So Cleveland has two less wards now, and two fewer Sweeney naysayers. You wouldn’t know it by looking around.
Some will feel the benefits, though. For the 19 Council members who remain — especially for folks like Council President Martin Sweeney out in West Park’s Ward 20 — there are fewer pots to put the dough in. 
And where many members will see their ward sizes rise to meet the median population of 22,500 (based on a CSU estimate of 427,000 Cleveland citizens), Ward 20 will become Ward 18 in a virtually identical shape. That means more block grant money, parks funding and street repair.
Guess it pays to live in the king’s neighborhood. You better believe what Republicans are left in Cleveland are happy. “I love this,” says Richard May, head of the West Park Republican Organization. “Why in the world would I have a problem with getting more money for my neighborhood?”
This article appears in Mar 25-31, 2009.