The Brad Weisman Show

Reading Railroad is Coming Back with Lucine Sihelnik

• Brad Weisman

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Lucine Sihelnik, the First Female President and CEO of the Greater Reading Chamber Alliance (GRCA), discusses the economic development landscape and exciting future projects in Berks County. She shares insights about significant changes in the business community and explains how GRCA is breaking the traditional chamber (of commerce) model with 900 members while many chambers nationwide are struggling.

• GRCA formed eight years ago by combining three organizations: Greater Reading Chamber of Commerce, Greater Brooks Development Fund, and Greater Reading Economic Partnership
• Reading's housing crisis requires comprehensive solutions beyond first-time buyer incentives—new construction and creative repurposing of existing properties are needed
• Passenger rail service expected to return (Reading Railroad) within five years, with the station located at the original Franklin Station
• Reading, PA offers higher competitive wages than surrounding counties, especially in manufacturing
• Major employers include East Penn Manufacturing, Amazon, Reading Hospital, and Giant Food Stores
• Family-owned businesses like Redner's Markets (employee-owned) play significant roles in the local economy
• "Meet Greater Reading" campaign highlights individuals who relocated to Reading to help with workforce development and talent retention
• Downtown revitalization efforts focus on mixed-use development near the future train station

Visit greaterreading.org for information about GRCA's 70+ annual events and initiatives.


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Welcome to The Brad Weisman Show, where we dive into the world of real estate, real life, and everything in between with your host, Brad Weisman! 🎙️ Join us for candid conversations, laughter, and a fresh take on the real world. Get ready to explore the ups and downs of life with a side of humor. From property to personality, we've got it all covered. Tune in, laugh along, and let's get real! 🏡🌟 #TheBradWeismanShow #RealEstateRealLife

Credits - The music for my podcast was written and performed by Jeff Miller.

Speaker 1

from real estate, that's the market as a whole, which then sometimes will affect the right. You know the real life. We all learn in different ways. If you think about it, wayne dyer might not attract everybody and everything in between.

Speaker 2

Mission was really to help people just to reach their full potential the brad weisman show, and now your host, brad Wiseman.

Speaker 1

All right, we're back, hugo, it's Thursday again.

Speaker 2

It is.

Speaker 1

Thursday. That's right. It's so funny how quick the week goes. Yep, it goes really quick and it's wet and rainy. It's wet and rainy. It's been wet and rainy for a very long time. There's thunderstorms constantly, but that's summer. I mean, that is summer. That's what we're supposed to get. So we have a local guest in here today and we don't get as many local guests anymore, but it's great when we do, and I'm excited about this. Hugo actually was really the proponent on this whole thing and said, hey, you got to get her in here. She's awesome. We're going to have a good conversation. So there is chamber conferences pretty much everywhere in the United States. As far as I know, we also have a local chamber of commerce. It's called the Greater Reading Chamber Alliance and the CEO and president is Lucene Sahelnick and she is in the studio here with us tonight and I just want to say hello. How are you doing?

Speaker 2

Hi, brad, I'm doing really well awesome thanks for coming in yeah, I swam here for you.

Speaker 1

You did swim here we had a bad thunderstorm it's unbelievable, yes and we had what we had last night too, I mean it's just constant, I know, so carry an umbrella. You can't even use an umbrella in this weather, though it's impossible, right because? Fly away.

Speaker 2

It just, it just fold up it Do you see those like fishermen that wear like the full suit. That's what you need in this weather, I think yeah.

Speaker 1

Well, you notice, hugo has a hat on and his hat is. Look at that hat, it's spectacular. See, that is just amazing. So that's for all kinds of weather, all kinds of weather.

Speaker 2

Really.

Speaker 1

Snow, rain heat the sun. It keeps the sun off his face.

Speaker 2

He's on to something.

Speaker 1

He is on to something. He's either on something or on to something, I'm not sure which one it is.

Speaker 2

Hey, now Don't miss my words. What kind of show is this?

Speaker 1

That's right All right, we're going to talk about the chamber. We're going to call it the chamber because it's easier to say than Greater Reading Chamber Alliance. So we greater reading chamber alliance, so we'll call it the chamber, for sure am I allowed to do that or not?

Speaker 2

are you gonna tell me no? I would like to encourage you to call it grca grca I will.

