Tagged: central new york

Hoping to better support its growing immigrant population, Syracuse has put forward a plan to create an "international village" in its north side neighborhood.

Syracuse's idea has been named a finalist in the Mayors Challenge competition, which is run by New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg's charity organization Bloomberg Philanthropies.

On Monday, Syracuse will send foreclosure notices to the owners of 200 vacant homes, empty lots and severely tax delinquent residences in selected areas of the city.

Syracuse has not engaged in a formal foreclosure process in over a decade, according to Dan Barnaba, treasurer of the Greater Syracuse Property Development Corporation, the newly formed non-profit land bank.

"This is going to come as somewhat of a surprise and a shock to some people," he says.

But, he added, the city has tried to warn homeowners ahead of time. Letters about the new policy were mailed to the owners of all the nearly 4,000 seizable properties at the beginning of the month.