IMAGINING AKRON
Part III

• Education
• How Akron should deliver services to families
• How Akron should deliver services to neighborhoods
• How Akron should deliver services that support economic development
• How Akron should develop resources to support families, neighborhoods, and economic development

Assembly refers to a meeting, a committee, a coalition, a consortium, a task force, a multi-disciplinary or inter disciplinary team, or a network.

Business refers to the private companies located in Akron which offer employment to residents.

City refers to the municipal government of the city of Akron, Ohio.

Foundations refers to the Akron Community Foundation, the GAR Foundation, the Knight Foundation, and the 20 other foundations administered locally.

Hospitals refers to Akron General Health System, Summa Health System, and Children's Hospital Medical Center.

Library refers to The Akron-Summit County Public Library.

Museums refers to Akron Art Museum, National Inventors Hall of Fame, Akron Zoo, Stan Hywet, Summit County Historical Society, and Hower House.

Schools refers to Akron’s Public Schools and private, parochial, and charter schools.

University refers to The University of Akron, with recognition that Kent State University will play an increasingly prominent role in issues related to the Akron metropolitan area.

Discussion: In our 18 months of deliberations, and in our poll of Akron residents, no single issue was mentioned as more important to Akron’s future than Education. In questionnaires, Workgroups, and Assemblies, Education emerges as the standard by which many people will judge the city. There is a sense that Akron cannot be a Great city without having Great Schools.

Schools attract families. Families support improved housing. Improved housing creates desirable neighborhoods. Desirable neighborhoods attract new workers, new jobs, and elevate the standard of living overall. There is a feeling that if there is one child who does not have the chance to be well-educated, all residents of the city suffer.

Akron schools benefit from public support. Recently, strong public/private partnerships have been organized through the Summit Education Initiative and the dialogue promoted by Common Ground.

Akron schools have the vote of confidence by a slim margin of residents today. In our poll, 52% gave the schools a grade of "C" or better. What is especially telling, is that 94% of respondents agreed that the schools require more money. Of those with that opinion, they are divided into 3 camps: they are willing to pay; or, that more money is needed but would not be well spent; or, the schools need increased funding, but homeowners cannot afford it.

How Akron schools use the resources they have remains an issue with a majority of residents and voters. Akron residents believe that sharing resources with other districts could result in desirable economies. Over 81% of our scientifically selected random sample of residents believe that consolidating Akron schools with other districts would improve efficiency.

School officials and community interest groups have been serious and steadfast about making evolutionary changes in Akron schools. Is it possible that Akron residents may be ready to be approached with revolutionary solutions?

For example, among Imagine.Akron panelists, these solutions would include extending the school day to accommodate parents’ schedules, and even extending the school year to diminish learning loss over summer vacation. Year-round schooling would fit modern schedules more closely and would be more suited to the information age, rather than the 19th century agrarian model. Respondents in our poll are overwhelmingly in favor of cooperation with other school.

The community at large should be a classroom for the schools. Education of youngsters and adults takes place at hospitals, at business offices, and at other public buildings and museums.

Education
Among parents, a clear priority is the amount of attention that can be given to each child by the schools through individual learning plans.

What will be required: As a community, Akron needs to find ways to honor the work performed by teachers. Akron schools should be a place where good teachers want to be employed. New models of school management should be explored, including the growth of teams in school buildings where the job of "principal" is as much a team leader as a manager.

Schools should continue to develop an appreciation for multiple learning styles which will lead to more individualized learning plans.

Of necessity, schools must embrace technology, but remain nimble in moving to new technologies that are rapidly developing.

Too often, the public discussion about schools deliberately excludes those with ideas that seem radical or implausible. The community needs discussion to include home learning, charter schools, and distance learning if it is to be complete..

Goal: By the year 2025, all families who reside in Akron will be offered Early Childhood Education which would assist every child to achieve an appropriate level of literacy by the end of the child’s primary education.

Discussion: Preparing children to read is crucial to solving later education problems. Where parental involvement is limited, solutions are more elusive. There is a feeling in Akron that this is an issue that the community can respond to effectively and creatively.

Preparing a child to read can start before the child’s first birthday. Early reading is dependent on an entire environment: physical and emotional factors; and an array of family issues that can determine early reading success. These kinds of issues can be addressed by a motivated community through services already in place. One model for managing many of these issues is the Head Start--programs affiliated with the Akron Public Schools provide teacher training and curriculum support.

While Akron boasts many fine programs that benefit pre-schoolers, including those supported by the City, the County, the Schools, Children's Hospital, and private agencies, nowhere is the variety of educational, social, recreational, and health programs effectively catalogued for public consumption.

What will be required: An assembly of organizations related to early childhood issues should agree on a diagnostic inventory of what is required to promote early reading and find ways to communicate the requirements to every Akron parent. The community of pediatric providers should be part of this effort, to lay the groundwork for literacy after a child is 6 months old.

This early-reading assembly should include community centers, the Library, museums, Schools, Churches, and adult literacy programs.

As a first step, this assembly should develop a family-friendly community resource guide which can be maintained online, and updated not less than annually, which will describe the full array of services available to parents for pre-kindergarten children.

Discussion: "Education" typically focuses on Kindergarten through 12th grade, with an acknowledgment of the importance of a college education for 18-25 year olds. The overall health of the community will be judged in part by the degree to which learning experiences are available to everyone -- on a continuum that begins soon after birth and expires only when an individual can no longer function as a learner.