Speaker 1

She's encouraged me to say grca, which is easier than than saying greater reading chamber alliance right go, grca sounds good, we can call it that. I might slip in chamber once in a while, just so you know. But yeah, so you are the ceo, I am president and the president which I never understood that whole thing, but we won't even get into that. But no, you're the present CEO of GRCA. Yes, and that's a big deal.

Speaker 2

It's a big deal, and I'm going to add something that I'm very proud of I'm the first female president, and CEO of GRCA. That is cool. Thank you, yes, nice, that is cool.

Speaker 1

Thank you. Yes, nice Now, this even makes this podcast more important. You know, Hugo was right. We needed to have you in here. First female, isn't that something?

Speaker 2

It is, it's about time. Thank you, we agree too.

Speaker 1

It's about time.

Speaker 2

And it's a great role to have. Yeah, and I'm about a year and a half into it now.

Speaker 1

Yeah.

Speaker 2

Wow, and is that an elected position? How's that work? No, unlike some other things that. I've done. It is not. It's not. It's an appointed position by the board chairman of GRCA, and you know so. This really was the next thing that was kind of in line, for you know, what was I going to do? That's a question that you know, I think many of us ask right it doesn't seem like the path is linear any longer.

Speaker 2

You know a lot of what. Maybe you're just going to surmise here what you grew up with, or what I grew up with in terms of this is what you do. This is what you're supposed to do. You know, it's all different. It's all different, Right? So this is where I am right now and I'm loving it.

Speaker 1

Cool, very cool, and and you know what? You always have a smile on your face whenever I see you always seem to, and people like you, and it's a good thing. I think you're in a good position. I think you're doing it at the right time too, so that's cool.

Speaker 2

Yeah, this is a wonderful time right now. It is for our business community, for economic development, for community development. So, and oddly, um, maybe not so much, but to me, initially, you know, I thought is this the right job? Right, like, I'm just not sure. And there were so many boxes that you know I was able to check from my experiences, kind of in that timeline, leading up to like, yes, this is it Right. So the the background in business, entrepreneurial, you know, government, it all came to fruition.

Speaker 1

Cause it's all in this job, it's all in there, it's all in this job. You've done a little government, you've done the economic part, you've you're an entrepreneur also. I mean, you know, that's all in it, you know, so you get it. You get what it takes to be in business.

Speaker 2

And it's exciting, it's not for the faint of heart, right Like that's not.

Speaker 1

but if you're not, if, if you're not going through some pain, there's no gain in anything. I mean, it doesn't matter what it is. I hear this a lot in other podcasts. It's not just people talk about. Oh, you have to have pain to gain muscles. It's in everything in life. If you're not outside the box, if you're not feeling a little uncomfortable, those things are what you need. And I'm sure you were uncomfortable the first day you walked into that office and say, holy shit, I'm the CEO of this company. You know what I mean. Like that had to be this organization. That's a big deal.

Speaker 2

Yeah, it's a big deal. You know you walk in. I had a box in my arms and fortunately I wasn't leaving. I was coming in.

Speaker 1

Yeah, that's always good, always good from across the street right.

Speaker 2

So, um, on the heels of being a commissioner for the county, which was a total honor, uh, you have a small box of things carrying it across court street one building to the other, where our headquarters are Um, you know, and you have a little bit of imposter syndrome right. And if you don't, then you kind of have to check yourself at the door.

Speaker 1

Yes, exactly.

Speaker 2

Um then, the ego is getting in the way there. Um and you know we walk into 606 court street, which is where we're headquartered. We have other uh buildings and you know land and assets and properties here um in Berks County and greater running, but that's where we call home, Uh, and you know, walk in with this box and go to the third floor. At the time and they said, don't unpack anything.

Speaker 1

I thought, oh wow, there's really not a lot of confidence here.

Speaker 2

Okay, but what they were priming me for is that you know, we own the building, we are tenants, we have other tenants and we had people moving in right, and so we were consolidating our entire GRCA team out of that location to the first floor, which is really cool and I'd invite you and people to come see it and really see how we envision activating spaces in our downtown for all kinds of use.

Speaker 1

Yeah, exactly, that's cool. The organization sees the city as an amazing opportunity and a possibility to have more of that, to have more people downtown and being in those spaces. Because I think if you're going to talk about it, you kind of got to do it, yeah.

Speaker 2

If you haven't met me yet, right, and you're listening to this, you're going to have to know I'm a diehard Like I love Reading. Reading is amazing and wonderful. Why would I choose anywhere else to live? Sure Reading is amazing and wonderful. Why would I choose anywhere else to live? And I think that was a really important part of you know the culture and the vision and mission of of GRCA Right.

