by KYW's Mike Dunn

With Philadelphia City Council due to return to work in two weeks, there is a move afoot to reduce the number of Council seats that would be up for grabs in the 2011 election.

Currently, City Council has 17 members, seven of them at-large.  Councilman Wilson Goode Jr. (above), who holds one of the at-large seats, will propose changing the city charter so there are only five at-large council members.  He cites the city's shrinking population:

"A lot will change as we face the 2011 election, so we should look at what Council will look like when members are sworn in on the first Monday of 2012."
 
But this would effectively end the long tradition that two at-large seats go to the minority -- currently Republican -- party. Councilman Frank Rizzo (right), one of the two at large GOP members, is not pleased:

"My office, a Republican office, is very busy providing constituent service work."

And Rizzo predicts that Goode's effort will not fly. 
  
(File photos)