Cleveland will lose city council seats
Cleveland will lose city council seats
CLEVELAND (AP) — The city of Cleveland is losing population, and as a result its city council is going to shrink.
The Plain Dealer newspaper reports that the 19-member city council will lose two more seats next year when the panel redraws the wards.
Since council maps were last drawn in 2009, Cleveland’s population has shrunk by more than 30,000 people to about 396,000, according to U.S. census figures. Most of that population loss occurred in the city’s northeast quadrant.
But council members say that the east side, home to several of the city’s predominantly black neighborhoods, will lose only one ward in the redistricting. That will preserve council representation for the black community.