As three Goodyear blimps circled over downtown Akron Tuesday afternoon, residents gathered on the lawn at Lock 3 for Mayor Shammas Malik’s second State of the City address.
“Look at that, wow,” Malik said. “I don’t know how I’m going to get through this. This is too exciting.”
Malik shared updates on some of his administration’s biggest initiatives with the crowd, many of whom kept gazing upward to admire the blimps or to take cell phone pictures. Malik persevered, telling residents they can now monitor his progress through a newly launched city tracker.
The tracker features status updates on the administration’s four key pillars: Safer Together (public safety), Working Together (economic development), Living Together (health, housing and the environment), and Growing Together (youth opportunities and older adults). It will be updated quarterly, with the first one coming in September.
Residents can offer feedback on the objectives and initiatives online.
Here are some highlights from Malik’s speech.
Safer Together
Malik’s public safety objectives span from investing in safety and intervention programs to building trust between safety forces and the community, he told the audience.
The city’s hospital-linked violence intervention program, which will meet gun violence victims at their hospital bedsides, will launch this fall, as the city has received commitments from Cleveland Clinic Akron General and Summa Health, Malik said. In addition, the city’s Gun Violence Response Fund, which was created in the wake of the June 2, 2024, mass shooting in East Akron, has raised nearly $315,000.
Malik announced the Akron Police Department has developed a “comprehensive” community engagement plan, which includes more foot and bike patrols and increased contact with youth.
Supporting Akron’s safety forces also plays a role in Malik’s strategy. He said the police department will continue to grow through lateral hires and will improve staff retention efforts, which includes the hiring of recruitment and retention consultants who specialize in safety forces.
As for the future of Akron’s police station, three potential locations remain under consideration: a new building at Forge Street on the University of Akron campus, the renovation of the 88 W.Bowery St. building or the renovation of the Harold K. Stubbs Justice Center. But the city needs to confront “big questions” around the budget before that can happen, Malik said.
He also emphasized the need for a review of the police department’s use-of-force policies, which he reintroduced a few weeks ago to Akron City Council.
Working Together
The former CitiCenter building and the Philadelphia Rubber Works Building, which will be adapted for residential use, will account for 200 units of the city’s goal to reach 1,200 units downtown by 2030. This goal, a part of the Downtown Akron Vision and Redevelopment Plan, created by the Downtown Akron Partnership, also includes the addition of a convention center-adjacent hotel and more retail, office and commercial users in the area.
The new Downtown Akron Community Development Corp., announced during last year’s address, has hired its first executive director, Christopher Hardesty, the former director of economic development for the City of Canton, Malik said.
Economic opportunities for Akron will also expand outside downtown. The city will launch a Great Streets facade improvement grant program and small business success grant program, which will “help improve the physical character of our space and also help us provide targeted support to businesses that really need it,” Malik said.
Living Together
A proposed right-to-counsel program for residents facing eviction will be introduced to City Council this month, Malik said. The three-year pilot program will be a partnership with Community Legal Aid Services and United Way of Summit & Medina.
The city is working with the Continuum of Care on the organization’s strategic plan for caring for Akron’s homeless community.
“We know that we need more options. We know that we need more overnight beds when the weather gets cold. And we need a better process to get folks into long-term housing,” he said.
Additional land will be available for infill housing in Summit Lake and Sherbondy Hill, Malik said, and the administration is working to bring infill housing to East Akron, Goodyear Heights and Ellet.
By this fall, the city will have a master plan for the development of the Innerbelt, Malik said. There will be an open house for the project next Thursday, June 12, at 5 p.m. at Lock 3.
For the last year, Power a Clean Future Ohio has worked with the city to create an inventory of Akron’s greenhouse gas emissions, and that assessment will be shared this summer.
And for the first time, Akron will conduct a climate action planning process to identify opportunities for improved sustainability. The process, which will take 12 to 15 months, is in collaboration with Bloomberg American Sustainable Cities and will cost the city nothing. The usual price tag is around $200,000, Malik said.
Growing Together
Under Malik’s original Together for Akron plan, the final pillar was “Learning Together,” which has now been reframed to also focus on supporting the city’s older population.
“As we support infants and as we support our youth, it’s also important that we place emphasis on the other end of the spectrum and provide additional supports for our aging population,” Malik said.
He said Travel and Leisure magazine ranked Akron as the top city in the United States to retire, which is not just based on the cost of living — it’s also based on the number of coffee shops and restaurants, access to parks and retail, easy commutes and the percentage of the community that can age in place, he said.
The city is collaborating with Summit County Public Health as well as other local stakeholders to conduct a healthy eating and active living landscape assessment. And the city is looking for more opportunities to better support older adults.
Getting involved in Akron
Malik closed his speech with an ask of the Akron community: choose one thing you can do to lean in a little bit more and help Akron move forward.
His suggestions included:
- Checking out a Lock 3 event and bringing a friend
- Sharing feedback on the Together for Akron plan page
- Checking out a neighborhood community center
- Volunteering as a mentor with Youth Success Summit
- Signing up to be on a local board or commission
- Celebrating Akron’s bicentennial year