The benefits of continuous learning experiences to counteract the aging process are well-documented. As Akron becomes older, opportunities to learn become increasingly important.

Few people now and in the future will select careers at age 25 in which they can expect to be employed until they are 70. It is more true today, and will become increasingly true in the future, that re-training for new skills will be commonplace. Individuals may change careers four or five times during their working life. Changing careers will be seen as normal, not exceptional.

New technology demands continuous training for those who must master it. Some of this training will be web-based on the internet, but there will be a place for community classrooms where technical skills can be enhanced. There will be a demand for learning interpersonal skills, and a demand for education in a wide variety of interests, hobbies, arts, music, and crafts - - for learning’s sake alone - -which may be taught by mature residents with significant life experience.

Learning will be viewed not as "going to school" but as recreational, a component of an active and full social life.

What will be required: Adult-learning will be seen as a necessary component of the Schools’ mission to the community. Schools become a partner in each neighborhood which will look to nearby classrooms for training for new jobs and new technology and important life skills. The use of public facilities should be anticipated for year-round, day-long use.The community must embrace adult literacy programs like Project LEARN. In coming years there will be an increasing need to offer English as a Second Language to newly arrived residents.

The University is well-equipped to manage an older population as non-traditional students will seek learning unrelated to the requirements for a degree.

An assembly of educators should be convened to discuss collaborative requirements. The City, the Schools, the Library, the University, the Hospitals, and Museums all extend educational opportunities to residents.

Discussion: A question repeated throughout our discussions has been, "where are we going to get workers to do fill in the blank in the year 2025?" It was asked about public service jobs like police, fire, street repair, and sanitation; health care jobs like nurses’ aides, medical technicians, and care-givers for the elderly; and industrial jobs like assembly line workers, manufacturing equipment operators, and warehouse workers.

For Akron Business, there are few issues more important than knowing how Akron will develop a workforce within the community that will sustain industrial and manufacturing operations in the coming years. Employers find the search for a quality local workforce daunting, especially the search for enough people who will be available for jobs that require a level of skills-training different from a college degree.

In the past, this type of education has been called "vocational" education and has suffered from a public perception that the training provided and the jobs to be filled are second-rate. If Akron is to prosper economically and fill the fundamental positions that permit the city and community to maintain first-rate services, the community at-large must elevate jobs in public service, health care, and those industrial jobs that require technical training or physical labor, and provide the first-class training that will match the community’s expectations for service.

What will be required: The Schools, the City, the Hospitals, and the University should create an assembly of interest that will strategically place the education for public service jobs, health care, and industrial positions on a par with education for college-bound students.

Discussion: The word "retirement" will defy definition. The age of a person will be less important than his or her ability to function physically and mentally. By 2025 centenarians will be commonplace.

Individuals will expect to reside in home-like settings with assistance available as needed. Older adults will insist on having homes where pets are permitted and an array of amenities are available. Public transportation will be a key component of remaining at-home and mobile.

As health care becomes less involved in the management of disease, and more attuned to the maintenance of healthy lifestyles, the community will need to provide a place with trained staff for monitoring the physical systems of residents on an ongoing basis.

Our panelists understand that an aging population will require more city services. In our poll, 85% of respondents believed it to be "important" for the city to have an office that would coordinate services for older residents.

What will be required: Immediate attention to building design and construction, so that each new project - - whether residential or commercial - - permits 100% accessibility to the first floor of every structure.

Planning by Hospitals to anticipate the impact of new medicine (e.g., gene therapy) on traditional systems that required capital-intensive investments. Hospitals will need an improved coordination of services. Managing the care for an aging population of residents presents an opportunity for collaboration on developing a center specifically oriented to the monitoring of physical systems in individuals over 70. This will include individuals who are not well-insured. The shift to a wellness model permits Akron hospitals a unique opportunity for collaboration.

Public Transportation should include expanded choices, perhaps a "hub" system, featuring home pick-up of residents, and delivery to the hub for connections throughout the Region.

Akron planners need to view downtown as an ideal center for older persons, with dining, recreation, health care, learning, and transportation readily available. Presently missing from the mix is first-class housing, which should be viewed as a component of a healthy downtown.

Every planning choice made by the City, the Schools, the University, the Hospitals needs to take into account today the impact of changing demographics over the next 25 years. There is strong support for the City to develop a central office that will plan for the aging population and coordinate services.

Discussion: Presently, Akron benefits from three major health systems operated by Summa, Akron General, and Children’s which provide an extremely high quality of surgical and medical care, comparable to any major city in the United States. No single factor contributes more to the high quality of health care in Akron than the medical education programs at all three systems and the coordinated benefits realized from the Northeastern Universities College of Medicine.

In the year 2000, after a decade of squeezing down health costs, combined with rapidly increasing developments in medical technology, health care is at a crossroad. The question of how to pay for expensive treatments made possible by rapid developments in technology and medical education programs remains open. Akron residents enjoy a tradition of locally owned and locally managed health systems which have not denied care to any patient due to an inability to pay.

Akron is recognized statewide for its collaborative efforts in public health management. Before the year 2025, health delivery systems in cities the size of Akron will be forced to consolidate in ways not yet expected. Akron hospitals have excess capacity in almost every area, a trend which will continue.

