How to Report a Problem to the City of Reading

Potholes, streetlights, dumping, code violations, noise, water, graffiti, abandoned cars: which Reading, PA office or number handles each problem.

Most problems in the City of Reading go to one place: the Citizens Service Center (CSC), reached through the free Reading 311 app, by phone at 1-877-727-3234 (1-877-PAREADING), by email at csc@readingpa.gov, or in person at City Hall, 815 Washington St., Rooms 1-27 and 1-33, Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. The city's property-codes page says complaints recorded with the CSC "are investigated by an inspector promptly"; the city does not describe how other requests are routed. The app is free, graffiti removal is at no cost, and the city lists no fee for filing a report.

These are city services, not county ones; our guide to reporting road problems explains how road duties split among PennDOT, the county and local governments. A few problems belong to someone other than the city, such as a streetlight (Met-Ed), a water main (the Reading Area Water Authority) or a state highway (PennDOT), and those are covered below.

Who handles what

Problem	Who handles it	How to report
Pothole, broken sidewalk in the right-of-way, missing manhole lid, catch basin, street sign	City Public Works	Reading 311 app, CSC at 1-877-727-3234, or Public Works at 610-655-6322 (signs: 610-655-6295)
Traffic light out or malfunctioning	City Public Works	610-655-6322
Trash, weeds over 6 inches, junk in a yard, peeling paint, vacant or blighted building, rodent entry points	City Property Maintenance and Codes Enforcement	CSC at 1-877-727-3234 or Reading 311
Graffiti	City Graffiti Abatement Program (Public Works)	Reading 311, CSC, or the Contact City Hall form
Illegal dumping	City of Reading; Crime Alert Berks for tips on the dumper	Reading 311 or CSC; tipline 1-877-373-9913
Missed trash pickup, missing cart	City of Reading (CSC)	Reading 311 or 1-877-727-3234
Noise	Reading Police	Non-emergency 610-655-6116
Abandoned or junk vehicle on the street	Reading Police Traffic Law Enforcement	610-655-6294
Crime that is not in progress, suspicious activity	Reading Police	610-655-6116, or the Citizen Crime Report form for minor theft and mischief
Water main break, leak, no water, hydrant	Reading Area Water Authority	610-406-6300 (7:30 a.m. to 4 p.m.); after hours 484-459-6113
Sewer backup	RAWA lists 484-955-3708; the city's Public Works FAQ takes sewer questions through the CSC	Call the RAWA number first, then the CSC if no answer
Streetlight out	Met-Ed, for the lights it owns; the city's site does not say who takes the rest (the CSC is the general intake)	1-888-544-4877 or FirstEnergy's online form
Gas smell	UGI	Leave first, then call 800-276-2722 or 911
Stray dog or cat, animal bite follow-up	Animal Rescue League of Berks County (city contractor)	610-373-8830 ext. 205
Street tree down or hazardous	City Public Works and the City Arborist; property owner maintains the tree	Reading 311 or CSC; call 911 if wires are involved
Parking meter, garage or parking-violation complaint	Reading Parking Authority	Dispatch 484-339-4979; office 610-655-6166
Pothole on a numbered state route	PennDOT	1-800-FIX-ROAD or the PennDOT Customer Care Center

Step by step: filing a report with the city

Decide whether it is an emergency. A fire, a crash, a crime in progress, a downed wire or a gas smell is a 911 call, not a service request. Reading Police also keep a direct emergency line, 610-655-6111, per the department's phone list.
Pick a channel. The city's Contact City Hall page lists the web contact form on that page, the CSC phone line, the Reading 311 app for iPhone and Android, the online Reading Self-Serve portal for permits, scheduling and bill payment, and the City Hall address. The Property Maintenance page also links a "Report An Issue" web portal, branded Accela CRM, that offers the same iOS and Android download buttons. The app and the web portal take reports at any hour; the city's graffiti page describes "logging onto Reading 311" from home and calls it "the same software that our Citizens' Service Center uses," open to anyone "without having to wait for regular business hours."
Give an exact location: street address and ZIP, or the nearest intersection for something in the street. The graffiti page's checklist works for most reports: what was damaged, where on the property, and a photo if you have one. The app's store listing says it takes reports on "trash issues, property concerns, permit inquiries, street, pothole, and sewer line problems."
Keep your ticket. The app provides status updates on each request, per its listing. If you call, ask for the request number before you hang up.
If nothing happens, escalate. The city's main FAQ says the City Council Office "can take a concern or complaint about City Services" and work with the department involved: 610-655-6204, council@readingpa.gov, or 815 Washington St., Reading, PA 19601. (The footer of some city pages prints the address as council@readingpa.org; the council's own page uses .gov.)

