By all counts, Reading is well on its way to an historic period of revitalization and prosperity. With tens of millions in private funding coming into the city for various development projects, the city's population and economy are on the rise.

It might have begun with The GoggleWorks Center for the Arts, a community art and cultural resource center founded in 2003 in a former safety goggles factory. Since GoggleWorks opened, downtown has been flush with new projects: luxury apartments, a 10-screen Imax theater and a $56 million hotel and conference center--just to name a few.