Akron officials are welcoming in the next phase for the “Innerbelt Master Planning Process” by bringing in community members for an open house.The theme of the event is “Goals & Ideas,” which…
What does the future hold for a has-been highway that tore a community apart when it was built in the 1970s? Youth recreation spaces? Housing? A grocery store? Nightlife? Sustainability enterprises?…
Priorities begin to emerge as community members debate the right approach to rebuild what was once a vibrant Black community.More affordable housing, equitable access to economic opportunities, the…
Part of the highway known as the Innerbelt that loops around downtown Akron has been decommissioned for years.Originally built as part of a plan to modernize the surrounding area, the project led to…
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…
Akron, Ohio, August 15, 2024 — Today, Akron Mayor Shammas Malik is announcing the city has selected Sasaki as the lead planning firm which will partner with the city on the next phase of…
Originally published by Medium - April 9, 2024“The construction of the federal Interstate system did not come without significant human and social cost. Built directly through cities, these highways…
Originally published by WKYC Studios - Matt Rascon, December 6, 2023 AKRON, Ohio — If you’ve been to downtown Akron, you've seen it — a stretch of the Innerbelt that's been unused and overgrown…
Originally published by Signal Akron - Kassi Filkins, December 6, 2023“On behalf of the City of Akron, we apologize for the city’s past implementation of policies and practices from multiple levels…
Originally published by News 5 Cleveland - John Kosich, December 4, 2023AKRON, Ohio — Like many cities across the country in the 1960s, Akron took advantage of federal funds to expand the nation's…
Originally published by Akron Beacon Journal - Derek Krieder, December 4. 2023Akron Mayor Dan Horrigan released a report on Monday making recommendations for the future of the Innerbelt and…
Akron, Ohio, Dec. 4, 2023 — Today, Akron Mayor Dan Horrigan has released the Reconnecting Our Community Phase 1 Innerbelt Report compiled by spatial justice activist and city contractor, Liz Ogbu.…
Originally published by Crain's Cleveland Business - Dan Shingler, October 3, 2023Akron is about to learn more about what could be its most important new development in decades — one that could…
Originally published by The Wall Street Journal - Kris Maher, September 20, 2023AKRON, Ohio—A freeway built in the 1970s through a Black community in Akron was supposed to reinvigorate the city’s…
Originally published by Akron Beacon Journal - Emily Mills, March 1, 2023The city of Akron is receiving a $960,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation to create a community-based master…
Originally published by Ideastream Public Media - Alexandra Golden, February 22, 2023Akron has launched an effort to collect the stories of the people who were displaced by the Innerbelt.A vibrant…
Originally published by Akron Beacon Journal - Anthony Thompson, August 29, 2022The construction of the Akron Innerbelt highway in the 1970s contributed to the death and decay of what was once the…
In 1963, the City of Akron's Department of Planning and Urban Renewal released "A Perspective of the Akron Innerbelt." The 22-page report examined the proposed Akron Innerbelt highway as one element…
Originally published by Akron Beacon Journal - Seyma Bayram, February 3, 2022.The mistakes of the past are guiding discussions about the future of a 30-acre decommissioned stretch of the Innerbelt in…
Originally published by Akron Beacon Journal - Seyma Bayram, February 3, 2022.Homell Calhoun Jr. cherished Sundays at his father’s record store on Wooster Avenue.He had been shining shoes at the…
