The 13 members of Akron City Council represent 10 wards, with three at-large seats, and form the elected legislative body that runs the city. They review, sponsor and vote on the local laws that govern the city and approve its capital and operating budgets.
Council members hold regular ward meetings for their constituents. They also meet as a body on Monday evenings at 6:30 p.m. in Akron City Council Chambers on the third floor of the Akron Municipal Building.
Meet the candidates below who are running for the Ward 8 City Council seat in the May 6 primary election.
N.J. Akbar
N.J. Akbar wants a mini version of Bounce Innovation Hub in Ward 8, he said. As a business owner who primarily works from home, he sees the benefit of having a space where small business owners can get together and share resources.
“I’m just ready to serve the ward in a much more intimate way as a small business owner,” Akbar said.
His platform is also built on sustainability. Akbar wants to better support and maintain the green spaces in Ward 8, which includes taking more time to engage the community before making decisions. Otherwise, he said, you end up with unintentional controversies like building “on top of” wetlands for the White Pond Drive housing development.
“I think that’s one of the things that we need to do is resist building on every green space that we have and preserving it,” he said. “At the end of the day, the way we have the clean air that we have is because of trees.”
And Akbar wants to think bigger than that. He wants the city to find more ways to invest in solar energy so the city could produce its own power.
“What if we could, you know, set out to be a net-zero energy city by 2050?” he said.
He also advocates for increasing electric vehicle (EV) infrastructure in Akron. Having more charging stations available would make it easier for people to make the transition to EVs, supporting cleaner air and reducing the city’s overall emissions — the lack of charging stations is why Akbar elected to wait a few years before he bought his personal EV.
“The more we build up the infrastructure, the better it’ll be for people to make that decision, who want to, but they just don’t see it as being feasible for them yet,” he said.
Part of looking to the future for Akbar is addressing public safety. He takes a micro and a macro view of the issue.
On the individual level, people want a place where they feel safe, he said.
“They want streets where people aren’t speeding down while their children are playing,” he said. “They want a council person who’s going to advocate for traffic calming measures, more police patrols in our neighborhoods.”
But they also want police accountability, he said. The small percentage of officers who have not served the community well should be held accountable, he said, whether that calls for their firing or for additional training.
For more on this year’s May primary election, visit our Election Signals 2025 page.
Bruce Bolden
Incumbent Ward 8 Council Member Bruce Bolden likes to work behind the scenes to get things done.
“You’re not going to see me out there jumping and waving my hands, unless it’s fire,” Bolden said. “If I’m trying to fix the problems within the system, I find that works better not only for the long run but also for the city.”
Sometimes, it’s as simple as noting the housing issues or potholes he sees as he drives through Akron so that he can report them to 311. But it also includes finding ways to funnel more money into Ward 8 when possible — for example, redirecting a $5,000 Neighborhood Partnership Grant to Karona Park.
“We’re doing what we can,” he said, like finding ways to support the Akron-Canton Regional Foodbank, which could have 1.5 million fewer pounds of food to distribute this year due to federal funding cuts.
And when it comes to cost-cutting, Bolden said he was “kind of glad” City Council decided against the $640,000 police use-of-force review. In terms of addressing policing in Akron, Bolden said he wants to see if state representatives can help the Akron Police Department work its way up to joining the new accreditation for police departments.
“We need to work on this, and I think we can let people know we’re trying to find a solution,” Bolden said.
The former Ward 1 council member, who was appointed to fill the seat vacated when James Hardy resigned in July 2024, said that, in Ward 8 specifically, he wants to find funding to support housing that does not qualify for Community Development Block Grants. He also wants to get a handle on neglected properties, which he finds “frustrating.”
“Housing in Ward 8 is, for the most part, pretty good, but we’ve got landlords that we need to work with,” Bolden said.
And with 25 years of experience on the Akron zoning board, his ability to navigate city services sets him apart from his opponent, he said — whether it’s about a trailer in a backyard or a neighbor encroaching on another resident’s property.
