Andrew Smith is a 25-year-old engineer who is a big fan of downtowns, especially Akron’s.
He is spearheading a new effort called MyAkron, affiliated with the group called Downtown Akron Partnership, that seeks to drum up small ideas that can have a big impact on downtown Akron and its workers, residents and visitors.
“There’s a lot of creative ideas out there that can be implemented and they don’t cost a lot of money,” Smith said, “but they can leave a lasting impression.”
The group — open to those who work downtown and anyone else interested — will have its first event, an informal informational gathering at 7 p.m. Tuesday at Paolo’s, a bar at One West Exchange St. Paolo’s is just behind Bricco’s restaurant.
Cost is $5; food will be provided. The event will serve as a fundraiser for projects. He envisions larger fundraisers in the future, such as a 5K race.
Smith plans on getting the brainstorming rolling by presenting on Tuesday a small project that involves shedding more light — literally — on a short street called Orleans Avenue, across from Paolo’s. Orleans Avenue, which is behind South Main Street and between East Exchange and Cedar streets, is frequently used by area restaurant and bar patrons.
“It can get kind of dark and dreary down there at night,” he said. “I have an idea to put lights — like year-round Christmas lights — on the trees that line the street.
The change, he said “would be low cost and high impact.”
Smith’s parents and grandparents nurtured his love of downtown Akron when he was a child and teen. He recalls going to see events at the Akron Civic Theatre, originally built as a Loew’s theater in 1929, and visiting the main Akron-Summit County Public Library.
While he was a student at the University of Akron, he along with other students, went to restaurants and bars in the south end of downtown, not far from the campus strip on East Exchange. A runner, Smith also became a fan of the Ohio & Erie Canal Towpath Trail, which now runs through downtown.
Smith, who graduated in 2010 with a mechanical engineering degree, doesn’t work in downtown. Rather, fresh out of college, he got a job as an engineer at Carlisle Brake & Friction in Medina. The Solon-headquartered company makes braking, friction, clutch, and transmission products for the mining, construction, military, agricultural, motorsports, industrial and aerospace markets.
He lives in Wadsworth, where he grew up. He envisions moving back to Akron in the next several years.
His idea for the MyAkron initiative grew out of brainstorming he was involved with as a member of a student group called Students in Free Enterprise.
After graduation, he took the idea to Emerging Leaders, a young professionals group he joined. It is part of Downtown Akron Partnership, a nonprofit that aims to develop and promote the city’s downtown. It receives funding from downtown property owners who pay annual assessments.
Smith’s favorite downtowns other than Akron’s? Smith mentions downtown Chicago and its relatively new Millennium Park, and New York City, with its new High Line Trail, a rail line-turned-trail that sits 30 feet above busy streets of Manhattan’s Lower West Side.
Katie Byard can be reached at 330-996-3781 or kbyard@thebeaconjournal.com.