PHILADELPHIA (CBS) – City Council today signed off on a new map of council district boundaries and the changes make some districts far less convoluted.

After weeks of closed door wrangling, Council approved a map (pictured, right. Click here to view an enlarged version of the map.) that will take effect for elections in four years.

A map of the district lines approved by Philadelphia City Council.

The loser is the only Republican District Council member, Brian O’Neill of the Northeast, who ends up with the entire heavily-Democratic 56th ward.  He says he’s resigned to the change, “I have no control over it. I have 14 Democratic colleagues, the majority of whom are not with me, and two Republican colleagues, one of whom is not with me.”

The new map has districts that are far less convoluted than the current one, particularly the Seventh District held by Maria Quinones Sanchez. “I’m happy that my colleagues unanimously agreed that my district needed to be fixed,” says Quinones Sanchez.

Under the charter, council members would not be paid until this is settled, so resolution of the battle means those paychecks are delayed only one day.

Reported by City Hall Bureau Chief Mike Dunn, KYW Newsradio 1060