More affordable housing, equitable access to economic opportunities, the preservation of history and the creation of welcoming public spaces are among the most important things Akron-area residents want out of a project to remake the Innerbelt.
The priorities, distilled by consultants following a January public meeting, were presented to residents last Tuesday to help ensure the principles they’re working toward for the decommissioned highway are actually what people want.
For Akron resident Zinga Hart, the most important question is what the project’s goals are.
“Are we developing it for people who have wealth or are we developing it for all of Akron?” she asked.
The answer is important, said Lillie Jackson, whose family lost three properties to the urban renewal project that created the Innerbelt. She said the experience was devastating for her father — one of Jackson’s priorities is a resource center for Black residents and an acknowledgement that they were harmed by the Innerbelt’s construction.
What do people want to see happen with the Innerbelt?
Possible priorities were enumerated on poster boards displayed around the room at the Akron Urban League. Armed with stickers that they placed on the boards in line with what they wanted to see most, residents drilled down on their own priorities by voting for what they thought was most important within each category.
Was it promoting new, affordable rental housing? Preserving existing rentals? Creating more affordable homeownership? Providing resources to help people maintain their housing? Or supporting homeowners struggling with housing costs?
“You generously gave us a lot of ideas,” said Siqi Zhu, the principal in charge of the project for Sasaki.
Les Botfa, who lives in Aurora but is looking to buy property in Akron, marked all the housing affordability categories as “not very important.” Subsidizing housing “simply doesn’t work,” he said — instead, planners should focus on economic development that can bring dining, entertainment and businesses to an area, to attract high-income people. He also thinks accessibility to parks and the rest of the city should be top of mind as the Innerbelt planning progresses.
“People create their own equity,” he said.
‘A lot of people here don’t belong’
The idea that people who weren’t harmed by the creation of the Innerbelt — which displaced a vibrant Black community — were able to weigh in on the project bothered some residents who still have a connection to the area.
“A lot of people here don’t belong,” said Natalie Smith, who lives near the Innerbelt.
Her daughter, Natasha Smith, called a suggestion that the Soapbox Derby be moved to the area “buffoonery.” What’s needed there, she said, is a grocery store. And improved safety for people who still live near the highway.
The best thing planners could do, she said, is recreate the community that was destroyed.
“They can really just put things back how they found it,” she said. “Historically, Akron has done very bad things to these communities, and they have gotten away with it for decades.”
Will work in Akron continue if a $10 million federal grant falls through?
Akron wants to build a city that’s more open and more collaborative, Mayor Shammas Malik said, and this sort of open process is one way to ensure that happens. While a $10 million award to help pay for implementation of the final plan is in flux as the federal government reconsiders its priorities, Malik said the city’s process would continue.
“Regardless of what happens, the future of the Innerbelt is going to be informed by this plan,” he said.
The planning phase will continue through the summer. In May, Sasaki expects to propose initial ideas for development; those will later be refined into one plan. Tuesday, the community feedback included a giant map and more stickers where people could say where in the project area they wanted the things they prioritized: a Black cultural center, public transit, infill housing, a business incubator or access to healthy food, among many other proposals.
The plan will include not just the decommissioned, north portion of the Innerbelt, Zhu said, but the whole stretch of road. Akron Planning Director Kyle Julien said the framework that is being produced through this process will help the city think about ways it can use land to meet the identified goals “in the long haul.”
A key priority, he said, is to “advance this work of healing and repair.” With the construction of the Innerbelt, urban renewal projects and government and community disinvestment, “we’re talking about decades of impact,” Julien said. He said it’s only fair to think of the solution as a long-term one as well.
Watching the Innerbelt come through the city was “heartbreaking,” said Mary King, who lived in Akron when the project was built. She said she’s glad there’s finally an opportunity to fix some of what was done.
King wants to see equitable access to safe open spaces, the restoration and memorialization of damage that was done by urban renewal and the preservation and celebration of Black history. She said since leaders have been vocal about saying community voices matter, she wanted to “squawk” and make her voice heard.
The city wants to identify initiatives that can show quick impacts, like beautification projects that allow residents to continue to dream about what can be done there. But Julien acknowledged the improvements will take time.
In the current political climate, he said, the focus on healing is necessary.
“If anything, it feels all the more urgent,” he said. “It’s important we maintain the focus on learning from the past in order to create a future that works for everybody.”
How to share feedback on the Innerbelt project
To share your thoughts on Innerbelt redevelopment, answer questions at https://sasakistrategies.typeform.com/openhouse2.
Priorities Sasaki are considering include:
- Create and promote equitable access to wealth and economic opportunities.
- Support more affordable housing and prevent displacement.
- Create safe, welcoming public spaces and a regenerative natural environment.
- Preserve history and celebrate Akron’s unique identity.
- Reconnect Akron’s neighborhoods.
- Support community resources that enhance the health, safety and wellbeing of the community.
- Build community power and capacity in future development.
