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COMMENTARY The New 15-Ward Maps |
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A Mistake and a Missed Opportunity |
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At its monthly City Council meeting on Monday evening January 6, 2025, president Blaine Griffin rushed the proposed 15-ward map to passage. The new map may have corrected some redistricting errors of ten years ago, but it hurt the Square in two ways: a mistake and a missed opportunity.
The Mistake Shaker Square was split. The west and east sides of North and South Moreland Boulevards, in the same ward for 80 years, will now be in different wards (6 and 3). These pages and many others, including the Cleveland League of Women Voters, reported the problem. Sadly, this simple "fix" was not made. The Missed Opportunity The newly mapped Ward 3 includes the single-family homes and town houses on the CHALK streets and the row of condominium apartment buildings along Shaker Boulevard, east of the Square to the city limits. Their roughly one thousand residents are supporters of the Square. They know Blaine Griffin as an old friend of the Square. They remember that in April 2022 his leadership saved it from foreclosure and put it in strong hands. (Resolution 21-1038) Griffin's Ward 6, which includes the
Cleveland side of Larchmere, could have expanded east to the city
limits to include those one thousand residents. That would have strengthened the Square and put Larchmere
and Shaker Square in the same ward. Reassigning some streets south
of Buckeye Road from Ward 6
to Ward 3 would have restored Ward 3's lost population, straightened
some jagged ward boundaries, and made Ward 3 more compact. A "win"
for everyone! Arnie Berger |
