[PRCo]

[Schneider Fred]

Can you just imagine ... two-man crews and empty cars on Reading  
Pennsylvania's last streetcars in 1951?   At that time the city had a  
very viable downtown and a population of about 109,000.   Today it  
has an empty downtown filled with parking lots looking for an anchor,  
a population of about 80,000, and the newspaper reports daily  
gunfights and murders on the front page.

Although I used to kid the business writer of the Reading Eagle that  
the front page was the "Murder of the Day" page, there probably  
wasn't more than one a week and they were almost all drug related.    
I remember one "accident" where I someone was caught under a car on a  
sidewalk on Schuylkill Avenue ... the car rolled over "accidently"  
and the victim was under the roof.   Just knowing the neighborhood, I  
don't think it was an accident, I think the victim was spotted on the  
sidewalk and it was a deliberate attempt to mow him down.   The only  
accident was that the car rolled over when the wheels hit the curb.

Until the 1950s Reading (pronounced like the color Red), had a very  
strong transportation and industrial base.   The Reading Railroad was  
one of the most viable Class One railroads in the U. S. and probably  
generate more revenue per mile than any other ... it was short and  
hauled hellish amounts of freight.   Then anthracite coal  
collapsed.   Reading was the company's shop town so it gradually went  
down with the railroad.   The other main industries were Carpenter  
Steel, another steel mill in Birdsboro, and a whole lot of garment  
and textile factories.   It was once the ladies hosiery capital of  
the U. S.   Conrail closed the railroad shops.   Berkshire Knitting  
kept their offices there but moved the manufacturing south of the  
border.   Nolde and Horst closed their knitting factory.   The other  
steel mill in Birdsboro closed.   It's another example of McDonnald's  
selling hamburgers to Burger King employees.   There are jobs out in  
the suburban towns but the city is empty.

So enjoy the flick

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O3ZS5uwP9CU&feature=related