Some portions of the health care bill are controllable. For example, one-third of the cases seen by Children’s Hospital are the result of social pathology rather than medical pathology: lack of immunization, teen pregnancy, youth-on-youth violence, drug use, and child abuse. While Akron has excellent programs to address each one of these issues, the coordination is fragmented.

Similarly, as gene therapies become more common, and incidents of disease are less of a factor in medical care, unhealthy behaviors will be targeted as a means of improving health in the adult population with attention to nutrition, physical activity, substance abuse, and violence.

What will be required: Convening an assembly of health care providers including the City, the County, public and private agencies, and Hospitals, together with the Schools, the University, and the Medical School, to develop an integrated approach to education, prevention, intervention and health services.

Developing immediate and substantial programs of Hospital collaboration, modeled on Akron’s successes of creating a distinguished regional burn center, managing a neighborhood clinic, and collaborating on community-wide hospice services.

Health Care
Examining creative methods of reducing overall health care costs including a more innovative use of home care and hospice, and giving attention to alternative treatments -- particularly for management of pain.

Developing a uniform record keeping system that will ultimately be accessible by professionals city-wide on an internet-based system, with due regard for issues of privacy.

Requiring strong physician involvement in all aspects of health care planning.

Increasing attention to behavioral health care, and improving the collaboration among community agencies which are often better equipped to intervene at early stages. Hospitals are the treatment centers of last resort for mental illness.

The community must call on the Hospitals to coordinate the purchase of new equipment and construction of new facilities. A community-based review system for allocating capital will permit a more orderly development of cost-effective facilities.

Discussion: The major reasons why people live in Akron are either their "roots" -- they were born here or their family is here; or their "choice" -- they have selected Akron as the better place for them to live. It is significant that in our poll of Akron residents, more than half are either thinking about moving or would move from the city if they could afford it.

In the future, people will choose Akron as their place of residence because of its schools and its neighborhoods. Akron offers advantages of affordable housing, proximity to work, and the amenities that only a city can offer.

Suburban residential areas provide a valuable choice for people who are attracted to the Akron area for business reasons: the wide-open spaces of Bath, the large and historic homes of Hudson, the lake living of Coventry, and the newer developments of Copley, Stow, and Tallmadge.

Residents who participated in our Assemblies and Workgroups understand clearly the benefits of how consistent architecture creates neighborhood character. A choice to live in West Akron, Firestone Park, Goodyear Heights, or any of Akron’s 21 neighborhoods, is accompanied by an appreciation for the character of the area. In our poll, by 3:1, respondents favored rehabilitation of older homes to the construction of new housing.

There will always be people who will choose the city for their residence: singles, young marrieds, families, and retirees. They like being able to walk to a neighborhood business district, having public transportation readily available, living in an inter-generational neighborhood, the historic character unique to older homes, and the proximity to clubs, theaters, sports, museums, and the University.

What will be required: The City should make neighborhood character a factor in planning choices. New construction and re-zoning will have greater economic value when building or remodeling is carried out with appreciation for the architecture unique to the neighborhood. The City should develop a protocol for future development that will include aesthetics as a basis for issuance of zoning and building permits.

The City shall continue to purchase vacant land as older homes are demolished and "bank" parcels for new development. Construction of new single family housing units presents an opportunity to develop housing consistent with a demand for new urban dwellings.

Remodeling of older homes and construction of new homes in the city should require 100% access to the first floor of any home by persons with physical limitations. This is a sensible solution to planning for adequate housing an aging population.

Discussion: Akron residents see themselves as "neighbors" to public and private schools. When they need to identify for others where they live, many residents will describe a neighborhood by the elementary or secondary school building closest to them.

Between 2000 and 2025, almost every Akron school will be rebuilt or substantially remodeled. The Akron Public Schools have an opportunity to create new buildings that meet the needs of a wider community and to significantly involve the local community in the school environment.

A neighborhood may be the most effective point of contact to bridge the "digital divide" between families who are computer savvy, and families who are not. The school building houses the instruments to make a difference: computers, teaching software, and skilled educators.

The neighborhood school will have recreational facilities that are appropriate to its grade levels. Facilities like playgrounds, pools, and gyms need to be available to families at times other than when school is in session.

What will be required: In planning for the next 25 years, the Akron Public Schools should include as part of their strategic plan, a component related to the outreach that can be accomplished by broadening the use of each facility it maintains.

The Schools should maintain a mission broad enough to include skills-training for residents of any age.

Facilities construction and use should be coordinated with other entities that will build centers for education and recreation: the City, parochial/private schools, the Library, Museums, the University, and Hospitals.

Convene an assembly among the City, the Library, the Schools, the YMCA/YWCA, private/parochial schools, the University, the hospitals, Metroparks, and others, to identify ways in which collaboration will provide neighborhoods with centers of lifelong learning and recreation.

Discussion: By 2025, people living in Akron should have pedestrian and bicycle access to basic services in the neighborhood in which they reside including recreation, a pharmacy, a library, and fresh food.

Neighbors look out for one another. "Neighborhood watch" programs will require updating as technology permits more effective communication with city police through telephone, cable, and the internet.

Block clubs should have a choice in coming years to evolve into neighborhood assemblies which could involve residents in the management of issues within their community.