Speaker 2

So, like you said, we embody it. You know, we live it every day. We go to work downtown, you know, and as the city goes, so does the County, and so why wouldn't everybody be rooting for?

Speaker 1

an awesome downtown I'm always rooting. I mean, I I love going downtown and you know I go there for concerts and to see theater and things like that, and I'd love to go down there for more things. Yes, we were at the science center with our kids. Yeah, that was cool.

Speaker 2

It's incredible yeah, it's very cool I was really surprised.

Speaker 1

uh, you know, it was something we were just uh messing around on a saturday, I had nothing to do. We're like, let's go there and check it out. And the kids loved it, I loved it. It's cool, it's fun so yeah, so let's go into some of the other stuff here. What, what are you hearing? I mean, it's been a long time since I've talked to anybody from the GRCA and what are the challenges that you're hearing? Uh, from business, uh, owners, and how is?

Speaker 2

the chamber. I see, I said chamber.

Speaker 1

Yeah, How's the the GRCA able to help with that?

Speaker 2

Yeah, I don't want to deflect your, your, your question, right. Because, as a politician. We do that. We're trained to do that. Yeah, it's just a little pun a little joke. But one thing I'd want to do, because you said oh, I said chamber, that's okay, you're allowed to say chamber. Let me take a minute just to say like, GRCA is the chamber right, so eight years ago, we became the alliance that we are now, which is.

Business Challenges and Chamber Evolution

Speaker 2

Greater Reading Chamber Alliance and at that time, our thought leaders around the boards. They said, let's bring it together. You know, let's bring the Greater Reading Chamber of Commerce, the Greater Brooks Development Fund and the Greater Reading Economic Partnership together as one.

Speaker 1

Right, there's enough. So, those were all separate. They were all separate entities, and is that a common thing throughout the country to have three different things, or is this something different for Reading Area?

Speaker 2

Yeah, no, it's some form of combination. You're seeing that more and more and we were just having this conversation with kind of best practice in our industries with the southeast region of our state.

Speaker 2

And so we're seeing it there. Some are EDCs, some are chambers, some are together, and a lot of it, too, is that that chamber model that you know what you think of as your grandfather's chamber, that mailbox membership type of thing, is passe right. People are not excited about that. So you know how are we moving it forward, and I can't wait to tell you about how we are doing it for cause.

Speaker 2

We're doing a really well. We're like breaking the mold. Um, you know, when we look at national standards and statistics, uh, you know chambers a lot. Our local chambers are not growing, they're folding and that's kind of and that's like that's what I remember seeing locally for a while.

Speaker 1

Right yeah, it was diminishing more and more of the membership and things like that.

Speaker 2

So you guys are doing things to change that. We are, yeah, and you know we're kind of setting the tone and we're getting noticed. Our marketing and communications team has, for the second year in a row now, been recognized with a national award for their storytelling campaigns that they're doing for our members. Good, you know, and we have give or take 900 members.

Speaker 1

Yeah, that's awesome.

Speaker 2

And you know, brad, I didn't realize that right Because I'm not coming from the chamber world when I came into this role and so when I started going to find my peers, you know, and go to conferences and we're sitting around and talking, you know, kind of like executives to executives and like well, how big is your chamber?

Speaker 1

Oh yeah, Right Chamber envy.

Speaker 2

Oh my gosh. Well, we've got 900 members. How big is yours? Yeah, and you know, so that type of thing, Right. I don't think I really realized until I had those conversations with with you know, other peers, how special we are.

Speaker 1

So are we on the higher end.

Speaker 2

We are on the higher end.

Speaker 1

For our population? I would think it goes by population yeah.

Speaker 2

Yeah, and you know it kind of makes sense. Like you know, we have in Berks County Redding. Redding is the fourth largest city in the Commonwealth and when you talk about what am I hearing from businesses? So I'll take it back to your question.

Speaker 1

Yeah, absolutely, she was going to dodge the question. She was going to dodge the question she was going.

Speaker 2

She's trying to. Hey, I'll bring out the eight ball if I have to. I mean, we'll ask this thing. Questions Actually. Yeah, please do so. You know, with those 900 members, a lot of we have a very diverse member group. The diversity comes with industries, right. So our major industries that we focus on are manufacturing, healthcare, education, agriculture, but then also the size of businesses. So you know, the federal definition for a small business is anybody who employs less than 500 people. Wow, small business.

