By Wittman Sullivan

Recently the 62nd Akron mayor Daniel Horrigan announced that he will not be running for a third term in 2023. The two-term mayor has served as mayor since 2016 and has seen Akron through unprecedented times. 

It is important to examine his legacy so far and examine his work as Akron's mayor. Born in 1963, Horrigan graduated from Kent State with a bachelor's degree in arts and the University of Akron for Education. After graduating Horrigan taught social studies at St. Vincent-St. Mary's High School from 1996-98. After his short career in teaching, he sought public life and in 1999 he was elected as representative for Ward 1 in Akron. During his time he served as the chair of the public utility committee and a member of the recreation committee and budget and finance committee. During his time on the city council, he successfully pushed for a new library, school, and grocery store. Then in 2007, he was appointed as the clerk of Summit County courts. 

He remained in this position until June 9th, 2015 when he announced his candidacy for Akron Mayor. His campaign focused on the development of infrastructure and downtown, along with citizen engagement within the city. Then on November 3rd, he swept the general election in a landslide garnering 73% of the vote. 

His first term in office was defined by dealing with issues that were long overdue and put off but his predecessor Don Plusquellic. He was able to put together a plan for the merger between First Merit Bank and Huntington, create better relationships between the city and the EPA, and also created the first-ever Human Resources director. As the first year of his term came to a close, he began to release plans for redevelopments in Akron that focused on economic development and walkability. The most consequential would be the controversial Main Street project that completely revamped Main Street and the adjacent buildings, while also closing many businesses due to the prolonged construction. Then Horrigan ran for and won a second term winning by an even bigger landslide of 78%. 

Shortly after being sworn in for a second time Ohio detected it’s first case of COVID-19 and Akron began it’s quarantine. Horrigan’s administration remained calm until the summer with the killing of George Floyd. When Akronites began to protest for police reform Horrigan knelt with them, and also took action. Horrigan created a citizens review board for police and made pledges of reform. As quarantine rolled on he released master plans for redevelopments, the most known being the Merriman Valley Master plan. He also released and implemented a plan to repave most of Akron's aging roads. 

After quarantine, the city was mostly quiet until the killing of Jayland Walker in the summer of 2022. This left Akronites in shock, anger, and demanding change. As protests began to heat up after the release of bodycam footage that showed officers shooting Walker 63 times, people began to riot downtown. Nearly every building in downtown was damaged during the unrest. People viewed the Horrigan as either doing too much reform and not doing anything about riots, or not enough reform and suppressing protests. This view led to him becoming wildly unpopular despite projects like the Home Renovation Program. 

After months of press speculation about his intentions for 2023, on October 5th, 2022 he announced he will not be seeking a 3rd term. In the last 8 years, Horrigan has had a major effect on Akron and the Akron area as a whole. His policies will have lasting effects that will influence both current and future leaders for years to come. 

By Wittman Sullivan

In the last 20 years, new forms of shopping have squeezed malls, more often than not to the point of closure. The Akron Area is no stranger to this effect, and the once 5 Akron area malls have since gone down to just one. The one that remains is the thriving Summit Mall in Fairlawn, it has thrived in the car-centric suburb and even in the last decade thrived as the last of it’s kind. People flock to it year-round to reminisce on the past, get what they need, or just have a good time. 

Malls first came to popularity during the 1960s when urban renewal made car-centric developments ideal. With that came the advent of the mall, an indoor controlled climate building that you can easily drive to. Throughout the end of the 20th century, malls became urban and suburban centers gathering all kinds of people, from the average teenage couple to a middle-aged dad looking for a certain type of T.V. cable. Their immense popularity brought with it saturation in the construction of these powerhouses. 

Then as the century turned, despite the computers surviving the transition into the 21st century, malls did not find themselves as fortunate. Three things contributed to the nationwide decline in malls. The first of which was the over-construction and therefore market saturation of malls. The changing market simply couldn’t handle such a volume of malls which resulted in closures. The Second was the shift from the community center being new malls, and now to downtown centers or community business districts. This resulted in new businesses and most events moving away from malls which contributed to the chipping away of malls as community centers. This took toll on the profits of malls which played a major factor in they’re closures. Third, and most important is the rise in online shopping. Small neice stores that sold specialized items such as computer parts, and board games, among other things, began to go online. All of these problems caused malls to empty out, become financially insolvent, and finally close. 