An assembly of neighbors could identify assets, catalogue them in a manner that will provide the greatest access to neighbors, and create an information center that could be staffed by city police officers, fire fighters, or recreation personnel. Such information centers could be planned as part of new construction of recreation centers, branch libraries, fire stations, or schools.

What will be Required: A consistent approach by the City to the management of neighborhood issues. The City, in cooperation with groups like Leadership Akron, should develop leadership training programs. One aspect of such a program would be mentoring of younger residents by older residents.

City Council could permit neighborhood assemblies to have more of a "say" in street improvements, beautification, historic preservation, and the like. Neighborhood assemblies could be permitted a limited choice of spending funds allocated by Council, based on objective policies that would be established.

Discussion: The health of the city depends on its ability to attract residents. Being a center of work, tourism, and entertainment adds luster to the city, but the ability to maintain a diverse population of people who choose to live within its boundaries will determine Akron’s future. Home ownership and public education are inextricably linked -- success in one area breeds success in the other.

A significant number of Akron residents see the city’s older housing stock as an opportunity. Our poll reveals that more residents would rehabilitate older homes rather than clear land to build new homes. In the past, Akron has suffered from a lack of consistent guidelines governing the rehabilitation of older homes.

Akron will continue to attract renters. Rental housing is subject to a registration procedure that allows the city to monitor its rental units, and, where necessary, provide services to ensure that rental housing is habitable. Groups actively involved in the Housing Network seem to lack funds to effectively communicate the services they have to offer.

What will be required: The City has done much to retrofit aging housing. In the future, this should continue to be a priority in planning and capital decisions. Standards of rehabilitation should include aesthetic provisions that will ensure, to the extent it is possible, architectural consistency within neighborhoods and sensitivity to standards of historic preservation.

Many residents would be encouraged to restore and maintain their homes if the city provided incentives for appropriate rehabilitation and provided technical assistance to home owners that would assist in maintaining the older housing stock. Services to home owners and renters may presently be available, but they need to be better communicated. The proposed 2-1-1 service telephone number may provide such coordination. Housing workshops should be held in cooperation with the private sector so that companies who are committed to effective restoration of older homes can showcase the advantages of preserving colloquial architecture.

An assembly among City departments should collaborate with property owners and landlords to effectively create, implement, and monitor housing solutions for home owners and renters.

For the City to stimulate rehabilitation of existing neighborhoods, there must continue to be investment by the City in public works and creative financing from private lenders and/or publicly guaranteed loans to make rehabilitation affordable.

Construction of every new building downtown or adaptive re-use of older buildings should include a survey of housing opportunities as part of the construction.

Discussion: The City Service Department in recent years has moved its workforce to a model of involvement in decision-making teams, and aspiring to a higher quality of service. More can be done. Akron residents, when asked about their own experiences in interacting with City departments, judged the response to a request for service as either "good" or "excellent" in only 50% of the responses, and 50% as "fair" to "very poor."

What will be required: Akron could become the first municipality in the country to use compliance standards widely in use in industry as a tool for judging customer satisfaction. The City would need to make a commitment to continuous improvement, much as industry does in meeting ISP 9000 requirements.

1. To reduce landfill waste, the City should join with other governments to lobby for less wasteful packaging of consumer items. The City’s commitment to recycling can only be effective if residents use it. There must appear to be incentives for recycling, and if it is determined to be cost effective, recycling should extend to all residents and all businesses, with weekly pick-up of recycled items. The City needs to join with other community groups to educate home owners about the benefits of composting waste as an alternative to dumping.
2. To improve the lifetime of paving, the city needs to invest significantly in research that would permit a main thoroughfare in Akron to be re-paved according to standards now widely followed in Europe. This experiment would consist of increasing the depth of the roadbed and using the best quality paving materials to double the life of paved surfaces. This experiment will determine whether there is a cost benefit to Akron, in that maintenance costs could be recovered from the higher investment for such paving.
3. To improve removal snow from city streets , the City should continuously evaluate alternatives to salt. To improve snow removal from residential streets, a standard of plowing whenever snow reaches 5" might require the City to examine the hiring of small contractors to assist in residential paving.
4. To decrease the frequency of animal complaints, an assembly of groups involved with pet handling needs to be convened: city animal wardens, veterinarians, county animal control, animal rights, and animal welfare groups. In collaboration with neighborhood assemblies, pet spaying and neutering needs to be promoted.

Discussion: The City of Akron has an excellent recent history of providing well-maintained parks and community centers with numerous recreation opportunities.

In the future, there will be an increased emphasis on walking and cycling. Presently, not all Akron streets are pedestrian/cycling friendly.

Some recreation needs are not being met in Akron: an ice rink for recreational and team skating, a city natatorium open to all with universal swimming instruction, roller skating, cross-country skiing, and skateboarding are some such needs.

Some of these needs may best be met in the future by the private sector or non-profit sector with leadership from the City. Some City initiatives have included minor league baseball, women’s professional softball, and the CitiCenter Athletic Club. These are models of public/private cooperation which may become a template for future recreational developments.

What will be required: A master plan, integrating all recreational opportunities is needed. An assembly of groups with vested interests in recreation should be convened to develop a targeted attack on these issues. Such an assembly would include the City, Metroparks, CVNRA, the University, the Schools, the Ohio-Erie Canal corridor, YMCA,YWCA, CYO, and the Jewish Center.

