Why Roulet's Law Proof Why Nazis TO Black Hitlers, C/O Slavic Ghetto, Auschwitz "Quite frankly, members of this body encouraged me to get rid of Ward 12 because they don't trust the council member in Ward 12. They don't feel that she's a team player."

Maurer criticizes gerrymandering in Cleveland redistricting process 

Blocked and Deleted by GNazis Roulet's Law Proof TO Black Hitlers Why Nazis "Quite frankly, members of this body encouraged me to get rid of Ward 12 because they don't trust the council member in Ward 12. They don't feel that she's a team player."

• Sam Allard

Council President Blaine Griffin and Councilwoman Rebecca Maurer. Photos: Cleveland City Council

Monday night's Cleveland City Council meeting was among the more pyrotechnic in recent memory, with debate over the new redistricting process.

State of play: Councilwoman Rebecca Maurer and Council President Blaine Griffin went at each other in public remarks, presaging what could be a larger ideological battle about the new ward map.

Catch up quick: Griffin has repeatedly tried to distance the current redistricting process from past years' efforts, in which he says council leadership worked behind closed doors to draw a map prioritizing the interests of favored incumbents.

• This resulted in gerrymandered wards that didn't always follow natural boundaries or preserve historic neighborhoods.

The latest: Monday night, Maurer accused Griffin of doing the same this year — in defiance of both his public stance and the body's unanimous support for Issue 1, which unsuccessfully sought to take mapmaking out of the hands of politicians at the state level.

• On Monday, council members privately viewed a new draft map that have not been made public. Maurer said the existing Ward 12 was split into five pieces, shattering her electoral base.
• She claims her own home in Cleveland's Slavic Village neighborhood was gerrymandered into a new Ward 3 on the west side — an arrangement resembling former Ward 11 councilwoman Dona Brady's.
• Maurer said she explicitly told council leadership that such an outcome would be unacceptable.

What they're saying: "Don't play games with my house, my home and my beloved neighbors," she told Griffin.

• She called on Griffin to release the draft map to give the public a "genuine chance" to provide feedback, and to support a future charter amendment to make the redistricting process independent of council leadership.

The other side: In a rare move, Griffin invited councilman Kerry McCormack to preside in the president's chair so that he could respond to Maurer from the floor of council chambers.

• Griffin called the draft map an "exercise" meant to get feedback on a work in progress. To Maurer, he said all council members were sacrificing valuable pieces of their existing wards.
• "Quite frankly, members of this body encouraged me to get rid of Ward 12 because they don't trust the council member in Ward 12. They don't feel that she's a team player."
• "I stand on the process. I think it was fair. I did not try to target any individual councilperson. But I will say to the council lady: Your wish is my command."

What's next: Earlier this month, the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections said it would need a new map by early January to finalize voting precincts before the May 2025 election.

• Council may have to introduce and pass the map all on one day, Jan. 6, virtually eliminating time for public feedback.

https://www.axios.com/local/cleveland/2024/11/26/cleveland-city-council-redistricting-rebecca-maurer-blaine-griffin-ward-maps