The web form carries a caveat the city prints itself: submissions "are monitored regularly" with a reply "within a few business days." For anything time-sensitive, call.

Streets, signs, sewers and flooding

Public Works maintains "all City streets, bridges, sidewalks and medians in public rights of way," plus traffic signals, signs, pavement markings and the storm and sanitary sewers, per its About page. Its FAQ gives two direct numbers: 610-655-6322 for a traffic light and 610-655-6295 for a traffic sign. The same FAQ lists the questions dispatchers will ask about a catch basin, flooding, a missing manhole lid, an odor, a spill or water in a basement, so have answers ready: is the lid in a traffic lane, is the water clear or gray, has a plumber already been called. For a spill, the FAQ says to contact Fire/HazMat "if necessary."

Yard waste and leaf pickups are booked through the Streets Division at 610-655-6285, the CSC or Reading 311, per the city's 2026 yard waste release. Missed trash pickups and cart problems go to the CSC; our Reading trash and recycling guide covers the limits and fines.

Property and code complaints

The Property Maintenance and Codes Enforcement office enforces the city's housing, codes, public health and quality-of-life ordinances. Its page says complaints "should be recorded with the Citizen's Service Center at 1-877-727-3234 and are investigated by an inspector promptly." Inspectors also run regular neighborhood sweeps that end in notices of violation. The same office coordinates blighted-property hearings for buildings in serious decline.

What counts as a violation is spelled out in the city's Property Maintenance Code Summary: exteriors free of appliances, car parts and rubbish; grass and weeds under 6 inches; graffiti covered or removed; gutters, rails and steps in repair; and "all exterior openings must be protected against rodent entry." That last line is the hook for a rat complaint about a neighboring property. The office also issues quality-of-life tickets, "similar to parking tickets," that rise with each repeat at the same property in a year. The city's Quality of Life Violations slideshow, which cites Ord. 38-2012 of April 23, 2012, as the ordinance in effect, says an inspector may ticket without prior notice: $25 for a first ticket for most offenses, $50 for two tickets for the same offense, $100 for three or more, plus a penalty for payment after the due date on the ticket. The slideshow lists 23 violations, starting with accumulation of rubbish or garbage.

Landlords get their own inspection cycle, covered in our rental permit guide. The city's site does not say how to report a vacant or collapsing house beyond the general complaint line; the blighted-property hearings above are the office's formal track for those buildings.

Graffiti

Report it through Reading 311, the CSC, or the Contact City Hall form, per the Graffiti Abatement Program page. Give the exact address and ZIP, say what was tagged (house, wall, sidewalk) and where, and say whether the surface is painted (crews repaint, and need the color) or bare brick, stone or metal (crews power-wash). On someone else's property, the city first posts a waiver giving the owner five days to clean it; after that the program removes it at no cost.

Noise, abandoned cars and non-emergency police matters

Noise complaints are a police matter. Reading's noise ordinance, Chapter 387, bars radios, stereos, instruments and amplifiers that are "plainly audible across a property line" between 10 p.m. and 7 a.m., or audible 50 feet away on a public street at any time; yelling on the street in those hours; construction tools in those hours and on Sundays and holidays; and outdoor power tools in those hours. § 387-108 assigns enforcement to the Police Department, which may seize the device and impound repeat offenders' vehicles; fines run $100 to $1,000 per day under § 387-109. Call the non-emergency desk, 610-655-6116, which the city says is staffed 24 hours a day.

