Why did Reading miss out on economic-revitalization program?

Why did the state reject Reading’s application for an economic-development program called a CRIZ? The Reading Eagle – the local paper we depend on to explain this stuff to us – hasn’t worked too hard to find out.

Maybe nobody in Berks cares. More boring economic-development blather … .

If you are interested, five cities – Bethlehem, Erie, Lancaster, Reading and York – were eligible. Bethlehem and Lancaster won, the state announced Dec. 30.

Bethlehem Mayor John Callahan said the CRIZ will foster $350 million to $400 million in new development in his city. “This is a game-changer."

The program is designed to spur new growth in cities that have struggled to attract development, revive downtowns and create jobs – sounds like Reading, for sure. State and local taxes collected in the CRIZ would be used to repay debt on loans geared to stimulate economic development projects in the zone.

  

The Eagle pulled for the designation. “If need carries any weight in the selection process, Reading should be one of those chosen,” said an editorial Dec. 8.

But since the city was rejected, the local newspaper doesn’t seem to be working too hard to find out why. No story has quoted anybody at the deciding agencies about it.

In contrast, reporters at the newspaper in York, another city that applied for a CRIZ, worked hard to explain why that city lost out.

On Dec. 6, the York Dispatch submitted a right-to-know request to the state for copies of all cities' CRIZ applications. On Dec. 13, the state invoked a 30-day extension to fulfill the request, giving the state until Jan. 12 to respond. In early December, York officials released the city's application in response to a right-to-know request from the Dispatch.

Now, that’s journalism in the public interest!

York’s and Erie’s applications were rejected because of mistakes in the application, York reporters discovered.

State Sen. Lisa Boscola told the Allentown Morning Call that Reading needed the CRIZ more.

“But Bethlehem was chosen because its projects are shovel-ready," she said. "Bethlehem's application was just too good to deny.”

In the meantime, Steve Kratz, a spokesman with the state Department of Community and Economic Development, told me a little about Reading’s application in an e-mail after I contacted his office about the decision.

“Reading's application was properly submitted, but was not as strong as the others,” he wrote. The winners “outlined several feasible projects … deemed most viable by the review committee,” he wrote. “The applications also best met the requirements of the program guidelines.”