Okay.

Media all set.

Great.

Thank you all for joining for our community briefing.

I have with me here Deputy Mayor Owens, Latif Johnson Kinsey from our mayor's office to reduce gun violence, and Chief Joe Cecil.

You'll be hearing from all of them in a little bit.

So just to go over the agenda real quick, we will do our health update, in this case, our summer health update, which we always do thanks to Dr.

Katie Anderson and the Anadoga County Health Department team.

We'll cover our ComStat data as again, we always do.

Give an update on school zone traffic enforcement, our online residential and commercial permitting process.

Quick update on trash and recycling carts and some of the safety metrics associated with that.

Still relatively new program.

And then we want to talk about CDLs.

And we'll open it up to questions.

So on the health front, a number of things that I just want to cover.

Number one, I think any of us that have spent any amount of time outside know there are mosquitoes around.

And in addition to being a pest can create serious health issues.

So we've had uh two Onadaga County residents that have been hospitalized because of uh mosquito related um infections, um those being related to eastern equine encephalitis and West Nile virus.

So those are the two major concerns.

Um issues in the city yet, but obviously still something that we're very conscious of.

So just want to encourage uh people to use EPA approved repellents uh when you're spending time outside.

Uh of course, uh within your yard in the area that you control, uh keeping any standing water out of there is also helpful.

Uh rabies, something that we don't hear a lot about, but uh but the county health department did want us to encourage us to mention it.

So um they've been getting increased reports of bites coming from bats, cats, dogs, uh, and other wild animals.

And so um just want to remind folks that if you uh are bitten, um please seek medical care to address the issues.

Um, certainly uh don't want to see anybody end up with rabies or any other uh avoidable injuries.

Umasles, something that you wouldn't think we'd be talking about in 2025, but we are thankfully no reported cases of measles here in Onadaga County, but cases have been identified in other parts of New York and throughout the country.

So just want to encourage parents to make sure your children are up to date with their MMR vaccines.

Finally, again, tis the season, although uh these days uh it's almost becoming it really is a year-round issue.

Um, tick-borne disease diseases.

I think uh the difference, of course, this time of year is not only is the environment ripe for ticks, but uh we're spending more time outdoors.

So uh this is really peak activity for our peak season for tick activity and uh of course the related illnesses, uh Lyme disease being uh the most prevalent, and just encourage folks to take preventative measures, check yourself for ticks uh when you're outside, wear protective clothing wherever possible, and use tick repellents.

And of course, if you do find a tick on you or your pet for that matter, uh remove it promptly and seek medical care uh as uh as appropriate.

So uh those are the main issues the county health department raised.

You can find information on these issues and other health concerns on the county's website, ongov.net slash health.

All right, shifting to crime stat.

So I'm gonna go over our ComStat statistics and then turn it over to both uh Chief Cecil and Latif to dig a little bit deeper into them.

We always provide an update on our Crime Stat report.

Um we do want to dig a little bit deeper today given uh the significant reduced crime statistics that we're seeing.

So uh first I want to look at year over year the graph that you're looking at, which is on our Comstat report, which we public week weekly, publish weekly on uh our website.

So just go to SYR.gov, type Comstat into the search bar, and again you can find uh the most uh the latest Comstat report as well as previous Comstat reports.

So year over year, as you can see, virtually all blue.

Last week it was all blue.

We saw a little uptick in robberies, two more this year than the same time last year.

So that is uh slightly up.

But when you look at the numbers, uh homicides down 33.3%.

Um we have uh violent crime overall, eight down 18% year over year, property crime down 29.2%.

Want to give specific attention to stolen vehicles, which is down year over year, 51.7%.

So overall part one crime down year over year more than 27%.

So that is significant.

Um looking at the five-year average, um, comparing current statistics, also important to get a broader perspective.

And what you're seeing this year compared to the five-year average, again, is um it is uh uh a downward trend.

So uh a few that I want to call out overall crime, uh, part one crime this year compared to the five year average down 11.3 percent, violent offenses are down 25.7, and property crime down 7.1.

Uh again, I want to point to stolen vehicles.

Um, that has been a significant contributor to property crime over the past five years, really past few years, but um, we are seeing improvements there.

So our goal in sharing this information is uh not to declare victory, um uh not to let our guard down.

Uh one homicide, one crime is one too many in the city of Syracuse.

And for those that have been victims to crime, uh, these numbers don't matter, and and we're very sensitive to that.

Um, but it is important to be uh open and transparent with the data to inform people's uh opinions and also their actions.

And again, we're seeing uh positive, uh significant downward trends.

I also want to give the context within the national landscape because as is usually the case, our trends tend to align with other cities across the country.

And the good news for other cities across the country is we are seeing nationwide uh these crime statistics on a downward trajectory.

