Though the rate of Cleveland’s downward spiral has slowed — Cleveland plummeted by more than 17% between 2000-2010 — the recent losses are especially discouraging in light of modest gains in four of Cuyahoga’s contiguous counties and in Ohio’s other big cities. Both Columbus (+14.6%) and Cincinnati (+4.3%) saw significant population gains since 2010.
Though there have been fears about the accuracy of the 2020 count, in part due to challenges caused by the pandemic, the Cleveland population now falls below the 375,000 threshold at which Cleveland City Council is required, by charter, to redistrict.
The current 17 council wards will be reconfigured into 15 wards by the 2025 election. A City Council spokeswoman said that census results would have had to have been submitted by Feb. 16, 2021 and the new ward map created by April 1 for redistricting to affect this year’s election.
Redistricting can be a laborious and bitter process. Former City Council President Marty Sweeney oversaw the last city council redistricting in 2013, and he was accused of protecting his own political interests while failing to keep historic neighborhoods intact in the final map. In particular, Sweeney carved up the east side to create the current Ward 10 as a reward for council loyalist Eugene Miller. Miller went on to lose to Jeff Johnson in the following election.
Creating a new map that satisfies a legislative body known for its territorialism and fierce self-preservation, while also maintaining racial balance, will be a challenge for the incoming council president.
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This article appears in Aug 11-24, 2021.
