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Residents and advocates press Akron council on blight, homelessness and Ward 3 underinvestment
Summary
Public commenters told council neighborhoods are being neglected, cited gaps in affordable housing and said Ward 3 had received little funding despite city budgets and ARPA dollars.
Several Akron residents and community advocates used the public-comment period to urge the council to prioritize neighborhood preservation, affordable housing and targeted investment for Ward 3.
Donell Hilton argued that rising property neglect lowers values and can lead to vermin and crime, and urged stronger enforcement and law changes to address the "earliest visual roots of blight." Hilton said residents feel the city's 311 inspection process produces unsatisfactory results and that inspectors appear to be "coddling neglectful property owners instead of giving fines."
A separate commenter who identified as a community member from Ward 3 — who addressed council as Mr. Hargrove — urged allocation of funding to his neighborhood and cited budget figures he said showed available resources. He recited figures for the city's budgets and grant receipts, saying the "Akron budget for 2025 was $798,000,000" and that the city received "$149,000,000 of ARPA dollars" in 2021; he said Ward 3 had received none of those funds for community building and asked council to visit and allocate funding.
Chief Dominique, speaking as chief and as an evaluator for ARPA grantees in a gun-violence reduction strategic plan, also urged action on housing as a human right, said the city lacks sufficient affordable housing and described barriers to acquiring delinquent land for community use, including a county auction "$1,000,000 buy in" that she said allows outside purchasers to acquire land and resell it.
Why it matters: speakers tied housing instability and blight to public-safety and economic opportunity, and asked the council for concrete funding and policy changes to preserve neighborhoods and expand affordable housing.
What the council record shows: the statements were made during public comment. A council member offered to speak with at least one speaker after the meeting; no formal council motion or vote on neighborhood funding or code changes was recorded in this meeting.
Clarifying note: budget figures and descriptions of county auction rules were provided by public commenters and attributed as their statements; the meeting record does not contain city staff confirmation of those numbers or of specific past allocations to Ward 3.
