By Kathy Wray Coleman, associate publisher, editor-in-chief

CLEVELAND, Ohio- Cleveland City Council, per the city charter, will be reduced from its current 17 council seats to 15 starting in 2026 and per the next election for city council, which is in 2025, notwithstanding this year's crowded election.

The reduction comes as the 2020 U.S. Census figures show a reduction in Cleveland's population over the past 10 years from 396,815 in 2010 to 372, 624 in 2020, the charter mandating a loss of two council seats when the population falls below 375,000.

A new ward map will be configured in 2025, likely forcing two council persons from the east side to run against each other, and two from the west side to face off, in addition to other likely candidates. Of the 17 members of city council, eight of them are Black, eight are White, and one is Hispanic, Ward 14 Councilwoman Jasmin Santana. This year's non-partisan primary election for city council and mayor is set for Sept 14 and the general election, in which the top two vote-getters will square off, is Nov.  2. Early voting begins Aug 17.

Former Council President Marty Sweeney oversaw the last city council redistricting in 2013 where two council seats were also lost. And Sweeney, who later retired and went on to become a state representative, caught slack as his city council colleagues accused him of showing favoritism and being unfair relative to the redistricting process.

Former east side councilman Eugene Miller, a Sweeney ally, lost to  former councilman Jeff Johnson, then an east side councilman too, in the reconfigured Ward 10  in 2013 and former west side councilman Jay Westbrook retired, preventing an election fight between two west side council persons that year.

Cleveland is a largely Black major American city and the second most segregated city in the nation behind Boston as a majority of Whites reside on the west side and Blacks mainly live on the city's east side, the two sides separated by the Cuyahoga River.

By Kathy Wray Coleman, editor-in-chief, associate publisher. Coleman is a Black political. legal and investigative reporter who trained for 17 years at the Call and Post in Cleveland, Ohio, and under several different editors

Clevelandurbannews.com and Kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com, Ohio's most read Black and alternative digital newspaper and Black blog.Tel: (216) 659-0473 and Email: editor@clevelandurbannews.com. We interviewed former president Barack Obama one-on-one when he was campaigning for president. As to the Obama interview, CLICK HERE TO READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE AT CLEVELAND URBAN NEWS.COM, OHIO'S LEADER IN BLACK DIGITAL NEWS.