The most recent mall closure in Akron was the Chapel Hill Mall. It was located in the Chapel Hill Neighborhood in Akron and at it’s peak hosted over 100 businesses. The mall opened on October 12th, 1967, and became the magnet for the booming neighborhood. The mall thrived through the 1990s along with the neighborhood as a whole, it became the center of the community and a gathering place for people from all walks of life. Through the 90s it kept adding expansions and renovations such as a new food court and retail expansion.  

The mall's fortune wouldn’t last though, by the end of the 2000s businesses in the mall began to shutter their in-person stores in favor of downtown or online locations. By the 2010s many of the mall’s anchors began to leave, first Macy’s in 2016, then Sears in 2017, and finally in January 2020 JCPenney closed becoming the last anchor to leave. As the mall’s finances became non-existent the mall officially closed on April 18th, 2021.

Looking to the future, ICP which is a real estate development firm bought the building. They specialize in renovating abandoned commercial buildings in Ohio. ICP’s current plan is to keep most of the current building while gutting and completely refurbishing the building’s interior. Once construction is complete it will serve as a business park. The project is projected to cost 6 million dollars and become a major boost to business development in Chapel Hill.

By Wittman Sullivan

In recent years there have been growing calls and concerns for greater walkability and bikability in American and Canadian cities. North American cities are notorious for their car-centric planning and infrastructure. 

These urban planning decisions are mostly to a series of developments called “urban renewal.” Urban renewal development was meant to remove what was seen as urban blight and revitalize communities. Governments did this through flashy new architecture, highways, parking, and the removal of old buildings. Examples of these developments in Akron are the Akron Innerbelt (SR-59), Cascade Plaza, The Superblock, and the Central Interchange.

These developments were meant to remove what was seen as blight in urban areas. Governments wanted to solve a variety of issues with these developments, These included: traffic, crime, poverty, urban cramping, unsafe buildings, and social and societal tensions. Governments and developers across the country felt that the best way to solve these issues was major neighborhood-sized redevelopments. This meant bulldozing entire communities, often communities of poverty, and also predominately communities of color.

During the planning process, city and state planning departments neglected the existing residents and businesses and overlooked their livelihoods. They planned in a way that would displace and dissolve entire communities, and leave dull projects and pavement in their wake. When construction started with these projects, residents were removed via eminent domain, a constitutional provision that allows the government to acquiesce any land for compensation. Governments offered vouchers for new homes in new projects and possible monetary compensation. 

When construction of these projects was finally completed construction The housing the residents were promised was nonexistent, inadequate, or not given for small or no cost. This led to even greater poverty and displacement within these once-vibrant communities. What was left in their absence were highways, dull plazas, or simply nothing. Looking at the lasting effect these developments had on cities as a whole, they only served to make the issues they set out to solve worse. The blight they set out to end (ie crime, poverty, etc) was only made worse due to the displacement of residents and businesses. The traffic they tried to quell was increased due to the destruction of walkability and public transportation. 

These communities were decimated, they found themselves without homes and necessities and divided by infrastructure that didn’t serve them. The people whose homes weren’t bulldozed and decided to stay in the places, they call home, were considerably worse off. They were left behind with worthless houses, an imploding local economy, and rising poverty and crime. This further compounded the decline of these communities, and then that decline further exasperates the issues that cause further decline. In the wake of these once grand ideals of progress that these developments promised are lifeless communities and cities that are simply worse off. 

Today, many groups and communities have begun to call for reckoning with the difficult past that is urban renewal. In Akron one of those groups is the Akron Urban League, the Akron Urban League is an organization that focuses on supporting poor and powerless communities and individuals in Akron. They recently held the annual ‘Innerbelt Reunions’ where community members come together to discuss what comes next for the nearly abandoned road. 

When I attended this reunion over the summer there was optimism about removing SR-59 and re-imagining the space. Many leaders from both government and community groups were there inputting ideas and educating attendees. That optimism is apparent as they have moved from talking about shutting down the Innerbelt, to what to do with the closed parts of the Innerbelt. 

The future of these projects in Akron, and nationwide are muddled. Certain cities have elected to remove these projects and rebuild from the rubble, others are still unsure of the best course of action, and others have continued to build these projects. One thing is certain though, cities are redetermining their planning policies, and there will be major changes in our cities within the next decades.