Horrigan asks for patience in second term as Akron mayor - Akron Beacon Journal

Mayor Dan Horrigan is asking residents to “be patient ... to look for progress ... to continue to believe in the vision of growing the city again, to become more involved ...”

To himself and his staff, he’s asking, “How do we get really good at the things we just kicked off?”

At the start of his second term, the Beacon Journal sat down with Horrigan last week to talk about where he’s taking Akron, and what he’s learned after a transformational first four years.

“If you look at the first term, I’m not unsatisfied with any of things we’ve been able to get done. I don’t have the patience of Job,” he said to those who question the pace at which change is expected.

Term two is a sequel building on successes: Bulldozing 55 acres of mall at Rolling Acres and landing 1,500 Amazon jobs (a “home run” as Horrigan swings more often for singles), taking a small bite out of a daunting infant mortality rate, committing to addressing racial disparities, filling council with allies and spending a new income tax to rebuild more fire stations, pave more roads and maintain or grow capacity in the city’s police force.

First term reviewed

The mayor said he’ll be “delighted” when the cloud of construction clears over downtown this summer. With completion of the mixed-use Bowery project, market demand will finally be tested as the first of hundreds of apartments come online. Struggling downtown shops and restaurants can say goodbye to customer-stifling sewer and road work along Main Street.

Property values are finally up across Akron, though not as much as in other parts of Summit County. Median incomes have risen as well, though less so for black workers.

“A lot of those generational things that we’re trying to improve on, whether it’s poverty or infant and maternal health, those are generational things that have happened over decades,” Horrigan said.

He said he’s “excited to get four more years to push the needle further.”

Focus on housing

Horrigan expects housing to be “a big initiative over the next four years,” referencing his administration’s Plan to Grow Akron initiative spearheaded by an aggressive property tax abatement for new construction.

“Plan to Grow 2.0,” as he calls it, includes a yet-to-be-detailed council of landlords and listening to tenants so the city can help address the underlying reasons why people are forced out of, or fail to live up to, rental agreements.

The city has only five inspectors and one supervisor to inspect more than 90,000 homes in Akron.

Horrigan said capacity limits must be overcome with more strategic code enforcement. He’s looking to partner more with residents, responsible landlords and agencies like the county health department as high rental rates present new challenges.

Up from 40.6% in 2000, the portion of Akron that rents is now half, “which is not bad,” Horrigan said. “But I think home ownership is key to staying in neighborhoods and making them more stable.”

U.S. census data report that half of households renting in Akron send 30% of their income to landlords or utility companies, including elevated municipal sewer bills. The plight of the rent-burdened is even starker for households living on less than $20,000 a year — 62% of which spend a staggering half (or more) of their income on housing.

And Akron has the highest eviction rate in Ohio, according to recent headlines tracking research from Princeton University’s Eviction Lab.

Growing Akron

Horrigan’s path to adding 50,000 residents by 2050 includes targeted support for existing businesses through a Great Streets Initiative, cutting costs today to reduce the future burden of an unaffordable $1.2 billion sewer project, fulfilling the city’s obligation to collaboratively tackle youth violence through recreational programming and financial empowerment and spurring residential construction with his 15-year residential tax abatement program, designed to knock as much as 30% off a mortgage.

So far, developers of downtown apartments and housing subdivisions in more stable West Akron neighborhoods are lining up for the property tax abatements. Early market analysis told Horrigan this would happen. But he expects interest to evolve and grow as the city steers builders toward scattered empty lots.

Lowering project costs

Meanwhile, the federally mandated sewer work, now 92% complete, is winding down with the last few projects taking another eight years to finish.

Horrigan’s engineers and accountants have lowered the overall project cost by $158 million so far, postponing the possibility of another sewer rate increase until at least 2021. Horrigan hopes to save more by convincing a federal judge to remove a second tunnel under northern downtown from the list of remaining projects.

Reach Beacon Journal reporter Doug Livingston at dlivingston@thebeaconjournal.com or 330-996-3792.

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Horrigan asks for patience in second term as Akron mayor - Akron Beacon Journal
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