With the residential decrease heavier in certain areas of the city, those wards were going to have to expand geographically; to stay level in terms of representation - roughly 23-thousand folks per council member...
But word got out of possible substantive changes angered some people, and though a few rumors proved to be wrong - some others were not...
Among the changes are the representation in several neighborhoods - and boundaries in virtually every ward.
Downtown was partly divided, while areas like Ohio City and Glenville were nearly consolidated under one representative.
Yet the full council voted 17-2 to accept the new map, as drawn by consultants and City Council President Martin Sweeney.
Saying no was Joe Cimperman, who represents downtown and the near west side - and Mike Polensek, who represents most of Collinwood and the Northeast corner of Cleveland.
Sweeney explains some of why the changes happened as they did - and started by challenging those who said the process was done behind closed doors.