Speaker 1

That's not what I consider small business, exactly Right.

Speaker 2

So how are we defining it's?

Speaker 1

under 50.

Speaker 2

Right.

Speaker 1

Yeah, 50 and under, 100 and under would be more like in Berks County.

Speaker 2

That's a small business, I would think you know, yeah, and we have got some powerhouses right. So if you look at our list of top employers, the size of the workforce, right East Penn.

Speaker 1

Yes, exactly, Huge what 10,000?. What is it Moved up there?

Speaker 2

And We've got, yeah, amazon East Penn Reading Hospital. You know Huge employers. Giant is a very large employer.

Speaker 1

Really Well, think about it. They do have a bunch of grocery stores in the area, so that makes sense yes. Yeah, thank goodness. I mean, we all love food, that's good, that's good.

Speaker 2

It's Berks County it. We love food, so no, that's interesting.

Speaker 1

Giant is actually. It is the biggest grocery store, probably. Well, redner's, though, is very large too.

Speaker 2

Redner's is large and Redner's is employee owned, which is really cool. I love Redner's.

Speaker 1

The family. The owners are amazing. Yeah, Ryan Redner's on our board and Gary and Ryan are amazing, which is really cool.

Speaker 2

And we see what's done, you know with when they consider and look back at our community and say, well, how can we invest? And really you know. So you see the Redner's event center and you see those, you see their fingerprints everywhere, which is what makes us so special.

Speaker 1

I think Absolutely. That's a good plug for Redner's. Right there there's a commercial for Redner's grocery stores. We'll have to. We'll have to collect from him later. I don't know.

Speaker 2

So you know what am I hearing from business owners, right? So if you're an entrepreneur or a mom and pop shop, right. What I'm hearing is a little bit different. You know we need extra help and support in marketing ourselves, right, using AI, integrating that. You know. Workforce we got to find people to work here. Minimum wage is a concern for us, right.

Speaker 1

Those types of things, scalability, and then maybe even like some sex session planning because they're a family owned business you know, and that's tough, right, cause we have a family owned business, comfort pro is my, my dad and my brother. So they, you know it's tough because it's a family owned business and you know those are not always easy, not always easy. No, and they make it work.

Speaker 2

And you know what, when you make it work, it's that grit that we were talking about earlier, Um, and I think that's the the beauty and the tenacity of of what they have. And so then you have businesses that are growing, um, you have businesses that are headquartered locally, that are global. Um you know you think about sweet street you know, you've got Brentwood you've. I I mean so on and so forth. Right her buying you're so diverse we're very diverse you know, so what?

Speaker 2

what am I hearing from you know some of those larger businesses or manufacturing business as well. Obviously, with the change in administration, you know, we've had changes in things. We've heard a lot about tariffs wait, what's a tariff?

Speaker 1

never heard, I never heard anything about what. What do you mean, tariff?

Speaker 2

Um, you know, and so certainly businesses are talking about that, right, they're like is this a good thing for me? Is this a bad thing for me? Is this going to, how will this impact me? Some people, um, in our community and of course we were doing polling, we were making phone calls, you know, kind of like as it was rapidly rolling out. We all we've lived through this right, we can put that on the list too. Um, you know, and it's what does this mean for you?

Speaker 2

Some saw a boon, like they saw actually a growth right and some are like well, I've got to find other places to source you know or? Some are like short term, this is causing total chaos. Long-term, I can see where this is going going and I think that's a really important part of what we do. Through our advocacy work, we focus on pro-business policy, right. So it's not economic development is not Republican or Democrat.

Speaker 1

Yeah, I agree 100%.

Speaker 2

We make sure that we are supporting our businesses with the right policy in place and representation.

Speaker 1

That's cool, very cool. So what do you see? As far as growth, is the County growing?

Speaker 2

as far as businesses, yeah, it is Well population's growing population's growing right and so, if there's a correlation there, we're also doing a wage and survey study right now with Lancaster Um, and we did that intentionally, uh, for a regional approach, to understand a little bit larger than you know, Berks County in itself.

Speaker 2

So it's showing us yes, we've had population growth. Yes, you know, we believe that correlates to economic growth. There's a lot of things that are queued up on the horizon that we're very excited about. That also leads to that. And when you look at compensation and wages in Berks County, greater Reading, we are offering a higher competitive wage, especially in our manufacturing industry. We are, we are.

