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City staff say old address data has led to wasted notices as council weighs amnesty, DMV holds
Summary
City staff told the Syracuse City Council that outdated address records have caused mailed parking violation notices to be returned, and staff said they are researching an amnesty program and other enforcement tools including DMV registration holds.
A city staff member told the Syracuse City Council that parking-violation notices sent to addresses from the 1990s and earlier often are returned and “just gonna come back and be a waste of money and time.”
City staff described a one-time project that hired LexisNexis to trace current addresses for people who had older tickets so notices could be forwarded to current locations. The staff member said the project produced an updated list and that the city has not repeated that exact project outside of that special effort.
The council heard discussion about complaints that a vehicle was booted after only two tickets without an explanation; a staff member said a refund would be issued and confirmed the incident was being reviewed. Councilors and staff also discussed broader enforcement tools under consideration, including an amnesty program and asking the Department of Motor Vehicles to place holds on vehicle registration for unpaid violations.
The staff member who described the address-research project said, “Where is she now? And they came up with this list so that we could forward these, notices to the people at their present address.” Councilor Williams and other members asked clarifying questions about how frequently the data update was done and whether the practice would continue.
Staff warned that placing DMV holds or revoking registrations is legally possible but can prevent people from getting to work; one staff member said prior administrations had avoided using that option. The council did not take a recorded vote on any enforcement change during the remarks captured in the transcript; staff said they are “researching amnesty right now.”
The discussion also included an operational point that the city has existing mechanisms to reduce booting and to encourage payment, and staff said recommendations could include pursuing registration holds with the DMV if the council wanted to revisit that tool.
City staff and councilors agreed to continue follow-up: staff will research amnesty options and investigate the specific two-ticket booting incident and report back to the council for next steps.
