READING, Pa. – Reading City Council once again heard from several residents about issues they say stem from recent parking adjustments to accommodate pickleball players.
Residents of Old Wyomissing Road in the 18th Ward section of the city said the changes to parking at the adjacent courts, which are located in the borough of West Reading, continue to cause problems.
The parking was changed from curbside to head-on parking with angled lines.
Residents contend that the changes have created narrow lanes forcing trucks to drive down the middle of the road.
In addition, motorists are now having to make U-turns to enter the angled parking spaces, residents said.
At Monday night's council meeting, resident Atiba Bass said the city civil engineering department ignored its responsibility to conduct a traffic study.
"A traffic study would consist of risk assessments and how to mitigate them," Bass said. "That should be public record. It's not public record because it didn't happen. Now our street has been defaced."
"Our property values are impacted," Bass added. "The safety of our street is impacted, and the health of our street is impacted."
"We're some of the highest taxpayers in the city, and some of us are part of the top 5% of earned income tax contributors in the city," Bass continued. "We're the constituents with one of the highest tax bases, and now we (the city) are creating urban blight in the section of the city that's supposed to be the pride and joy."
Resident Neil Kloiber said the historic nature of the area has been compromised with the added parking by reducing green space and making it less attractive.
"We didn't get any input on planning of our street and or the parking or even when they put the pickleball courts in," Kloiber said. "So how is that fair to us?"
A couple of residents noted that the pickleball players come to the park for exercise, but said those players required convenient parking next to the courts so that they would not have to walk half a block.
City officials said it was their understanding that the borough of West Reading engaged in a traffic study before the parking changes were made.
Reading City Council member Jaime Baez Jr. said he received one email from a resident who offered a different perspective, saying that they were happy with the new parking configuration, which the resident claimed has resulted in slower traffic.
"I can assure you that the council body takes your concerns very seriously, but from what my understanding is, this project started before the new council body came on board (in January)," Baez said. "So I'm pretty sure that (Councilmember) Vanessa (Campos) is on top of this, as is council President (Donna) Reed, to make sure that we find a solution."
Reed said she has been in communication with West Reading Borough Council President Ryan Lineaweaver, and a meeting is being planned on site with Campos and some members of the borough council.
"Just because the lines are painted doesn't mean it is written in stone and that they will stay, but I'm not going to say one way or another which direction it's going to go," Reed said. "But we're not ignoring the situation. It's a matter of getting everyone together. We don't take these things for granted."