Speaker 1

Interesting.

Speaker 2

And so it's drawing people to come and work in Reading. You know from the region, from Lancaster, from York.

Speaker 1

Right. So because the income makes sense for the travel, right, that's right. They're making enough that the travel makes sense at that point. Yeah, it's interesting.

Speaker 2

Yeah, so other cool things that speak to the competitiveness and potential growth. Future growth that we see is a lot of that work to restore the passenger rail.

Speaker 1

Yeah.

Economic Growth and Competitive Wages

Speaker 2

Right and yes, uh, yes, we've been talking about this for a very long time, um, but you know, I keep saying it's not if it comes back, it's when, and that when is forecasted less than five years from today which is crazy. Yeah, people need to be following it.

Speaker 1

Yeah, that's faster than it took for us to get to 22. Just so you know route 222 used to be the road to nowhere.

Speaker 2

Oh my gosh yeah.

Speaker 1

Okay, so that took 30 years. I think 35 years it took to get that highway done. Yeah, and it's just unbelievable.

Speaker 2

It is.

Speaker 1

So rail will have, hopefully in five years. Yes, things are looking up for us Things are looking up, and also the airport which. I'll have to say, oh, we need regional air, yes, we need commercial regional air, yeah, so they're working on it.

Speaker 2

When I was a commissioner, I was on the airport authority board. And I was all in in terms of creating that proprietary FBO or flight based organization to be able to use the airport as a catalyst for economic development. We're starting to see that commissioners, as well as the other board members, are doing well. They've created Reading Aviation and we're gearing up for some really big things statewide next year, in 2026, that aren't going to impact economic growth for us, too, that's awesome, the airport's really important. Yeah.

Speaker 1

Really is. It makes you a hub. You know what I mean. I mean it just really does it makes you a hub, and you know Lancaster's doing it now. They are they just started doing some commuter flights in and out of there. That's right, is bigger, if I'm not mistaken I used to fly, so I used to be a pilot and I'm pretty sure that lancaster's smaller, you know, yeah, but uh, yeah, that's, that's good stuff, really good stuff.

Speaker 1

So, going back to that and and um is the housing thing, uh-huh, yeah, I had tim in here, I had uh steve in here. We're talking about from from greater, yeah, from the greater redding housing authority. Thank you yeah, now you got me thinking. Greater Reading Chamber of Life.

Speaker 2

It's part of our family. It's okay. Yeah, it's part of the family.

Speaker 1

But they were in here and we talked about housing in that workforce. Housing is huge, is an issue.

Speaker 2

Yeah, it's a crisis.

Speaker 1

Yeah, and I think what I'm seeing. I was just up in Harrisburg last week for real estate. I met with Eric Weeknack as a new representative, which I love, eric.

Speaker 2

Yes.

Speaker 1

Good guy, yeah, and we kept saying this is a crisis.

Speaker 2

Yes.

Speaker 1

You know and they know they know but I think the good thing is is now everybody knows, yes, but but how do we all come together, right, and we're working on that as a force of one and say, okay, we all know this is an issue, because I see some things that they're trying to do to fix? It is to make get more buyers into the, into the marketplace. That's great, and I want to help out first time buyers. I want to help out everybody. Right, everybody should be able to buy a home, as long as your income and everything is good and credit. But that won't solve the inventory issue. In fact, it makes it worse. Correct, so we need to build homes, apartments, homes, townhouses, condos, whatever it is, maybe the Berkshire mall. Just get rid of it. Let's just get rid of the Berkshire mall.

Speaker 2

Yes.

Speaker 1

Get rid of the sinkholes and put put houses there, or apartments or condos.

Speaker 2

And I think you know, I know that the county and many of the people that you mentioned, you know we're all working, you know, in terms of a comprehensive plan, so that we are all rowing in the same direction and when we're going to Harrisburg. All of our Berks delegates and representatives know that right and they're hyper-focused on it. This is what we're doing in our area. No-transcript.

Speaker 1

Well, the Berkshire Mall is blighted. Yes See, I can say what the hell I want you really can. But seriously, I mean, you look at that, it's a problem.

Speaker 2

Oh, it is a problem, and they recognize it. You know, and they know.

