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Speakers urge Akron to use $10 million planning grant to avoid repeating Inner Belt displacement
Summary
At City Council public comment, a former planning director and residents urged the city to spend a new $10 million planning grant with empathy for displaced neighborhoods, and requested targeted investment for Ward 3.
Thomas Statham, a retired city planning director and former Akron planning staffer, urged Akron City Council on Jan. 13 to spend a recently announced $10 million planning grant cautiously and with attention to communities historically harmed by past highway projects.
Statham contrasted the new planning money with the decades-long harm caused when the Inner Belt and related highway projects displaced more than 1,300 families in the 1960s and 1970s. He warned that “90 seconds” saved in driving time was not a sufficient…
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