Greater Reading Online

The grim news:

Reading's projected year-end deficit will nearly double, to $17.2 million, as earned-income tax revenues are falling way under budget, overtime expenses are higher and the city paid on a loan with money it doesn't have, outside consultants told City Council on Monday.

The higher deficit - well over the $9 million earlier projected - means the city will have to borrow $17.2 million just to meet its bills this year.

It also will have to add another $900,000 to next year's budget to begin paying off the loan, said Gordon Mann, senior consultant for the team. The state-hired team created the city's Act 47 financial recovery plan and now is helping implement it.

Really, is there any way Reading can dig its way out of this hole? It's the poorest city in the nation, and the chronically unemployed residents can't afford higher taxes. And the few that can will move out. Casino gambling anyone?

The number of vehicles installed with devices that prevent a driver from starting the ignition if he's been drinking will double in Pennsylvania this year.

That, however, will only put the number at 6,000, all with restricted licenses due to DUI convictions. Considering that the devices are pretty reliable in keeping drunks off the road, why not expand the program?

Make the devices mandatory on all new vehicles sold.

Sure, the contraptions can cost around $1,000, but that could come down if they were mass-produced. Enforcement sounds like a state issue, although compliance can be dictated by threat of withholding federal highway funds, just as states are coerced now to stick to a maximum speed limit. (the Right will, of course, scream "REGULATION!!!" Let them.)

No, not every driver sits behind the wheel drunk, and most would never consider it. So why make them pay? Well, 16,900 drivers were busted by state police in 2009, and that was the most ever. Meanwhile, 141 people died as a result of alcohol-related crashes, and another 4,625 were injured. Cutting corners is no consolation if you're one of the victims. The benefit for all, besides safety, would be lower insurance rates since the number of alcohol-related would precipitously drop.

The devices work by requiring motorists on restricted licenses to blow into a tube that detects the presence of alcohol. If alcohol is detected, the vehicle will not start and the driver must wait five minutes before trying again.

A second failed attempt will result in a 30-minute lockout, and a third failed attempt will result in a recall of the device, meaning it must be taken to a service center within five days to have it reset, at an average cost of $75.

Last year, the devices recorded a total of 47,493 failed attempts to start a vehicle.

 The cabbies union should embrace the legislation.