There needs to be Improved communication of recreational opportunities. Presently such information is fragmented. Once all recreational opportunities are unified, the public will have improved access to all that is offered.

Future development should adopt a standard for review that includes recreational use. New highways and street improvements and the development of commercial areas can include bike or walking paths which could be added without significant cost. Akron buses should add bicycle racks to accommodate cyclists who will also rely on public transit..

Discussion: Akron fire fighters have earned a positive reputation among Akron residents for professionalism and service. There is a general level of satisfaction with fire and EMS services.

In the next 25 years, many of Akron’s fire stations will need to be replaced or substantially remodeled. This fact presents the city with an opportunity to merge neighborhood stations with new technology.

As the population ages over the next 25 years, particular challenges face the department in dealing with elderly residents with physical limitations which may preclude mobility in an emergency and which may result in significantly increased ambulance calls.

Private ambulance service is suffering the same crisis as the rest of the health care community in lower medical reimbursements from insurance and medicare. Transportation which these companies presently provide may be in jeopardy and highly dependent on how such reimbursements are managed in the future.

There is a strong tradition of cooperation among fire departments who for many years have had mutual assistance pacts. In the future, departments within Summit County should consider a higher level of collaboration. The capital costs of remaining current with new technology may force such cooperation.

While most residents encounter fire/EMS service at the moment of a crisis, business customers of the department’s fire prevention bureau, have a different relationship which should be subject to the same standards of continuous improvement as put in place for other City service departments.

What will be required: Increased collaboration can begin with more joint training and discussions about equipment purchases, education about fire prevention, and building code enforcement. A long-range plan about possible unified fire service county-wide should be considered by an assembly of local communities.

Fire fighters have unique work schedules. The method of employing, training, compensating, and scheduling fire safety professionals should be subject to continuous review.

Closer links with social service agencies will enable the department to exercise more flexibility in handling calls from elderly residents who may require a wider range of services than offered in a crisis environment. As neighborhood assemblies develop, the fire department will find local meetings an ideal place to share information, and develop wider education opportunities.

Discussion: The Police department provides services on a continuum with extremes at each end: the application of violent force against violent offenders at one end, and officers escorting lost children home at the other end. In between, there are a range of skills requiring officers to be proficient in weapons and new technology, developing scientific evidence, and intervening in family disputes.

What will be required. The City should adopt a department-wide philosophy of community policing. This would stress the prevention of crime, and permit police officers to be viewed as partners with neighborhood residents in solving safety problems. Community policing views officers as colleagues of social service professionals to improve the treatment of the mentally ill and provide accountability for the behaviorally disturbed.

There needs to be more frequent contacts between police and young people in non-threatening situations. The presence of police officers in schools is largely viewed as positive.

The police department will continue to survey new technology as a necessary component of modern law enforcement. This would include the sharing of information via the internet. Citizens would be able to make reports to police via e-mail and receive public records electronically. The department should review the desirability of placing overnight incident reports on-line for access by residents.

The technology that has been implemented to provide 9-1-1 service should be reviewed to determine if a "reverse 9-1-1" alert system from the department to targeted residents would be beneficial and to determine how the extension of 2-1-1 information service to the community will assist in reducing police response to issues which are better managed by social service agencies.

As neighborhood assemblies become organized, police officers have a critical role to play in developing crime prevention programs and using assemblies for education. The police presence in each neighborhood would be emphasized and lead to a feeling of heightened safety.

Diminishing resources, should require a greater degree of cooperation among police agencies in Summit County. Collaboration should occur in areas of training, sharing technology and expertise, information systems, and building facilities for training and facilities for prisoners.

Discussion: Crime is transgenerational. If rehabilitation progress is to be made, treatment needs to involve the family members of the defendant in a misdemeanor criminal case.

Women who are incarcerated need to have continuing contact with children if the cycle of criminal behavior is to be interrupted.

Technology has provided options to incarceration, including home confinement that permits a defendant to function as a provider, but within a set of limitations that continue to deter unacceptable behavior. Other technologies can more precisely deliver information critical to the determination of crime, such as retina scanners for drug use, which will have increased reliability.

What will be required: Facilities which the City will own should be designed to be flexible with moveable pods that can change as an imprisoned population changes.

The city needs to convene an assembly of local corrections workers to determine the need for new facilities, along with the extent to which for-profit or non-profit organizations can manage the detainment of misdemeanants. Such an assembly should also determine the need for a central computer network that would provide information about offenders and be available to police, the courts, and schools. Collaboration with state and federal corrections and law enforcement personnel would be essential.

Corrections should also be viewed as an opportunity for community service which can be part of some sentencing options open to judges.

Discussion: Akron grew more rapidly than any city in the U.S. between 1910 and 1920, more than doubling in population. This came at a time when cities were learning how to provide water, sewer, electricity, gas, and telephone utilities to urban areas. Much of Akron’s basic systems were first constructed during this period and have been slowly, unevenly replaced.

By 2025, most systems will need to be replaced with new materials which will have a 100-year life. Since 1940, repairs to the system have been made without the type of planning that will ensure longevity. Akron should plan to replace its basic systems in a manner that will ensure delivery of utilities out to the 22nd century.