Uh, but even when compared to the national averages, uh, we are uh often significantly lower, uh, in some cases, almost uh or or over more than double.

So homicides, again, uh the national average down 17%, we're down 33%.

Aggravated assaults uh nationally down 10% here in Syracuse uh down 22% in motor vehicle thefts, which we've talked a lot about, down 25% nationally, 52% uh here in Syracuse.

So again, um positive news, something that we're going to continue to work on every day.

I want to acknowledge all of our partners, certainly Chief Cecil and his team at SPD, our officers are working incredibly hard, being proactive, um, policing uh the right way, and we're we're very grateful for them and proud of the work that they do.

You'll hear more from Latif about our community partners.

The idea of the mayor's office to reduce gun violence was to bring together all of our uh community violence intervention groups and other community-based organizations uh and create a more uh systemic approach to community violence intervention and uh all of our partners deserve credit, uh, as does the community for for their role, whether it's reporting crimes, helping to solve crimes.

Again, this is a team effort.

I do want to acknowledge our partners really at every level of government.

Um, certainly uh the the common council uh is is critical to ensuring um that we have the resources we need.

Um, county government, state and federal government, we all work really well together.

We have a Syracuse Anadaga County um uh gun violence reduction coalition uh that meets regularly.

And again, all of those levels of government are are um uh are at the table for those meetings and for all of the work that we do.

I want to give a specific shout out to Governor Hochel.

Um, every time I talk to Governor Hochel, the first question she asks is about crime, and she has been very helpful in directing a lot of resources to the city of Syracuse that have assisted us in these efforts.

So, with that, again, I want to turn it over to our subject matter experts who have been on the front lines of this work, starting with uh Syracuse Police Chief Joe Cecil.

Chief.

Thanks.

Good afternoon, everybody.

Um, the slide you're gonna see up here first, uh for me anyways is uh it's a very critical uh slide for us because again, as the mayor mentioned these are not just numbers.

If you look at the specific numbers on these uh on the side there, those are those are aren't just numbers, those are the are people that were either shot and injured or shot and killed.

And why we put this stat up here is not to, as the mayor said, to declare a victory, but to show that we never stop trying to reduce our numbers.

Our numbers last year in 2024 were low.

You can see it by the green arrow, or I'm sorry, the green line, 46 individuals uh shot and either injured or killed.

Well, we didn't stop there and say, wow, great year, let's just uh stop working.

We continue to work hard, the officers continue to work hard, the detectives uh, and we drove the number down to the point where we are now.

We're two uh individuals lower than last year, which was our very lowest year in the last 10 years.

I want to draw your attention also to the dotted lines.

The blue dotted line is the five-year average um at 88.

We're 50% lower than that right now.

And the black dotted line uh is the 10-year average, which is at 81.

So we're about 45% lower than that.

Again, not in just numbers.

We're lower in people actually being shot and killed, which means fewer families standing around either a hospital bed or a coffin.

So these are very important numbers for us because they translate into victims, uh, actual people.

Um again, as the mayor said, we don't we're not declaring victory here.

Um, but we just continue to push forward and try to drive our numbers down.

And I want to tell you how we do it.

We do it with proactive work, proactive proactive policing, which starts with the patrol officers on the front lines.

We have some outstanding commanders out there right now.

I'm talking about captains and lieutenants who oversee these patrol, you know, these patrol divisions, which have very young officers, uh, and they're very good, the commanders at motivating these officers to try to get ahead of the crime and not just chase it.

Um they push them all the time to be motivated.

And I can't say enough about the young officers themselves.

Very young officers, but they're all motivated, they're eager, they're engaged.

Uh, they're getting out of their cars more often than ever before, whether it's during COPRA curves, bike patrols, or officer initiated stops.

And this proactive work is what prevents crimes and drives these numbers down.

It all comes down to time.

If we give the cops time to be proactive, they will be proactive.

We track COPRA curves all the time on a weekly basis.

For those of you who don't know Coper Curve, this is a this is a strategy where three times during the shift or more if they have time, an officer in his his or her territory will step out of the car at a specific location that's been given to them because of some crime trend, whether it's gun violence, burglaries, robberies, assaults, anything.

It could even be larcies from vehicles or stolen vehicles.

They get out of their car three times per shift for 20 minutes and walk a beat, trying to engage with citizens and business owners and anyone who might have an idea.

The idea is not to prevent, well, the idea is twofold to prevent the crime and trend from occurring, but also to see if they can glean some information from people who live in this, live in the neighborhood who work in the neighborhood about why this trend is occurring so they can push the investigation further forward and uh and possibly solve the crime and stop it completely.

Those COPA curves, just so to give you an idea.

Last week the officers did 76 of those, in addition to everything else they're doing.

There's also self-initiated stops that go beyond the COPRA curves.

