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Syracuse City Councilors Question Property Sales to Land Bank

Syracuselandbank.org

At least two Syracuse Common Councilors are starting to take a stand against the almost automatic sale of hundreds of tax delinquent properties to the land bank and not giving others the option to buy.  
  About 30 properties were on this week's agenda, and Councilor Nader Maroun voted no on all of them.  
At the council's previous meeting,  Kathleen Joy  issued a  similar protest "no" vote on land bank properties.   She says she’s gravely concerned that the Miner Administration isn’t even entertaining applications from individuals to purchase  properties either for themselves or as an investment to repair and sell later.  

property-joy_web.mp3
Councilor Joy says qualified, vetted individuals should have a shot at purchasing properties for sale at market value instead of driving nearly all delinquent properties to the land bank.

The land bank has been buying up hundreds of delinquent properties, selling them to qualified owners, or scheduling the worst ones for deconstruction.   The issue is likely to come up at a committee meeting next week when the council discusses the land bank’s contract.

Scott Willis covers politics, local government, transportation, and arts and culture for WAER. He came to Syracuse from Detroit in 2001, where he began his career in radio as an intern and freelance reporter. Scott is honored and privileged to bring the day’s news and in-depth feature reporting to WAER’s dedicated and generous listeners. You can find him on twitter @swillisWAER and email him at srwillis@syr.edu.