In recent years development of JEDD’s has extended utilities into new areas. The last time the city conducted extensive projections about future water usage/supply was 1986. New technologies are becoming available that should be factored into future planning. A new regulatory environment by federal and state government will dictate to the city requirements which will impact planning.

What will be required: Convening an assembly of experts to determine the urgency and extent of replacing Akron’s utility systems, and the development of a long-range (50 year) plan for each of the following areas:

Water: Examine future needs compared with capacity. Look at acquisition of land for new reservoirs, the development of well fields on city land, the development of technologically appropriate methods of water conservation, and an examine the treatment of storm water for recycling.

Sewer: Develop a construction plan that will eliminate overflow, and ensure proper treatment.

Power: Plan for use of alternative technologies including fuel cells, and natural gas. Look at the possibility of hydroelectric power from the Gorge dam; and the Norton hydroelectric project. Consider adding gas wells to city property; and review the steam system in downtown Akron.

Telecommunications: Determine how to meet the increasing demand for bandwidth, through fiber optic cable or wireless, and review whether or not regulation of fiber optic cable is needed.

Government oversight: In fields where technology dictates rapid change, where competition among providers is increasing, examine how to regulate and finance utility systems with an assembly of public/private sector representatives.

Discussion: The City will need to identify space for growth of businesses that require buildings and land. Often this space will be outside of the municipal limits. JEDD’s have proven to be an effective win/win solution for Akron and its neighbors.

Akron’s growth and vitality is linked to adjacent communities. Development of the local economy should be viewed on a regional basis, with the City entering into partnerships to share resources and in some cases, provide municipal services on a fee basis to other governmental units, whenever feasible.

What will be required: A commitment to first-class municipal services and utilities on which business depends for its daily life. Developing an entrepreneurial environment in City government that makes it easy to do business here.

Eliminating government boundaries as a barrier to doing business. Convening an assembly of government leaders from the region to constantly review how services can best be provided to the economic region of which Akron is one part, especially as it concerns public transportation and air transportation. Integrating private research centers, institutions of higher learning, and government to effectively transfer technology so that it can be applied in the entrepreneurial economy. Maintaining an assembly of research interests.

Review the structure and future use of existing regional planning agencies. Identify whether new alliances with Canton and Stark County will benefit the regional economy, as present alliances with Portage and Medina counties have produced benefits.

The City should host an assembly of JEDD boards to review the present functioning of the districts, and to recommend changes, if any, in the structure of future districts, together with creative approaches to the use of JEDD revenues.

The City must be aware of the global nature of business today, with an understanding of European, Latin, and Asian business practices. Readily available language translation services need to be available. As neighborhood business districts develop, there can be an appreciation of cultural diversity by making available foods and services important to business residents from other cultures.

Developing a workforce that matches the needs of regional business, by creating a seamless system of education that flows from secondary schools to advanced training and/or a university education, to positions in business.

Discussion: Many of today’s transportation problems arise from accumulated years of deferred maintenance. As the city and state attempt to catch-up with repairs, there is increased congestion together with frustration by motorists and a diminution in the quality of city life.

Other transportation dilemmas arise from a failure of access management: that is, controlling growth at a pace consistent with the ability of the transportation system to handle traffic. Montrose, outside the city limits of Akron, is cited as an example of this dilemma.

A fundamental issue is the choice by residents of the area to rely 100% on the automobile for transportation -- whether a short trip, or an intercity trip. There are some indicators that suggest that people would use public transit and rail if it were easy to use.

Metro has been acquiring railroad right-of-ways in anticipation of future use. Discussions are underway about possible light rail connections that would permit travel between Akron-Canton-Kent-Cleveland.

Metro and AMATS are experimenting with Intelligent Transportation, which uses highway sensing devices, remote control of traffic lights, and computerized messages to assist in avoiding congestion.

What will be required: The City should have as its highest transportation priority the preservation and maintenance of the street grid, with appropriate experimentation on new paving methods to avoid frequent re-paving.

Coordinate development among governmental units, so that road connections between jurisdictions are planned to meet new development.

Increase the ease of use of transit, including posting fare and route information on the web. Develop public transit "hubs" that will permit easy access to inter-city transit, trips from Akron to Cleveland, to Canton, to Kent, and to Medina.

There needs to be a consciousness in all future development within the city that urban dwellers prefer walking and/or cycling, if roadways can be built to accommodate pedestrians.

The City must join with other economic interests in an assembly on the future of air transportation and the need to support development at Akron-Canton airport as a new hub for air transportation to northeast Ohio.

Discussion: Downtown Akron has been undergoing a transformation since the 1960's when urban renewal replaced factories with Cascade Plaza. In the 1970's, Ohio Edison’s commitment enabled the construction of Akron Centre. In the past 20 years, the City has assembled a critical mass of activity downtown: Lock 3 park and Canal Square; CitiCenter and the Main St. Streetscape; the John S. Knight Center, the National Inventors Hall of Fame, Canal Park, and Canal Place; and the University’s re-use of Polksy’s and the occupancy of O’Neil’s by Roetzel and Andress.

If the last 40 years has been spent on "hardware," the promise of the year 2000 and beyond is to program downtown with the "software" to make the central business district a vibrant and robust attraction that will lure residents and visitors alike.

