By Gregory Korte
The Cincinnati Enquirer

When 29-year-old Y. Laketa Cole took her seat on Cincinnati City Council Wednesday, she continued a demographic revolution at City Hall.

There are now six members of City Council who are 35 years old or younger. If they voted as a bloc, they could override the veto of 51-year-old Mayor Charlie Luken.

It is, most likely, the youngest City Council in the city's history. You'd have to go back to 1979 - when a 35-year-old Jerry Springer was on City Council - to find a group even nearly as young as the current crop. As recently as 1999, the median age on City Council was 46.

Democrats appointed Cole to succeed 48-year-old Paul Booth, who resigned last week to take a state job. They picked her over a far more experienced legislator, former state Rep. Sam Britton, 69.

Five months older than John Cranley, Cole is the second youngest member of City Council. Other under-35s are Alicia Reece, 31, David Pepper, 31, Chris Monzel, 34, and Pat DeWine, 35.

In a city wracked by youth violence and struggling to attract recent college graduates, Cole said the city needs to concentrate on an even younger generation.

"Too often, we say that our youth are our future," Cole said to City Council Wednesday. "I believe our youth are today."

E-mail gkorte@enquirer.com