Speaker 1

And all we're saying is it would be great to repurpose that property. But there's also properties in the city of Reading. There's properties everywhere warehouses, things like that that can be repurposed. That could be beautiful apartments. But we need, you need investors to have help. We do, because not everybody has the money to do it, that's right, yeah, we need investment and we need a strategy and this all again, like, let me get into my government, east right, like.

Speaker 2

So that falls under the comprehensive plan. You know the County, through Pam Shepman it just rolled out um. You know initial needs assessment, study, um, so they're on track, really trying to aggregate who is working on what and when. What pieces of you know to belong to GRCA versus NHS versus, you know someone is our bar and et cetera, right, um, and that's important to identify Right, and so then we put the plan together, then we know where the funding has to go and you know it will help educate um and bring awareness for the people who are NIMBY right Like, not in my backyard.

Speaker 1

We don't want to tear up green space and that's a municipality thing. That's a municipality. I'm on a municipality.

Speaker 2

It is.

Speaker 1

I'm planning, commissioner, for, yeah, for Spring Township.

Speaker 2

Yeah.

Speaker 1

And you know, and we're pretty open to building and things like that, which is good, but there's some townships that you get out more into the suburbs and rural and they. You know there's, sometimes they it's not my backyard Exactly, or I got mine, you can't have yours. Yeah, yeah, it's so true, and a lot of it also used to be three acre minimum for a house. That to me, I get it back then, but we can't be doing that anymore.

Speaker 1

Yeah, I mean yeah, it should be a little different than that. We should have some areas that are high density that you can do more homes in one little area.

Speaker 2

Yeah. So I'm glad you brought up planning. That's really important in this conversation and you know, I think also that when we look at downtown right, because I'm going to talk a lot about downtown you know we've been focused on helping with a transit oriented development plan. That's going to be an overlay for where the train is coming. So that's station location is something we worked on two years ago and newsflash if you hadn't heard. The station location is going to be at the original station which is, you know, saucony Creek.

Speaker 2

Franklin Station, and so we put a kiosk there and lo and behold, we don't have to lay new tracks, we don't have to elevate platforms, there's plenty of parking because I imagine initially, many people who will start and adopt the early use of this train are going to be people who will be driving and parking and then commuting to Philadelphia for work or or pleasure, Right, so we need that parking, entertainment or whatever Exactly.

Speaker 1

But seventh and Franklin can't look the same as it does now.

Speaker 2

No, and so what you see is that rapid development that occurs when things like this happen change in major infrastructure, Stores food yeah. So mixed use Right Exactly.

Housing Crisis and Development Solutions

Speaker 1

Mixed use, which is great, because now all of a sudden, everybody wants to live there, because now there's a train.

Speaker 2

Yeah.

Speaker 1

If I could hop on the train and I live right next to the train and go to Philly, that's, that's awesome. Can you imagine that.

Speaker 2

I can it was rhetorical.

Speaker 1

It wasn't supposed to answer the question.

Speaker 2

I get paid to imagine that.

Speaker 1

No, I can't imagine that. But you're right, I'm sorry. No, it's okay, tell me more. I'm going to get the eight ball out.

Speaker 2

He's like and you're done? No.

Speaker 1

I just think it's awesome. To me it's just a dream it is. It's like a dream come true to be able to get on a train. And I think the thing is too is I've gotten used to that. My wife's from Long Island, so we visit her parents all the time up there and we do trips into New York City from her right. I mean literally like two blocks from her house. Get on the train and I'm in New York city in like an hour and a half, but I can be on my phone. I can be doing nothing, whatever I want to do, listen to music, and that is the most amazing thing, and we just don't have that.

Speaker 2

Yeah, we got cut off from all of that.

Speaker 1

We did like probably about 45, almost 50 years ago, right, like we just got cut off. Yeah, we did, and we're we're building it back. Who, who did that? It was how to be hugo's fault. We're gonna blame it on hugo, the guy with the hat, you know, but yeah, so, uh, that's amazing. I'm excited about that. So you are, people are working on the housing thing it is it is.

Speaker 1

It's a buzzword. It's out there, yep, and I've noticed that, um, and one of the comments that was made when we were up there was about how we the. It's going to be very important to make sure that Franklin Street and that area is because we're not going to get people in here if they come up and there's not a good looking area to come to.

Speaker 2

That's right, that's right so that's going to be important.

Speaker 1

So that's going to take a community to do it.

