Done Deal -- Neighborhoods Expendable as Wards 3 & 15 Abolished.

Cleveland City Council spent 180 minutes – with only 30 devoted to public comments – considering what appears to be the final version of new wards.

The first and likely last public hearing on redistricting council wards came just three days before Monday’s expected vote on the plan.

Clevelanders voted in November to reduce City Council from 21 to 19 members because of lost population. Each Council Ward represents about 23,000 people.

The proposed new wards are found at City Council’s website,

Pleas from Community Development officials, community organizers and residents of Wards 3 and 15 fell on deaf ears Friday morning. Council President Martin Sweeney told Ward 15 Councilman Brian Cummins his request for a two-day delay in the final vote “will be taken under advisement,” a clear indication it would not be.

Robert Dykes, senior partner of Triad Research, the consulting firm that drew the new ward map, told council that “not all will be happy regardless of how the map is drawn.”

Dykes said that Sweeney instructed him to keep neighborhoods intact as much as possible. Cummins countered that this certainly is not the case regarding Brooklyn Centre, Old Brooklyn, and Mount Pleasant.

Dykes said the new plan “was a collaborative effort of the members of council.” Cummins countered that the claim of collaboration with council members “is false. We haven’t looked at this plan as a whole until today. That’s the fatal flaw. We’re bleeding Brooklyn Center, Old Brooklyn and Mount Pleasant.”

“You put Old Brooklyn into Ward 12 on the east side,” Cummins continued. “You have added 5,000 more people into this new ward who have a completely different set of development needs and a completely different set of development goals. Given that we do this again in four years (reduce city council), this is just damaging the city.”

“The process we’ve seen here is a travesty to open government,” said Cummins. “We need to protect our neighborhoods, not our political bases.”

Zack Reed, who represents Mount Pleasant, called the process “entirely political because Brian Cummins and I speak our minds.

“For whatever reason, whatever is going to happen to Mount Pleasant will happen, and the people didn’t hear about it until last Wednesday,” Reed said. “That’s just sad.”

Cummins provided silhouette maps of some of the new wards. “This is the kind of thing the courts have said lead to disenfranchisement,” he said.

Eighteen Council members attended the meeting, with most of them saying the decision is difficult but that it affords Council the opportunity to learn as they look forward to cutting at least two more members in 2011 after next year’s census.

About 50 people attended the morning meeting, most of them opposed to the plan. This is a sampling of what they said:

“This is not what the charter Review Commission intended. It disturbs me greatly.” Greg Huth, president of the Old Brooklyn community Development Corporation and a member of the Charter Review Commission.

“This layout makes it more difficult to do what we need to do. The consultants did a good job at looking at numbers, but they haven’t gone into the neighborhoods.” Thomas Stone, executive director of the Mt. Pleasant NOW Development Corporation.

“I see no current funding analysis with this plan. We need to know its impact on community development funding.” Debra Lewis-Curlee, executive director, Mount Pleasant Community Zone.

"Old Brooklyn is losing its integrity. Putting part of the West side into an East side ward won’t work. People are extremely upset and feel this has been kept secret.” Constance Ewazen, president of the Old Brooklyn Historical Society.

“People live in Old Brooklyn by choice. By taking away our representative and our voice we will not grow. You are jeopardizing a stable middle-class population which this city needs. You are tearing up a stable neighborhood. You are behaving like Republicans. This is not a deliberative or collaborative process. This is not transparent.” Scott Bailey, resident of the South Hills neighborhood of Old Brooklyn.

“Old Brooklyn is comprised of a lot of elderly. If you do to Old Brooklyn what Council did to Tremont years ago (splitting it into three wards) you will be making a big mistake by upsetting an open, inclusive community.” Former Council member and congresswoman Mary Rose Oakar.