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City tries to clean up strip at U.S. 52
Akron corridor leads visitors to stadiums
Journal Graphic by Nicholas Weir
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Published: April 12, 2009
Updated: 04/12/2009 12:40 am
The landscape along Akron Drive near U.S 52 isn't pleasant: The sides of the road are marked by a rusted chain-link fence, sparse grass and some lopped-off trees. A cement median splits the middle.
The road links the highway with Wake Forest's baseball and football fields, and so is the first introduction to the city for some out-of-town visitors. Business owners along the road met with city officials last month and argued that the city should do more to impress those visitors.
Their main concerns were about crime, said Derwick Paige, Winston-Salem's deputy city manager.
"Most of the issues were public safety-related," Paige said. "Loitering, panhandling, vagrancy ... prostitution, drugs, just all sorts."
As a result, the Winston-Salem Police Department increased patrols along Akron Drive.
But the concerns of the business owners were partly aesthetic, too.
"We think of the road as a gateway for the people coming in towards the coliseum," said M. Haria, the general manager of the Quality Inn and one of the business leaders who organized the meeting with city officials. "There's so many events going on toward the airport and the coliseum. Basically, I think the city -- if they kept the gateways really clean and neat, that would attract more people to give the city more benefit."
Paige said that city officials agreed with the business leaders.
"It is a gateway into the coliseum area and into the Wake Forest University stadium area," he said. "We thought their requests were reasonable, and that's what started it all."
The city plans to plant about $10,000 worth of trees along Akron Drive to beautify the street. City crews will start work in the next few weeks.
"We're planting a combination of shade trees and ornamentals, we're planting a couple different kinds of crape myrtle, some flowering cherries, some bald cypress, some European hornbeam," said James Mitchell, the city's director of vegetation management. "We got a few other odds and ends going in: some hollies."
Mitchell said that the plans to improve the landscape around Akron Drive fit in with this year's Community Roots Day, which is scheduled for April 25 and which will focus on planting trees along Reynolds Boulevard, near the Hanes Hosiery Community Center.
Haria said he thinks that the increased police patrols have helped curb crime in the area, but said he hopes that the police stay.
"I think a continuous effort would definitely make a difference," he said. "I could see the police presence increased here, and that is making a difference."
■ Laura Graff can be reached at 727-7279 or at lgraff@wsjournal.com.
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