WKSU
Sculptor Alan Cottrill talks with Miriam Ray of Akron in his Zanesville studio on Feb. 6, 2020. Ray spearheaded the effort to create the statue honoring the workers who toiled in the city s rubber industry. The statue, in progress, can be seen at right. It will be unveiled in Akron Thursday, May 13.
The rubber industry once made Akron the fastest growing city in the country. A new tribute to that industry and the people who worked in it will be unveiled in downtown Akron Thursday morning. The photo on the cover of the 1999 book Wheels of Fortune inspired the new statue.
On the streets of Akron and most large American cities, gun violence has risen sharply since the COVID-19 pandemic began, leaving a long line of grieving families. In Congress and the Ohio Statehouse, proposals to control guns with reasonable reforms almost always die themselves. Instead, Ohioans are now allowed to “Stand Your Ground.”
The result is a bloody gridlock, with the Second Amendment pitted against the rights of those who want to live in peace.
Akron City Council and Mayor Dan Horrigan want to change that conversation by boldly attacking gun violence with $20 million of $153 million in federal COVID recovery funds. Horrigan’s early plans call for employment programs and training, support of ongoing initiatives and more recreational opportunities.
Akron Beacon Journal Editorial Board
Guns remain at the heart of America s political divide.
On the streets of Akron and most large American cities, gun violence has risen sharply since the COVID-19 pandemic began, leaving a long line of grieving families. In Congress and the Ohio Statehouse, proposals to control guns with reasonable reforms almost always die themselves. Instead, Ohioans are now allowed to Stand Your Ground.
The result is a bloody gridlock, with the Second Amendment pitted against the rights of those who want to live in peace.
Akron City Council and Mayor Dan Horrigan want to change that conversation by boldly attacking gun violence with $20 million of $153 million in federal COVID recovery funds. Horrigan s early plans call for employment programs and training, support of ongoing initiatives and more recreational opportunities.
With Akron set to receive $153 million from the federal American Rescue Plan by next summer, City Council is ready to pony up whatever it takes to curb gun violence.
Public Safety Chair Donnie Kammer invited Charles Brown, Akron s deputy mayor for public safety, as well as the highest-ranking officers in the Akron Police Department to brief lawmakers on current gun violence reduction efforts and what more is needed.
“For right now, this is a start,” said Kammer, who told public safety officials to come back in six weeks with a “wish list” of demands that need Council s budgetary approval.
“I’m scared to even think about what happens in six weeks when we reconvene, because we’ll be a couple weeks off of the Fourth of July and these individuals [committing gun crimes] just don’t care,” said Councilwoman Tara Samples.
Alpha Phi Alpha Homes turns service into development
Alpha Phi Alpha Homes turns service into development
KAREN FARKAS
Contributed photo
Alpha Phi Alpha Homes extends its community development reach into the Akron suburbs at places such as Friendship Terrace senior apartments in Cuyahoga Falls.
Fifty years ago, after urban renewal displaced thousands of low-income residents, alumni members of the University of Akron s chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha, the nation s oldest African American fraternity, broke ground on a 551-unit federally funded project that included a high-rise tower, townhouses and garden apartments.
Since that leap of faith by men who had no experience in construction and development, Alpha Phi Alpha Homes Inc., a nonprofit housing, development and management corporation, has overseen the construction of more than 2,400 units of senior and family housing in Akron and Northeast Ohio.