Signs lighten up Akron construction
Overnight Thursday, a giant new sign popped up on construction fencing surrounding downtown Akron’s big dig.
“Someday you’ll tell your grandchildren about this. (We should be done by then).”
Another, in a perfect-pitch nod to the philosophy of one of the city’s most famous rock bands, says: “Devolution is real.”
The signs, which are about 6 feet by6 feet, look like vinyl album covers and use a font that’s strikingly similar to that used by another Akron band — the Black Keys — on its 2010 record “Brothers.”
Someone already swiped another sign referencing that band — “Main Street: More rock than the Black Keys” — from the downtown construction zone, which has made walking, driving or biking anywhere along Main Street challenging for months.
“I consider that an honor ... that someone liked it enough to take it,” said David Giffels, an assistant professor at the University of Akron, who brainstormed ideas for the signs with Downtown Akron Partnership’s Suzie Graham.
Graham came up with the idea after attending a conference and seeing how Hartford, Connecticut, did something similar during its own construction nightmare.
She thought the signs could help Akronites laugh a bit through the pain of the construction overhaul aimed at transforming a decaying downtown into a place where thousands of people will not only want to work and play, but to call home.
Hartford lets others reuse its sign campaign, Graham said, but it had some pop culture references that were dated — like “Getting diggy with it” — and it wasn’t Akroncentric. So Graham said she turned to Giffels for help.
“Everyone is complaining and angry about (the downtown construction). It’s like Harvey Pekar,” Giffels said, referring to the late underground Cleveland comic book artist whose stories tackled the troubles and anxiety of everyday life.
Graham and Giffels hatched the downtown guerrilla art project just beyond the construction fences downtown.
Once they had a list of ideas for what the signs should say, they turned to Micah Kraus — who teaches art at Akron Hoban High School — for the design.
The 23 signs cost about $1,000 to make, Graham said, and the Knight Foundation covered the cost.
Graham said they intentionally left Downtown Akron Partnership’s name off of the signs and hung them at night so people might think the signs appeared through a bit by magic.
Reactions to the signs have been mixed.
Giffels posted a few pictures on his Facebook without explaining his involvement and all 175 people who responded either liked, laughed or loved the post.
But others have been critical. Many downtown workers’ commutes have changed, visitors don’t know where to park, and some who have tried to negotiate the construction are staying out of downtown until the first phase of the project ends early next year.
Downtown businesses have been especially hardhit by the construction, with owners of some businesses wondering if they’ll survive.
No sign can fix that. Graham, Kraus and Giffels get that.
But, Giffels added, Akron also needs to take a long view of downtown.
“I’m old enough to remember when you could sit in the middle of no construction on Main Street and not see a single car go by,” he said. “To have something being revitalized, to get through the hard times to get to the good times, that is a northeast Ohio thing.”