I dated a girl from Canton for a while. She went to UA. She said being from Canton she always considered Akron a much bigger (kind of scary) city. I forget how she put it, but Akron made her nervous at first... till she got used to it. Then she loved it. She still works & lives in Akron today. I think a lot of ppl from south of town feel that way. However, the double-whammy of COVID and the 3-year-long-marathon of Main Street demolition derby/reconstruction took a toll on downtown. More than a handful of restaurants/bars closed. If we can get Main Street back to where it was pre-covid there's much more to do around UA & downtown than there is in KSUcks or anywhere south of town till you get to OU.