At this year’s State of the City address, Goodyear blimps appeared in Akron Mayor Shammas Malik‘s slide and video presentations instead of in the sky. After multiple airships zipped across the screen, he announced Blimp Day, a new city holiday.
“You may have noticed by now that despite the beautiful sky, this year’s speech has fewer blimps than last year’s speech,” Malik said, referring to the three blimps that flew over downtown’s Lock 3 for the 2025 address.
“Well, after last year we thought, ‘What is a cool way that we can do something fun and also give us some civic pride?’”
The inaugural Blimp Day holiday will be held on June 6 from 9 a.m. to noon with two blimps flying over each of Akron’s 24 neighborhoods.
Beyond the Blimp Day announcement, residents, city officials and community leaders gathered at the Akron Civic Theatre downtown on Tuesday to hear Malik address issues of public safety, sustainable polymers as a back bone of Akron’s current and future economies, education and housing and business development.
Here are some highlights from the mayor’s speech.
Addressing housing shortages in Akron
Housing is a foundational part of the city, Malik said, and housing challenges around affordability and quality, homelessness and making sure all of the neighborhoods are healthy and environmentally sustainable is a key component of making sure people feel rooted to their communities.
Another housing issue is supply, Malik said, along with financial obstacles that limit the ability of Akron residents to own their own homes. The mayor announced a new assistance plan that will provide $7,500 toward a down payment and closing costs for eligible first-time home buyers.
Malik also addressed:
- $4 million of federal funding, along with some donations of city-owned land, will support 532 new housing units — many will be affordable housing, infill housing on vacant lots, rehabilitated properties or residential conversions of commercial buildings.
- Implementing a new code compliance division, including two new home inspectors.
- Strengthening the city’s housing code and addressing mold violations to identify the source of the problem.
- Building a housing assembly in collaboration with Unify Akron to build a culture and spark an open housing conversation.
- Improving the rental registration system to keep landlords from bringing in new tenants when they haven’t addressed issues in the housing.
- Eliminating minimum lot sizes on vacant lots in residential areas — this emerged from Freedom BLOC’s organizing efforts.
Sustainable polymers need to become Akron’s ‘backbone’
The rubber industry was the engine of Akron’s economy for decades. Now sustainable polymers and the city’s fledgling polymer cluster need to help build and drive Akron’s economy today and into the future, the mayor said.
“Every community needs a backbone economy,” Malik said, “Something that young people growing up here can aspire to, to see a future for themselves in.
“Just like we did with the canals, just like we did with the rubber industry — we can be the best in the world at sustainable polymers and advanced materials,” he said.
In 2024, the City of Akron received $100 million in state and federal grants to support Akron’s endeavor to become the global capital of sustainable polymers. The city is currently part of an application with Case Western Reserve University for a $160 million grant from the National Science Foundation that would benefit all of Northeast Ohio.
“I was a part of an NSF site visit,” Malik said. “I was sitting in a room alongside Governor DeWine and Mayor Bibb and Steve Millard from our chamber and many other leaders, and, for the first time, I mean this, for the first time it felt like we weren’t begging.”
“It felt like we were sharing the confidence we have in our communities,” Malik said.
Educational efforts around polymers include “Once Upon a Polymer,” a collaboration program with Weathervane Playhouse where third graders learn about polymer material through musical theater.
Malik announced the Polymer Pathways Partnership — an educational collaboration with a number of educational and industry partners that will work to ensure that interested Akron high school students can get credentials and certifications to pursue a career in sustainable polymers and advanced manufacturing.
Economic development and growth in downtown, other parts of Akron
More businesses are returning to or relocating in Akron’s downtown.
These include:
- Architecture and engineering firm GPD Group, which committed in December to expanding its footprint in downtown Akron, with an increase of about 120 employees.
- Buckingham, Doolittle & Burroughs announced in January it would return to downtown from Fairlawn after 20 years, bringing about 60 employees to the AES Building.
- Millenium Capital, also in the AES Building, will bring 120 remote employees back into the office.
- The Trailhead Community Health Foundation of Greater Akron intends to open its new headquarters in the Akron Centre building.
- 7 17 Credit Union recently purchased naming rights to the Akron RubberDucks stadium, now 7 17 Credit Union Park, as well as opening two branches in the city.
- Residential and mixed-use redevelopment planned for the CitiCenter building, buildings on Cascade Plaza and the Quaker Square complex.
- Crafty Steere will open in a two-story spot inside the O’Neil’s Building.
Other businesses are expanding in other neighborhoods, helping to increase and provide jobs for Akron residents.
Among the list of companies Malik highlighted are:
- Ajinomoto, investing $14.5 million to expand its Akron food operations and add 23 new jobs over the next three years.
- Additive Engineering Solutions completed a $5 million expansion on Evans Avenue, adding 12 engineering and manufacturing jobs.
- Hickory Harvest, expanding into the City of Akron with a new facility on Waterloo Road and an investment of $4 million.
- New Buckets restaurant at House Three Thirty.
- OnQ, expanding its Chapel Hill location by 65,000 square feet, with plans to continue expanding.
Public safety partnerships expand
Federal, state and local partnerships focused on gun violence have been expanded over the last year, Malik said.
A community violence intervention program that the City of Akron continues to build out includes a street team program with Minority Behavioral Health Group and Non Stop Growth. People with lived experiences are reaching out to young people at risk of becoming involved in gun violence, Malik said.
Other public safety programs in the works include:
- The fourth Crime Gun Intelligence Center opened in Ohio.
- In partnership with Summa Health, Cleveland Clinic Akron General and MBHG, counselors will respond directly to victims of gun violence at area hospitals.
- Businesses in Highland Square have created a Special Improvement District to assess and provide additional resources and security.
- 18 of 58 recommendations from the Akron police use-of-force report are already implemented.