Speaker 2

It is, and I can't say things out of turn, but there's going to be some big announcements coming that are really going to help to activate the downtown space and the corridor. And you know, I'm sure people have talked about CRIZ.

Speaker 1

Yeah, that was a term up in Harrisburg.

Speaker 2

Yeah, so you know we've got the right tools. I'm really excited about a new director of community development that was just announced by the mayor, you know, with a very impressive resume and background. Is that who?

Speaker 1

is that. So hold on, oh me so oh, I put you on the spot, don't worry about it.

Speaker 2

That's okay. That's okay. I know I don't want to misspeak.

Speaker 1

I don't know, that's okay. Make sure you got the right name. That's good. That's good. But anyway we're gonna take a commercial break. No, just kidding. Have you heard of Comfort Pro?

Speaker 2

Yes, I have, yes, I have.

Speaker 1

Yeah, but yeah so, so there's a new person.

Speaker 2

David Barr.

Speaker 1

David Barr. Okay so this is the person who is now in charge of what is it.

Speaker 2

Community development.

Speaker 1

Awesome For the city of Reading. Good, good, good. And that's somebody that's going to kind of be charging the way for all that.

Speaker 2

A lot, of, a lot of what we're talking about will fall under his purview. You know permitting and um you know community development, just generally speaking putting it all together.

Speaker 1

Yeah, that's great, that's great. So, uh, what else is going?

Speaker 2

on in the chamber Like tell me, tell me what you guys?

Speaker 1

I know that you guys do a big picnic every year.

Speaker 2

Oh, we do. So. The picnic is around the corner in August and people can still sign up. I'm just going to say right now, no matter when you're listening to this, you can always visit greater Redding dot O-R-G-R-E-A-D-I-N-G. For those who aren't local, and you know, all of our events are there, because we have more than 70 events a year that we do, and they're not all member exclusive, but a majority of them are for our members. The picnic is a signature event, just like the dinner that we had where I did not go.

Speaker 1

this year it was magical.

Speaker 2

I tell you that much. That's right.

Speaker 1

Cause it was a magician. Yeah, that's right, that's right.

Speaker 2

So I got to be part of pen gillette's act on stage. Well, he obviously didn't make you disappear because you're here. No, and he didn't sell me in half.

Speaker 1

Okay, that's good, that's good yeah, because otherwise you'd be just carting your body and your upper half your body. That'd be awkward.

Passenger Rail and Downtown Revitalization

Speaker 2

Yeah, that would be um so you know we ran out the santander arena for that event. You know we had about seven, eight hundred people this year of our closest business friends and business award recognitions, which is really important, um, for those working really hard. And so now we play with the picnic and we ran out the um first energy stadium, uh and now?

Speaker 1

is this the first time you're at the first energy, or is it?

Speaker 2

No, we've had it for a couple of years there. Um and a lot of um, fun activities where you know we want all of our business members to bring their employees right. This is like everybody's big summer.

Speaker 1

Oh my gosh, I used to go to all of them when I was much younger. It was a little crazy back then.

Speaker 2

Yeah Well, we're a little more PG. I would say, Um, and you know we still have. Uh, we have a cornhole tournament, we have a batting derby, which I got to participate in last year.

Speaker 1

It was really fun With the batting derby. Batting derby yeah, how'd you do? I did awesome, of course, of course I didn't know that you were MLB.

Speaker 2

I didn't realize why not Add it to my list of titles?

Speaker 1

She's done everything.

Speaker 2

What can't she do, gosh? I played softball in high school.

Speaker 1

So let's go into that. Where are you from? Where are you from?

Speaker 2

Well, I was really raised in Berks County. My family moved here when I started high school, so imagine being transplanted from.

Speaker 1

Washington DC to Berks County. As high school, as a freshman, Were you kicking and screaming the whole way.

Speaker 2

I hated it.

Speaker 1

Yeah, absolutely, isn't it amazing. Well, because we were talking about public transportation and now you're the head of the Chamber Lines.

Speaker 2

That's crazy, I know Well, because I chose.

Speaker 1

Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's the story, right.

Speaker 2

I chose to be here to make my life here, to live, work, play, learn pray all the things here. What school I went to Y Missing Did you?

Speaker 1

I did oh, that's so then. Okay, did you go to college?

Speaker 2

I did go to college. I did my undergraduate degree at Loyola in Baltimore.

Speaker 1

Okay.

Speaker 2

And then I eventually found my way back here and I did my master's degree at Alvernia Okay, what do you have a master's in? In leadership Very good, perfect match.

