Michael Kolk, Moderator
Nancy Csonka, Resource Delegate

Workgroup Members:
Leah Anglin, Dan Dahl, Rick Ewing, Susan Hamo, Mitchell Kahan, Pat Munka, Mike Owen, Jeff Rosenberg and David Samuelson

Important Issues:

Accessibility - Downtown needs to be easy to get to and around in one you are there.

• Parking - A key aspect of enticing people downtown will be ample parking, not only near important venues, but scattered throughout to encourage pedestrian traffic.
• Inner belt Renovation - The Mayor’s proposal to replace the inner belt with developable land and road access has merit. The new thruway should be a divided boulevard style providing an attractive gateway to downtown, as well as functional means to enter and leave the city.
• Within Downtown - We will need to provide a way to move people from venue to venue allowing them to park in one place for the evening and then move from one end of town to another without having to drive from place to place. This would include expanded trolley service and private taxi service as well.

• Signage - Downtown signs need to be visible and many throughout downtown and should identify important places, restrooms, etc.

Marketing - We need to let people know why they should think of Downtown Akron for entertainment.

• Regional Positioning - We are in a unique position to attract people to downtown Akron from both the Canton and Cleveland areas. By 2004, Akron will have 21.6% more people living within a 50-mile area than anywhere else in Northern Ohio.
• Perceptions - We will need to focus on creating a perception of downtown as a safe, clean place to attend events.

• A downtown marketing campaign should focus on these issues and be communicated to all downtown stakeholders.

Crime & Grime - Improved cleanliness and crime rates are needed for success.

• Panhandlers - City Council must pass legislation making it more difficult for pan handlers in the downtown area. Many of the visitors we hope to attract to downtown are uncomfortable with this situation and may choose not to come.
• Street appearance - Making the streets as attractive as possible will help entice people to walk around downtown discovering all of downtown’s offerings hopefully allowing smaller businesses to benefit from the crowds attending the larger events. Included in this is moving the existing bus stops off main street and improving the appearance of the principle byway.
• Clean-Up Crews - Additional crews should be added to attend to the non-routine maintenance issues such as sidewalk gum removal and brick maintenance as well as sanitization in areas like bus stops and alleys.
• Beat Patrols - This would help provide people coming downtown with not only a feeling of security, but also a smaller-town feel as officers walk the streets which gives more of a personal touch than officers riding in cruisers or on bicycles.
• Restrooms - Ample public restroom availability will be a necessary feature of bringing large amounts of people to the downtown area. Additionally, consideration could be given to legislating a requirement for certain business to provide public restroom availability.
• Security Cameras - These should be visibly mounted in less traveled areas and monitored.
• Lighting - Additional decorative lighting should be added to spruce up downtown.
• Artwork - Various sculptures, statues, etc. should be added to make public areas more interesting

• Crime - Perception vs. reality. Educate people on the low crime rate downtown Akron has achieved.

Physical Needs -Improvements needed to round out downtown as an entertainment destination.

• Coffee shops & hangout places - People will need a place to stop and relax for a beverage.
• Theatre - Small theatres (250 - 500 capacity) for film (and large theatres 800 - 1000 capacity) for other events too small for the Civic or EJ Thomas are needed as venues.
• Canal focus - The canal makes Akron unique and should be a prominent part of the entertainment focus of Akron. Make the canal corridor a major throughway for people to get around the downtown area. Efforts should be made to collaborate with the Heritage Corridor Project.

• Take inventory of Downtown Akron’s current entertainment assets to better understand what we have and what we need to create a complete entertainment destination.