An abandoned car is one with an expired plate or an expired inspection sticker, per the Police FAQ; report it to the Traffic Law Enforcement Office at 610-655-6294. A car you think is stolen goes to 610-655-6116. A junked car on a lot (broken glass, missing doors, up on blocks, leaking fluids, no current registration) is a "motor vehicle nuisance" under § 564-102; under § 564-106 the Property Improvement Division, Fire Department or Police Department may inspect and serve a notice to comply, and the chapter does not say where a resident files the complaint.

For a minor theft or criminal mischief under $1,000 with no suspect, no evidence and no injury, the department accepts a paper Citizen Crime Report, a form marked "REV: 12/2006," addressed to Reading Police Dept., 815 Washington St., Reading, PA 19601-3690. Spanish speakers can use the department's Spanish line, 610-655-6292.

Berks County's 911 Communications Branch lists 610-655-4911 as its countywide non-emergency number, a second option if the city desk does not answer.

Illegal dumping

Report a dumped pile for cleanup through Reading 311 or the CSC. The city's About Public Works page links to Crime Alert Berks for reporting the people doing the dumping: the anonymous tipline is 1-877-373-9913, or text ALERTBERKS plus your tip to 847411, per the organization's tip page. Tips by phone, text or the AlertBerks app get a tipster code that can claim a cash reward, paid for information that leads to an arrest; tips through its web form get no code and cannot claim one.

Water, sewer and gas

The Reading Area Water Authority, not City Hall, handles water service. Its home page lists 610-406-6300 for water questions and water emergencies from 7:30 a.m. to 4 p.m., 484-459-6113 for after-hours water emergencies, and 484-955-3708 for sewer backups. RAWA's office is at 1801 Kutztown Road, Reading, PA 19604. Note the overlap: the city's Public Works FAQ also takes sewer backup reports, through the CSC, and names no separate number, so if the RAWA sewer line does not answer, call 1-877-727-3234.

A gas smell is never a city report. UGI's leak page says to leave the building, get a football field away, and then call 800-276-2722 or 911; the line runs 24 hours and there is no charge for a leak check.

Streetlights

Met-Ed services the streetlights it owns. A FirstEnergy spokesman told Lehigh Valley Public Media in October 2025 that the company is converting about 85,000 lights it owns to LED, and the article reports Easton and Reading as the first two municipalities in the Met-Ed region to get them. Neither the city's site nor the article says how many of Reading's streetlights are Met-Ed's, or who takes a light Met-Ed does not own; the CSC is the city's general intake. Report a dark, flickering or daytime-on light through FirstEnergy's streetlight form or at 1-888-LIGHTSS (1-888-544-4877); no account is needed. A light with broken glass, exposed wires or a leaning pole is a phone call, not a form, and a downed wire is a 911 call. The city's own helpful links page points residents to FirstEnergy's outage map for power outages.

Trees

The city's shade tree ordinance, § 555-104, as amended in November 2025, says street trees "are owned and must be maintained by the owner of the property on which the shade tree is located," while Public Works controls planting and removal along streets. Under § 555-110, the City Arborist can order an owner to prune or remove a hazardous tree, on private property or in the public right-of-way, and the city can do the work and bill the owner if they do not; an immediate hazard in a public area can be removed without prior notice "if notification is not feasible before removal." Report a fallen or dangerous tree through Reading 311 or the CSC, and call 911 if it is on wires or blocking a street. Cutting or pruning a street tree yourself requires a written permit from the City Arborist under § 555-106.

Animals

Reading contracts with the Animal Rescue League of Berks County for animal control; the ARL's service-area page lists the city among its 2026 full-service municipalities and gives 610-373-8830 ext. 205 for all of Berks County. The contract covers stray pickup, intake of strays, dog-law enforcement and rabies cases during the ARL's normal hours. It does not cover wildlife, and the ARL says it is "unable to pick up deceased animals or dispose of them." For injured wildlife the ARL's emergencies page points to Berks County dispatch at 610-655-4911 and the Game Commission at 833-742-4868.

The city's site does not say which office removes a dead animal from a street.

Parking and state roads

Parking meters, garages, permits and complaints about illegally parked cars belong to the Reading Parking Authority, a separate city authority. Its contact page lists a dispatch line, 484-339-4979, for safety concerns and parking-violation reports, and 610-655-6166 for the office at 430 S. 4th St., open weekdays 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. (one line on the same page says 5:30). Our Reading Parking Authority guide covers tickets and appeals.