Speaker 1

Oh my gosh, that's cool. Yeah, really cool. Good for you, that's awesome.

Speaker 2

And I think too. I want to spend a little time talking about Meet Greater Reading, because that is dropping this week.

Speaker 1

We'll end with that. How's that? Okay, cool, okay, go ahead.

Speaker 2

I mean thanks for asking about me, but it's really not about me.

Speaker 1

It's nice that people know who you are and where you're from. I mean, it makes sense, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 2

But you know that whole concept of choosing to be here, encouraging people. You know this workforce and talent recruitment and retention. So you asked me where I went to school. Well, we're really fortunate to have how many universities and you know also technical institutes, right, because that's very important right now in our backyard.

Speaker 1

It's amazing.

Speaker 2

Okay, so, um, with that, you know, we have that workforce right there, you know, uh, and we've got to figure out a way to continue to encourage them to stay here and not go somewhere else. And so our campaign that we focus around, uh that, and also for our employers that we talked about a little bit earlier. You know how do we help them find their best employees Right, so people will choose to move themselves their families here, you know, start those lives, like you know, we're discussing. If they're good, keep them.

Speaker 1

That's right.

Speaker 2

Let's get them to do here, whether it's recreational or cultural or food based or arts based entertainment.

Speaker 1

We do. You can really get it all here. We've really really become an area. Years ago and when I was really young it was not quite the same, it was a little bit more boring. But the fact that we have people come here from you know, new York, long Island and things like that, and we take them places and they're like this is really cool, like West Reading, and things like that, the things that we have. It's neat and it's cool to see, because we didn't always have that.

Speaker 2

No, and you said West Reading. There's a handful of main streets that have been popping up, absolutely. Kutztown and Boyertown.

Speaker 1

Oh, we love the train Boyertown. The train's unbelievable. I love it.

Speaker 2

Right, so we've got more than one right.

Speaker 2

And if you put all these things together, you know it's it's really that draw. So our campaign that we do every year, it's called Meet Greater Reading and you know that's the campaign to compliment what our visitors bureau or our destination marketing, you know organization is doing. They're working on bringing the tourists here, right, they're really highlighting our area in our region, um, you know, to just come and enjoy, because the theory there is, if you get them here, you know, for Oktoberfest or the World War II show or a sold out concert or something they may be like, oh, but you know puts writing on their radar.

Meet Greater Reading Campaign

Speaker 2

Um, and then you know, then we can kind of take over and say, oh, you've been here before, right, so and so's recruiting. Or have you considered the schools here? Have you considered the quality of life? And it's so close and accessible to, even to Philadelphia, to everywhere else? And so then we highlight those individuals who have made that choice. So that issue is dropping this week. It's a magazine. It's also online. It has its own website, meet Greater Reading.

Speaker 2

It handles on social media, but take a look, because it's telling the story of the people who chose to come here from Philadelphia to come here from New York or anywhere else. What are they doing? What jobs do they have? Where do they chose to live? That's cool. Where is their favorite restaurant? What do they like to do?

Speaker 1

Yeah, that's cool, that's good stuff.

Speaker 2

Really good stuff. There you go yeah that's awesome.

Speaker 1

Hugo, do you have any quick questions before we?

Speaker 2

end I have so many questions but I'm going to we're going to give you one.

Speaker 1

I'm going to live it myself. The music's coming on.

Speaker 2

You got to hurry up rapid fire, let us have it cake, all right. So we're talent, we're talent. I was a whitewater rafting, guide say something in spanish gracias and last year.

Speaker 1

What is your ultimate satisfaction in life? My family all right there you go very cool good answers that was. I'll tell you what. I would be so nervous answering those questions that fast. I'm like sitting here I'm still on your first question. I'm like I couldn't even get there. Thanks so much for coming.

Speaker 2

Thank you so much, I really appreciate it.

Speaker 1

You are welcome to come back anytime you want. Maybe you can talk about some of the new things going on as the years go on and we'll get you in here to talk about it. I would love that. Thanks so much. All right, lestine Sahelmick, greater Reading Chamber Alliance, or GRCA, of course, we can't say chamber anymore. We get yelled at no, that's about it. So come see us every Thursday at 7 pm. We have local people, we have people from all over the world and we love the fact that you're tuning in. All right, that's about it.

Head Shot

Brad Weisman

Host

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