Akron wins $10 million federal grant to remake milelong stretch of Innerbelt (original) (raw)

Thirteen months after outgoing Mayor Dan Horrigan said Akron’s Innerbelt project caused “lasting harm” to a once-vibrant Black community, the city won a $10 million federal grant to help repair some of the damage caused by the highway’s construction.

It was welcome news for residents who on Wednesday attended a community meeting where they planned to tell city officials and designers what they wanted to see happen on a one-mile stretch of road that has already been decommissioned.

Rhonda Mallard, an Akron resident who lives and attends church near the Innerbelt, said she was invested in what became of the area.

“I feel wonderful about that (money) because it’s the federal government that decided to build a highway,” Mallard said. “They’re coming back to right some of the wrongs.”

Akron Mayor Shammas Malik announced the federal award at the community meeting. Mallard said she understood tearing the community apart was hurtful, but thought morale in the area could be improved by virtue of the grant.

Before the Innerbelt project began in 1970, the neighborhood displaced by the four-mile, six-lane highway that divides Akron was home to more than 700 houses, 100 businesses and several religious institutions.

Malik said in announcing the award that he wanted to “make a city government that’s more collaborative, more responsive.”

“This is what it looks like,” he said. “The story of the Innerbelt is the story of not being thoughtful.”

The city previously scheduled Wednesday’s community workshop for city leaders and members of the design firm Sasaki to update residents about their research progress and gather ideas about what the community wants to see in place of the decommissioned portion of the Innerbelt. Malik said he found out the city received the grant the day before.

“There’s a whole lot more conversation to be had,” Malik said in announcing the award at the Ed Davis Community Center in Sherbondy Hill. “There’s so much more work to do ‘cause now we know we can start to pay for it.”

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The city was aspirational in its ask while also being realistic about what it would be able to put forward, said Suzie Graham Moore, Akron’s director of economic development. The award matched the city’s request.

“It’s very validating to the process that we’re going through,” Graham Moore said. “It helps build momentum, it helps build community energy. It’s amazing.”

Naida Oliver, left, attends Wednesday evening’s Akron Innerbelt event with her daughter, Drew. Oliver said the $10 million federal grant awarded to the City of Akron is “a nice, cozy, warm feeling.” (Arielle Kass / Signal Akron)

The grant was shepherded by U.S. Rep. Emilia Sykes, D-Akron, who said in a recorded video played at the community center that other awardees wouldn’t be announced until Thursday, but the grant was “just too good of news to not share.” The funds, Sykes said, would help spur more productive conversations.

In an emailed statement announcing the money, Sykes said Akron’s efforts “to strategically rectify its missteps” in decommissioning a highway that destroyed the vibrant Black neighborhood would help create “a stronger, more connected community” and allow for future success. She said in the statement that she endorsed the project in a letter to U.S. Department of Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg.

Akron also received $960,000 in March 2023 from the same program.

Winning the $10 million grant “means a lot,” said Naida Oliver, who attended the community meeting with her daughter, Drew, a recent college graduate with a degree in city and regional planning. Oliver said there has long been talk of what to do about the Innerbelt, but knowing there are funds available means there will be a project that moves forward.

“It’s a nice, cozy, warm feeling,” she said. “It makes it right, a little bit.”

Drew Oliver said she was excited by the announcement.

“I feel like there’s hope,” she said.

About 200 people, including city officials and staffers, attended Wednesday’s open house. Malik said in an interview that while he thought planning and being intentional was important, “people want to see action.”

“We have hard, cold money devoted to implementation,” he said. “Twenty million is a great achievement.”

Martin Zogran, a principal urban designer with Sasaki, points at the Innerbelt Master Plan Process during Wednesday’s meeting at the Ed Davis Community Center in Akron’s Sherbondy Hill. (Arielle Kass / Signal Akron)

The mayor acknowledged that the money wouldn’t go far enough to implement every idea the planning team will come up with. But he said he sees it as a catalyst to begin the process of healing the community.

The funds represent a “complete validation of Akron’s ability to make change,” said Martin Zogran, a principal urban designer with Sasaki. The sum isn’t enough to change everything, he said, but it does provide momentum as design work and community conversations continue.

“You can build on success,” he said. ”It’s a proven cause. We know what we’re doing is meaningful. It gives us all hope.”