Numbered state routes run through the city, and a pothole on a PennDOT road is PennDOT's to fix: call 1-800-FIX-ROAD (1-800-349-7623) or file at the Customer Care Center, which issues a reference number and is monitored weekdays 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. We found no list on the city's site of which streets are state-maintained. Our guide to reporting road problems explains how to tell a state road from a local one.

FAQ

Does Reading, PA have a 311 number?

The city's pages list no 311 phone number. "Reading 311" is the name of its app and online request system. By phone, the Citizens Service Center is 1-877-727-3234, Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.

How do I report a pothole in Reading?

Use the Reading 311 app or call 1-877-727-3234 and give the nearest address or intersection. If the street is a numbered state route, PennDOT owns the pothole; call 1-800-FIX-ROAD.

Who do I call about a neighbor's trash, weeds or junk?

The Citizens Service Center, 1-877-727-3234, logs it for Property Maintenance and Codes Enforcement, which sends an inspector. Grass over 6 inches, outdoor appliances and uncovered trash are all violations under the city's code summary.

Can I report a problem in Reading anonymously?

The city's pages do not say whether anonymous reports are accepted. Crime Alert Berks tips by phone, text or app are anonymous by design and can earn a reward for information that leads to an arrest.

Who fixes a streetlight that is out in Reading?

Met-Ed, for the lights it owns. Report it at 1-888-544-4877 or through FirstEnergy's streetlight form with the nearest address; a damaged pole or exposed wire should be phoned in, and a downed wire is a 911 call. Neither the city's site nor the Lehigh Valley Public Media article says which Reading lights are Met-Ed's; the CSC is the city's general intake for anything else.

Sources and contact

Citizens Service Center: City Hall, 815 Washington St., Rooms 1-27 and 1-33, Reading, PA 19601; 1-877-727-3234 (1-877-PAREADING); csc@readingpa.gov; Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Public Works: 610-655-6322 (signals), 610-655-6295 (signs), Streets Division 610-655-6285. Reading Police non-emergency: 610-655-6116; Traffic Law Enforcement 610-655-6294; Spanish line 610-655-6292. City Council Office: 610-655-6204, council@readingpa.gov. Reading Area Water Authority: 610-406-6300; 1801 Kutztown Road, Reading, PA 19604. Reading Parking Authority: 430 S. 4th St., Reading, PA 19602; dispatch 484-339-4979; office 610-655-6166. Animal Rescue League of Berks County: 610-373-8830 ext. 205. Crime Alert Berks: 1-877-373-9913. Met-Ed streetlights: 1-888-544-4877. UGI gas emergency: 800-276-2722. PennDOT: 1-800-349-7623. Berks County non-emergency dispatch: 610-655-4911.

Citizens Service Center and Contact City Hall, City of Reading
Reading 311 app: App Store and Google Play listings, City of Reading
About Public Works, Public Works FAQ, Graffiti Abatement Program and 2026 Yard Waste Collection Schedule, City of Reading
Property Maintenance and Codes Enforcement, Property Maintenance Code Summary, Quality of Life Violations slideshow and the Reading 311 web portal, City of Reading
Contact the Reading Police by Phone, Police FAQ and Citizen Crime Report form (PDF), City of Reading
Main FAQ and Helpful Links, City of Reading
Reading Code of Ordinances: § 387-104, § 387-108 and § 387-109 (noise); § 564-102 (vehicle nuisances); § 555-104, § 555-106 and § 555-110 (trees)
Reading Area Water Authority
Reading Parking Authority: Contact
Animal Control and Service Areas and Emergencies and Wildlife, Animal Rescue League of Berks County
Submit a Tip, Crime Alert Berks County
Report a Roadway Concern, PennDOT
Streetlight or Outdoor Area Light Problem, FirstEnergy (Met-Ed); Easton halts Met-Ed light conversion, Lehigh Valley Public Media, Oct. 15, 2025
Smell Gas? Act Fast, UGI Utilities
911 Communications Branch, Berks County Department of Emergency Services