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By Kathy Wray Coleman, editor, associate publisher

CLEVELANDURBANNEWS.COM, CLEVELAND, Ohio-Two charter amendments initially on the ballot in Cleveland for March 17,  2020, which is Ohio's presidential primary,  have been withdrawn, the effort to reduce the 17-member Cleveland City Council and cut council members salaries now history, at least for now.

Clevelanders First, led by Cleveland restaurateur and Lakewood businessman Tony George and some activists, many of them suburbanites, made the announcement after meeting with east side Black pastors who were concerned the move could set up an east side-west side split in the city, a city divided along racial lines.

The group, led by George, had collected the necessary signatures to put the measures before voters, its members arguing that the council members have become lackadaisical and patsies for the establishment.

Blacks primary reside on the city's east side and Whites on the west side, separated, in fact, by the Cuyahoga River, Cleveland the second most segregated city in the nation behind Boston.

The proposed charter amendments would cut the number of council members from 17 to nine and reduce their pay from $83,370 to $58,000.

Cleveland City Council President Kevin Kelley, who is White, while four-term Mayor Frank Jackson, who is currently serving and unprecedented fourth term, is Black, has said the measures, if adopted, would give residents less access to local government.

Black Cleveland activists were torn over the matter, most of them against the reduction in city council saying it is racist and targets resources or council people in a largely Black city unlike neighboring majority White and affluent suburban communities like Shaker Heights and Beachwood, who have fewer constituents per council person than Cleveland.

By charter Cleveland's 17 all Democratic councilpersons generally serve some 25,000 constituents per council person, per ward.

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