By the year 2004, if population trends continue, Akron will be the center-point of a 50 mile arc that will include more people within an hour’s drive than any other place in northeast Ohio.

Downtown has been fortunate to have energetic inhabitants which attract thousands of guests to downtown each week: the University, EJ Thomas Hall, the Civic Theatre, the Art Museum, the Library, the Akron Aeros, a new "restaurant row," and three highly successful First Night programs.

In the future, the Downtown Akron Partnership (DAP) will utilize its newly-designated Special Improvement District to maintain high standards of cleanliness and safety; to develop transportation loops; and to duplicate the energy of First Night with City Faire and similar programs.

The promise of the Ohio and Erie Canal Corridor presents downtown with the backdrop for future success: a nationally recognized landmark that brings status, funding, and the one ingredient that seems to have spurred success in other cities: water.

What will be required:

• Akron’s best design practices need to be showcased.
• Architectural achievements will be on a par with Knight Center and Inventure Place.

• Adequate green space, tree and flowerscapes, and monumental works of public art will make downtown feel different.

• Good signage is needed to identify access to parking, and the way to attractions.
• Well-lighted pedestrian ways with a visible police presence will make visitors feel safer.

• A transit hub where buses, commuter rail, and automobiles converge will make the center city accessible to all.

• A variety of musical entertainment and a blend of dining choices will make the center city open to all residents.
• In addition to affordable housing downtown, there also needs to be first-class housing that will attract residents for whom the amenities of the center city will be a principal reason to locate there.

• Business headquarters will locate downtown as well as incubators for entrepreneurial start-ups.

• An arcade of history museums housing collections of memorabilia related to rubber manufacturing, airships, marbles, pre-history, and social history should occupy space that would not otherwise find a ready tenant.

• A retail incubator would permit start-up art galleries, craft stores, and food enterprises operated by persons looking for careers later in life and young entrepreneurs who need some support to create new retail business.

• The community at large, Hospitals, Health Agencies, the City should address the population of mentally ill people who gravitate to the downtown. The City should develop appropriate legislation that will assist safety forces in managing a difficult urban problem.

To achieve these goals, the City should host an ongoing assembly with DAP, the University, the County, and downtown stakeholders. A major facilities assembly should be convened to plan for the significant capital that would be required to build and maintain other possible venues: an arena, an aquarium, a botanical garden, an IMAX theater, a water park on the canal, and ideas yet to be spawned.

The City should clearly identify the responsible post at City Hall for coordination of downtown planning and construction to make investment downtown attractive and easy.

Discussion: The caliber of the arts and recreation community is one measure by which Akron is judged by those from outside the city. As it becomes easier for business to locate headquarters operations anywhere, limited only by access to bandwidth, the quality of leisure activities may be a fatal criterion to attracting business, if all else is equal.

Akron has a mature cultural life, developed over a half-century: a resident symphony orchestra, ballet company, and theater; a steam train, and guided tours of the city. Akron can boast well-maintained historic home museums including one nationally recognized showplace, Stan Hywet.

Despite these assets, the city has no focused program of promoting tourism and no packaging of assets to create an impression of Akron as a destination. Smaller communities without Akron’s assets have mustered their assets into more attractive packaging.

Twenty percent of the U-S economy consists of dollars spent on tourism. Ohio is 6th in the nation in dollars spent -- some 14 billion dollars. Trips to Ohio’s Amish country, Cedar Point, and King’s Island cannot occupy families for more than a few weekends a year. Akron has much to offer to garner a hold on this important part of the economy.

The aging population - - interested, vital, mature adults with money - - will be buying experiences more than purchasing merchandise, including the experiences made available by EJ Thomas Hall, the Civic Theatre, the John S.Knight Center, and the National Inventors Hall of Fame.

What will be required: With the Convention and Visitors Bureau, the City should convene an assembly that will develop the resources to make Akron a tourist destination: a focused, coordinated effort with a single responsible authority that is well-funded and highly motivated.

A regular assembly would be convened of those groups invested in tourism to do the following:

• Develop an identity for Akron and the Akron area that will "sell" it outside the region;
• Coordinate advertising and marketing;
• Produce annual and seasonal events;
• Create profitable tour packages;
• Provide education to the hospitality industry so that hotel desk clerks become well-informed ambassadors of the region at every point of contact; and

• Construct new attractions and establish vehicles for funding tourism assets.

A well-maintained and uniform system of signage throughout the region will assist in packaging attractions for the visitor.

Discussion: Akron residents who participated in our 18-month discussion believe regional ties are important, but they reject any suggestion that Akron is a suburban area to Cleveland or merely a component unit of an undefined metropolis loosely referred to as the "north coast."

To market the city’s strengths to new businesses and new residents in a national advertising or marketing campaign will require Akron to "brand" itself: how it is unique, how it can distinguish its differences from other cities or regions, and how the residents define what Akron is.

Panelists in our discussions rate Akron favorably. So did 73% of the respondents in our poll. It is difficult to condense Akron’s positives into a single sentence, although the chairman of Imagine.Akron has attempted to define the city’s best attributes with the phrase, "the largest small town in America." Akron residents possess a quality of life determined in part by affordable housing and a low crime rate with big city amenities of musical theater, good restaurants, professional sports, first-rate golfing, boating - - and before the year 2000 is out - - hike and bike access to a national recreation area. Like a small town, commuting to work in Akron is easy. Our professions and our public and private sectors enjoy a long history of collaboration.

