Coming to the Commons
Constructing Trust in Akron
Now that 2018 is in full swing, we’re taking a peek at each of the five Reimagining the Civic Common’s demonstration cities to highlight one thing to keep your eye on in the year ahead. Check back over the next few weeks as we visit Memphis, Detroit, Chicago and Philadelphia.
Summit Lake: Akron, Ohio
“There were a lot of doubting Thomases. There still are still some doubting Thomases whose trust we need to earn. And we’re here for the long haul.”
That’s Dan Rice. And he’s talking about Summit Lake in Akron, Ohio — a community that’s seen substantial support and development over the past few years after decades of disinvestment and neglect by the city at large. The neighborhood proper is home to more than 4,000 residents, many of whom have long heard promises that go unkept and seen plans for projects that never get off the ground. And very often, initiatives have been drawn up with little input from the people who live there.
“It’s a legacy of things being done to, not with,” says Rice. “People really have a connection with Summit Lake, but they also feel it’s been neglected in many ways.”
Rice would know. By day he’s a 30-year veteran of the Ohio & Erie Canalway Coalition, where he’s risen to the role of president and CEO. And you get the sense that even when he’s not officially on the clock, he’s a 24–7ambassador for Akron communities — especially Summit Lake.
Over the course of 2017, Rice and the Akron Civic Commons team — working in close cooperation with many neighborhood residents and community organizations — conceived and constructed a range of prototype projects aimed at improving the area immediately around Summit Lake, the body of water that shares a name with the area surrounding it. They cleared out some of the lake’s the overgrown edges, bringing back a shoreline that — a century ago — was the scene of a thriving social space. They installed benches, picnic tables, fishing rocks, and a temporary pavilion so that people would have places to recreate and relax.
As the new year ramps up, 2017’s experiments are giving way to 2018’s permanent improvements. Drawing on expertise and leadership from the national Civic Commons Learning Network and local organizations including Summit Metro Parks, Summit Lake Community Center, Students with a Goal, Let’s Grow Akron and more, Summit Lake will look and feel different at this time next year.
Rice points to the old pump house on the east side of the lake as one particular site that’ll see advancements in the year ahead. A visible but long vacant edifice along the banks of Summit Lake, the pump house is being reimagined as the Pump House Community Center, a neighborhood hub managed by Summit Metro Parks, that’ll likely feature environmental, arts and cultural programming. As the Pump House takes shape this year, the surrounding grounds will see new tables and chairs, better lighting, a pop-up nature center, guided canoe trips and possibly even a trail around the park. Programming in the park and at the nearby community center will continue to expand.
But perhaps the most important thing that Summit Lake residents have to look forward to in 2018 is an ongoing dialogue about what they want Summit Lake to be. “It really all comes down to relationships,” says Rice. And the relationships that will carry Summit Lake into the bright years ahead will sustain one honest conversation at a time.
Reimagining the Civic Commons is a collaboration between The JPB Foundation, the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, The Kresge Foundation, The Rockefeller Foundation and local partners.
