks County lawyer whose DUI hearing was improperly held in secret Feb. 8 had donated to the election campaign of the judge who heard his case.

“Zachary A. Morey was accepted into a court-approved program Monday that allows first-time offenders to avoid jail and probation sentences. But the proceeding was held in a back room off of Judge Eleni Dimitriou Geishauser's courtroom instead of in public view in open court,” the Reading Eagle reported Thursday, Feb. 11.

State records show that Zachary Morey, 29, donated $25 to Geishauser’s campaign last year. Geishauser was elected in November and joined the bench at the beginning of the year. She handles DUI cases.

She also received campaign a $250 contribution from Susan Morey, who records show lives at the same Spring Township address as Zachary, and $103.49 from James Polyak, the name of the lawyer who represented Zachary Morey in his out-of-view DUI case.

Sure – lots of people gave Geishauser money for her campaign [including a few people from whom I wouldn’t take $1 million, if I expected to be an elected official, such as Frank McCracken, Kevin Timochenko and Gene LaManna].

And the amount Morey and Morey and Polyak contributed is the tiniest fraction of the nearly $80,000 Geishauser raised.

But aren’t these people smart enough to realize even APPEARANCES matter, especially in the fifth-most corrupt state in America and in the corrupt city of Reading?

It’s more evidence that in Berks, it’s who you do favors for, not the rules, that matter.

I’m glad reporter Stephanie Weaver was so alert and curious and persistent that she uncovered this for publication.

But I blame the Reading Eagle for generally, over the years, training elected officials that they don’t have to worry much about pesky reporters asking embarrassing questions, leveraging sources, poking through finances or pissing off powerful people.

Reading police compare well in crime clearances

by Steve Reinbrecht

How does Reading’s police department stack up in crime solving?

I compared the clearance rates reported by three city departments for major crimes in 2014 and 2015, and state totals, using state police data.

During the period, Reading was on par with the state in solving murders. Allentown and Lancaster each had fewer murders to solve than Reading did. Murders provide small data samples.

The Reading department topped the state and Allentown in solving assaults, and did better than all in clearing rapes – to me a good sign of a progressive department.

The Reading department was behind the state in clearing burglaries and robberies. Maybe the Reading officers are duffers. Maybe they’re understaffed. Maybe Reading residents report more of these crimes because they know the Reading police will work on them. Maybe in Allentown, people don’t bother to report robberies and burglaries because they don’t have confidence in the police.

I always hear that these sorts of statistics are unreliable because police chiefs cook the books, misreporting the crimes by calling rapes “assaults,” or robberies “assaults,” or assaults “disorderly conduct.” They might want to under-report crime at a mayor's request or to look like they are doing a good job. Or over-report it to get a bigger budget.

The state police, who compile the data, said the FBI checks the numbers.

“To prevent and discover any over or under reporting of UCR [uniform crime reporting] data, the FBI conducts random audits of agencies that submit data,” Trooper Adam Reed, public information office coordinator.

The state police’s function is to facilitate and provide the electronic system to enter the data.

“We do our best to monitor for any errors or non-reporting and will reach out to any agency that appears to have inaccurate or no information entered,” he wrote.

Ultimately, the FBI sets the guidelines and definitions for the data,” Reed wrote.

I e-mailed the FBI press office but got no reply.

Boscov backs out of major downtown Reading project

by Steve Reinbrecht

UPDATE: As noted by Reading Eagle reporter Don Spatz, the map was wrong on this story, and has been corrected.

Albert Boscov no longer wants to fix up the once-glorious, now-dilapidated [kind of a Reading theme] buildings in the center of downtown Reading.

Our City Reading – the nonprofit agency that Boscov runs, in part with federal Community Block Grant Funds – has sent a letter to Reading City Council announcing it is withdrawing from its agreement to develop buildings it owns in the 400 block of Penn St.

They include the nine-story brick “Callowhill” building on the corner [the "Archive" clothing store there said in December it will close] and the former bank building next to it. According to the letter, the agency doesn’t want the project without the support of the mayor and Council.

As Council has given Boscov support, this implies Boscov doesn’t want to work with the new mayor, Wally Scott.

“The logical question would be, ‘So what is the plan now?’ ” my source said. “I think if anyone said they knew they'd be lying.”

When the city first asked for bids, only Our City Reading and private developer Alan Shuman responded. Shuman said in November he was still interested. His original plan offered $1 for the properties, maybe not a bad deal at this point.

The city bought the properties in August 2013 for $2.5 million from New York owners who had let the buildings deteriorate. They comprise the eastern half of the block – from Penn to Court streets and from Fifth to the former CNA building.

At the time, former Mayor Vaughn D. Spencer said the purchase was urgent. He worried the owners would raise the price once the hotel opened across from the hockey arena.