Akron is often defensive about its rust-belt past. Manufacturing remains an important part of the local economy but relies heavily on advanced technology invented and produced here. Akron residents have not fully recognized the city’s place as a center of materials research, second to none on the globe. The Akron area still possesses the principal research operations of four Fortune 500 companies.

What will be required:

1) Convene an assembly of communications leaders to define Akron. It is the Polymer Summit: with the University of Akron the center of a region with CWRU to the north and KSU to the east that can support entrepreneurial energy in the field of materials research and polymer start-ups.

2) Recognizing Akron’s leisure time assets as crucial to the formula that will be used by those reviewing Akron in the future as a site for new business. Consider an assembly of professionals who would convene under a new umbrella - - the Akron leisure Development Group – coordinating non-profit entities with existing and start-up entertainment businesses.

3) Analyzing the benefits of living in Akron: affordable living, low crime, easy commutes, family-friendly; and communicate these attributes to a national business community hungry for telecommuting centers where quality of life for employees is often second to available bandwidth as location criteria.

Discussion: No single concern about Akron was voiced more frequently in our discussions than the need for better communication. The way Akron learns about itself has changed. Newspaper circulation and readership has declined. Radio has become fragmented. Television is the dominant news source for most people, but Akron is the largest city in the United States without its own locally-produced television newscast.

In our poll of 402 Akron residents, 85% felt it was important to restore local TV news, and 67% of the scientifically-selected sample said it was very important.

A good example of the problem is the Imagine.Akron program itself, which over 18 months garnered 600 column inches of newspaper coverage, 600 spot announcements on radio and cable TV, 20 hours of prime time cable TV programming, 90,000 residential mailings, 1,500 flyers, and even a night time message on the Goodyear blimp. Of our 402 poll respondents, 83% had never heard of Imagine.Akron.

An overwhelming concern of program panelists was how Akron can remain a homogeneous community with support for its institutions and its leadership if information is not easily accessible. While 95% of our polling sample said they read the Beacon Journal "most often" for local news, only 60% said they subscribe. When asked to name the one radio station they listen to "most often", our 402 respondents picked 26 different radio stations!

The media landscape is undergoing a revolution. Radio – as we have known it – is likely to disappear by 2005, giving way to satellite radio transmissions which will offer thousands of instant audio selections. Television – as we have known it – is likely to disappear by 2010, as the cost of computer memory plummets and the convergence of television, cable, satellite, and the internet becomes integrated.

Akron has enjoyed a high degree of market penetration by personal computers. In our poll, half of all respondents had internet access at their home, and half of the remainder had internet access at work or elsewhere. While 85% of our polling sample believed the city should be making an effort to increase the amount of information it places on the internet, less than 5% felt it was the best way to communicate with the public. (Television being first.) But when asked if the city should provide information services, much as it provides water, sewer, police or fire, 90% of our respondents felt that the City should provide information as a basic service to residents.

What will be required: The City should review its deployment of technology on all levels. An assembly of City managers with a representation of residents should review whether information can be better provided by the City to residents through the internet or through cable television.

The City should determine if cable television access, or an available broadcast channel can occupy the breach created when Akron’s locally-produced television newscast was terminated by the private owners of Channel 23.

The Business community should convene an assembly of retail and trade advertisers to determine if private investment can support independent, locally - produced television programming that would include local news, local sports, and entertainment.

Discussion: There is no country on earth where the arts, social services, and charities rely so heavily on volunteers. What is done by government or business elsewhere is often governed by and maintained by dedicated volunteers in the U.S. As we enter the 21st century, one change in community behavior which has had an impact on our ability to maintain these organizations, is the degree to which commitments of job and family limit the amount of time available to volunteer. Consequently, the number of hours invested in public service is diminishing, while the need for donated time is increasing.

In the future, Akron has an opportunity to create new types of public service organizations which will follow new models of governance, accounting, and operations. These organizations will look to the private sector for successful models of management. They will attract volunteers whose time will be wisely invested. In not-for-profit organizations, there is no consistency in financial reporting. Volunteer boards of trustees spend an inappropriate amount of time struggling with codes of regulation and financial statements, problems that can be easily remedied.

Volunteer service to the community is an important component of a balanced life. Donating time in a way that is totally different from jobs performed at work enrich an individual’s daily life and needs to be encouraged and supported by employers as an economic benefit to the company and to the community.

Akron’s churches are the source of great vitality and manpower but have not realized the potential that exists within their shared beliefs. With regard to providing services to the mentally ill, and to families struggling with problems, people of faith often can provide an environment of love and acceptance in a way that government and agencies cannot. Churches also provide stable anchors for neighborhoods.

What will be required: Foundations can provide leadership in developing new models of non-profit business with uniform financial reporting that will permit volunteer board members to use their time wisely on the mission of the organization. Foundations can direct a collaborative effort that would provide some basic services to non-profits on a coordinated basis such as financial audits, marketing and advertising, computer services, employee benefit plans, joint purchasing agreements, and the like.

A new "Akron Plan" of volunteer service should be created by an assembly of business leaders and non-profit leaders to permit individuals to "bank" time for volunteer service that is used appropriately. The City should provide leadership by initiating a volunteer program among city employees.