Use the slider to see Cleveland’s current and proposed ward maps. Zoom in to take a closer look at different areas.
Cleveland’s new City Council map eliminates two wards while maintaining near-balance between the East and West Sides.
Above, swipe the slider to the right to see the current map. Swipe to the left to see the draft proposed by Council President Blaine Griffin. Click the wards for demographic information.
The map will not become official until council votes to adopt it. Candidates will run to represent the new wards in the 2025 elections.
Here are a few demographic observations about the proposed new map:
- In the new map, seven wards are based west of the Cuyahoga and eight east of it.
- White residents make up a majority or plurality in six wards, while eight are majority-Black.
- Although the West Side has historically been predominantly white, four West Side wards have a Black population of at least 20%.
- One ward is 40% Hispanic and four others have Hispanic populations above 20%.
Gone would be the jagged Ward 10 that snakes from southern Collinwood to East 40th Street. Instead, the northern and southern halves of Collinwood largely would sit together in a new Ward 10. Glenville is largely contained in a new Ward 9.
The current Cuyahoga River-crossing Ward 12, which links Slavic Village with Old Brooklyn, would also be no more. The new map would place the northern half of Slavic Village into a dumbbell-shaped ward that curves up to Shaker Square. The southern half of the neighborhood would be part of a ward that includes most of Union-Miles.
A small piece of Slavic Village – and the home of current Ward 12 Council Member Rebecca Maurer – was drawn into Ward 5. The Old Brooklyn portion of the current Ward 12 would be joined to much of the rest of the neighborhood in a ward given the number 4.
Ward 6, represented by Council President Blaine Griffin, would expand to include a portion of Hough, part of Buckeye-Shaker and half of Shaker Square. It would give up some southern territory but would retain a foothold as far south as Union Avenue.
Most of downtown Cleveland would no longer be connected to the Near West Side in the new map. Instead, the northern half of downtown would be part of the new Ward 8, which stretches east to include Asiatown, St. Clair-Superior and Hough. The southern half of downtown and the Central neighborhood would be in the new Ward 5.
On the West Side, Ohio City, Tremont and much of Detroit-Shoreway – all hubs for new development – would be part of the new Ward 7. The ward would also include the Flats, the downtown lakefront and Burke Lakefront Airport. The westernmost portion of Detroit-Shoreway would be part of a ward that cuts south to pick up a corner of Old Brooklyn.
West of that would be a new ward – numbered Ward 12 – that would extend from Edgewater south to West Boulevard. The ward would reach far enough west to include the home of Council Member Danny Kelly, who currently does not live in the ward he was appointed to represent. The eastern boundary of ward currently known as Ward 16 would change to accommodate the new Ward 12.
Ward 14, currently represented by Council Member Jasmin Santana, would shift east and lose its jagged northern edge in the new map. It would include a portion of the Stockyards neighborhood and much of Clark-Fulton and Brooklyn-Centre.
The Kamm’s Corners ward now known as Ward 17 would remain largely the same, but would be numbered Ward 15 in the new map. Ward 1, which covers the Lee-Harvard neighborhood, would grow by a few blocks but otherwise remain similar to its current territory.
Mark Salling, a Cleveland State University senior fellow who worked on the map, said the redistricting team tried to balance competing priorities. Among those priorities: making wards roughly the same population, maintaining neighborhoods, drawing compact shapes and following natural divisions such as major streets and railroads.
A change in one ward boundary leads to changes across the map, he said.
“It’s a domino effect that you have to constantly be working on to come up with a balanced population-wise plan,” he said.
Shaping Cleveland’s political future
No City Council races will be official until after next year’s June 11 filing deadline. But as it stands now, the proposed new map sets up potential runoffs and leaves an open seat that could change the makeup of council.
Maurer and Council Member Richard Starr both live in the proposed new boundaries for Ward 5. Starr said on Tuesday that he was ready for “the smoke” of a competitive race. Maurer, meanwhile, said she that the map appeared drawn to shut her out of contention.
“The point is to make it impossible for me to run,” she said. “It’s to prevent a race, not to encourage one.”
In an earlier version of a new map, Maurer’s neighborhood was drawn into a West Side ward that included Ohio City, she said. After she protested that arrangement publicly, her house was put into Ward 5. Even so, splitting her neighborhood off into a new ward apart from the other pieces of Slavic Village was “classic gerrymandering,” Maurer said.
Griffin said at Tuesday’s news conference that he did not target council members for elimination. He acknowledged that he moved Maurer’s neighborhood from a West Side ward to an East Side one after her speech.
In Collinwood, the homes of Council Members Michael Polensek and Anthony Hairston would both be in the new Ward 10.
Polensek told Signal Cleveland on Wednesday that he planned to pull petitions from the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections to place his name on the 2025 ballot – the first step in seeking another term in office. From there, he would decide on his future.
“I’ll make that decision with my people at some point in the near future. But right now, I don’t dismiss anything,” he said, later adding, “At the end of the day I’ll do what I believe is right for the community, not me personally.”
Polensek, who first won election to City Council in 1977, said that he believed Griffin did the best job he could drawing a new map. Given the population declines across the East Side, it was inevitable that a northeast ward would disappear, he said.
“I’m not upset, because I understood the reality that was coming,” he said.
At least one council seat could be open on the West Side next year. Council Member Jenny Spencer is not seeking another term. Her Detroit-Shoreway home was drawn into the new Ward 7. No incumbent currently lives in the proposed Ward 11 next door, which connects part of Detroit-Shoreway with Old Brooklyn.
That means a newcomer could win a council seat there without having to topple an incumbent.
Cleveland City Council provided Signal Cleveland precinct shapefiles and demographic data for the proposed new ward maps.
Suggested Reading
Take a look at Cleveland’s proposed new City Council ward map
Council will shrink from 17 to 15 seats ahead of the 2025 elections.
What is a Cleveland ward? And why their boundaries are changing
Cleveland’s charter says each ward should be made up of roughly 25,000 people. Because the city lost residents over the past decade, the number of wards is expected to shrink before the next City Council election in 2025.
Statehouse moves force new deadlines on Cleveland City Council’s ward map plan
An unrelated ballot measure expected in May reduces the time for council and the county Board of Elections to draw new maps.