Akron

Akron is a former manufacturing hub situated 30 miles south of Cleveland and 40 miles west of Youngstown. Akron is home to roughly 200,000 permanent residents, nearly all of whom are either black or white. Akron is home to a steadily improving downtown, with the nearby University of Akron now sprawling into the downtown area. At the present day, Akron's future is uncertain (though far more encouraging that neighboring Canton and Youngstown). Parts of Akron have seen strong growth and downtown Akron has upgraded from ghastly to meh. The University of Akron has been building out at a furious pace, and the impact of increased on-campus enrollment has fueled growth along East Exchange and South Main Sts. However, Akron's non-central neighborhoods are losing residents by the day to relocations and the older rubber-era residents dying off. Many non-skilled types are forced to commute to suburban areas for employment. The homeless in the area are abundant and notably confrontational, as they often stand near highway exists and aggressively accost motorists. Overall, Akron is a C- kind of place. Not terrible, but not quite average. An optimist would look to the fact that Akron 10 years ago was a more haunting place than it is today, and that the trend toward improvement will continue. Pessimists will look at the decline of all of the surrounding cities and assume that Akron will suffer and be pulled further into the black hole of economic devastation.