Cleveland City Council Ward 5 Councilman Richard A. Starr lives and labors where his heart is, and where he grew up - in one of Cleveland’s poorest wards.

Ward 5 in the city’s Central and Kinsman neighborhoods is being expanded as population losses force the city’s wards to drop to 15 from 17. Ward 5 is picking up more of the Kinsman area as well as more of downtown, a small slice of Slavic Village plus the Industrial Valley between Interstate 77 and the Cuyahoga River.

For about 14 1/2 years, Starr, 36, had been a key part of the King Kennedy Boys and Girls Club, and has shown that same heart and that commitment as he wraps up first term on council. Sadly, he’s perpetually had to sound the alarm as friends from childhood fall victim to gun violence, with no remedy in sight.

It’s one re

See Full Page