Akron residents discuss life before the Innerbelt, what they'd like to see come next

Malcolm Costa grew up on Akron's west side, spending Saturdays at his father's barbershop, frequenting businesses such as Rockefeller Bakery and attending West Junior High School.

"It was really just very, very stimulating and just was fascinating," Costa said of his neighborhood.

He was a young adult by the time the Akron Innerbelt destroyed it.

The Innerbelt construction began in 1970.

Conversations around the Innerbelt and what could be done with its decommissioned one-mile stretch continued on Tuesday with Ideastream Public Media hosting "Sound of Ideas Community Tour: Reimagining Akron's Innerbelt" at the Akron Civic Theatre's Knight Stage.

Fallout from Innerbelt's construction remains, residents say

Costa and Annmarie Ford, who also grew up in a neighborhood that was displaced by the Innerbelt, now both live near the highway on Bartges Street.

They both recalled the former Isaly's, purveyor of ice cream and other treats.

But now, sections of Akron around the Innerbelt resemble food deserts, Ford told Ideastream host Jenny Hamel, other panelists and a packed audience on Tuesday.

"It's hard for the people that live on Rhodes or Thornton to find a place to go shop for groceries," Ford said.

Costa said that before his father, Jack Costa, opened Jack's Barber Shop at 562 Wooster Ave., Jewish people predominantly lived in his neighborhood.

"So, it was very kind of cosmopolitan and eclectic," said Costa, president and CEO of Community Action Akron Summit, a nonprofit that serves Summit County's low-income residents.

For a look at the decimation that occurred in the area, which was largely comprised of Black homeowners and businessowners when the Innerbelt came in, Costa said to look to Bell Street.

"Because I went to West, I've walked through those neighborhoods, and walking there now looks so different — dead-end streets and streets that used to be thoroughfares all the way over to what used to be Wooster Avenue — they were chopped up, and it's really, very depressing," Costa said after the event.

Looking to the future of the area where the Innerbelt runs through

Costa and Ford serve on the Reconnecting Our Community Initiative advisory group, which is providing input on the Innerbelt revitalization, including having a hand in August in choosing one of four finalist urban design consultant firms to work on the project.

Costa said he walked the Innerbelt three times on Friday with the national firms on the city of Akron's consultant shortlist, the day after the agencies gave presentations at House Three Thirty to talk about their qualifications and plans to engage with the community.

"They seemed to be very motivated, engaged, committed," Costa said of the firms.

Costa said "Reconnecting Our Community" is an "apropos" name for the project, adding that he wants to see the reconnection of families, neighborhoods and churches.

Ford said city officials and their partners need to take former residents' input into consideration to avoid causing more harm.

"The hurt doesn't go away," Ford said.

Federal agency update throws a wrench in Innerbelt plans

It has been the city of Akron's plan to apply for a Reconnecting Communities implementation grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation for the Innerbelt project, but the federal agency recently accelerated its timeline for disbursing those funds to this year, Akron Planning Director Kyle Julien told the audience Tuesday.

Julien told the Beacon after the event that once the city decides in August on a urban design consultant firm to hire, city officials would work with the hired firm to decide whether it's "worth investing the effort to get something in for this round" of funding or if it would be better to spend more time planning.

City officials will need to submit specific site plans, which they don't yet have, to obtain the Reconnecting Communities funding, he said.

Regardless of whether the city applies for the grant, Julien said other funding will be needed for the project, citing its large scope.

"This could be 20 years' worth of work," Julien said.

Patrick Williams covers growth and development for the Akron Beacon Journal. He can be reached by email at pwilliams@gannett.com or on X, formerly known as Twitter, @pwilliamsOH.

This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: A 'cosmopolitan and eclectic' area: What the Akron Innerbelt destroyed