These are stops of people in cars uh uh that are suspicious um for for some reason.

And they did 191 of those in the last week.

All this proactive work um is being done.

And I don't want to leave the detectives from our crime and uh criminal investigation division or special investigation division out either.

They are these detectives that we have on our department routinely beat the matrix across this nation when it comes to investigations and solving crimes.

They routinely beat those matrix all across the country.

Um, and they do it just with hard uh good police work.

Um, and just to give you an example, our criminal investigation division detectives solved another open homicide just this week.

Uh and this just today, this morning, our special investigation division um uh took down they they uh executed four drug search warrants just this morning, and you probably didn't know anything about them, but they did.

And last week, uh, as some of you do know because it made the papers, uh they executed three drug search warrants.

That's seven drug search warrants in less than seven days.

The work continues to happen.

The reason I say this is it's all circular uh and connected.

Proactive work leads to reduction in crime, which leads to more time for the police to do more proactive work, which again drives the crime down.

And that and I want to say this before I leave because I know you're gonna hear from Pastor Johnson Kinsey, but we're not doing this alone.

We've never done it alone.

The community helps, as the mayor said, but I want to say this for my perspective before the pastor comes up.

Uh, the work that's being done behind the scenes to get these young people and adults to put down the guns and take different pathways, safer pathways, nonviolent pathways is working.

It's something that was added that wasn't there before, and they he has a part in this reduction.

There is no doubt in my mind, after 40 years, as hard as the officers work, as hard as the detectives work.

This added component is helping to drive these numbers down, especially when it comes to gun violence.

Thank you.

Thank you, Chief.

Um Chief Cecil is generous with his praise for others.

Uh he skimps on his on praise for himself.

Uh, and so I just want to say uh Chief Cecil's done an exceptional job.

So good job to you, Chief and your team as well.

But again, I don't think any of us are letting our guard down.

A lot of important work to do.

And to that point, I'd like to bring up our director of the mayor's office to reduce gun violence, Latif Johnson Kinsey.

Well, T.

Thank you, Mayor.

So I will kind of talk about uh a few points.

Uh, one thing is our coordination since we've uh the conception of the mayor's officers reduced gun violence in 2022.

There are three meetings that we've had that we've started over the last, I will say coalitions over the last two years.

One is the city and county uh coalition to reduce gun violence.

Uh we meet at the beginning of the month, um, which in that room you have the district attorney, the U.S.

attorney, the mayor, deputy mayor, chief, uh, and some other local organizations to come together and talk about ways to reduce gun violence.

I think that's very important when we talk about coordination efforts uh in that room.

We're able to deal with um gun violence either spikes or when they go down, trends and what's going on.

But we all have the same information.

So when we believe out of there, we all have one voice together uh to reduce gun violence.

The next one is uh the newest coalition uh that we've only had for a few months now, which is the faith base and community uh coalition, uh, which are is a room full of pastors, uh faith leaders in the community, along with deputy mayor, myself, uh SPD, again, um continue to talk about how we reduce gun violence and coming up uh with with ideas on to do that.

Um the last one is our our outreach efforts, uh which I'll spend a few seconds on today, um, which we meet once a month again, outreach in these community organizations that come together, not waiting on until someone is shot, not waiting until there's a homicide, but meeting once a month, being intentional about our meetings and ways of how we can coordinate and have efforts to reduce gun violence and not just uh waiting to something happens to do that.

Uh but how do we do that beforehand?

Um, so one thing we've done is response.

So we know we had a shooting um a few months ago, um, a tragic homicide on upper onadaka.

Um being able to get together and responding to that with all the community organization partners.

Um, I think that's very important for young people in the community to see us all coming together, working together as one to make sure people know that we care, that we see you, that we understand um that you're hurt, we understand that something happened that was traumatic, but to see all these organizations come together uh as one and then not waiting just as something happening, but having proximity.

Um, these organizations, we've done outreach beyond uh just waiting for a homicide to happen.

But um, when it's time to get out there uh in areas that we call our hot spots or areas where uh they we know crime been happening, um, and they canvass.

Um one statistic is that um Snug has doubled uh their canvassing um and areas in their hotspot areas.

So not only um are they going out there uh when it's an issue, but canvassing happens when there's nothing going on, finding those areas where people are needed.

So what we are seeing is our trend is to make sure we that people know that we see them, that young people know that we care for them and that we want better for them.

Um, and we're not just waiting to something to happen.

A last thing I'll say, um, which is a very important thing.

There's been a lot of questions about our youth um and what is going on and what are we doing with our young people?

Well, we have what's called custom notifications, uh, where we get together with Syracuse Police Department, uh, we find out uh individuals, young people, most likely 14 to 15 years old, uh that have somehow been involved with gun violence or have been on social media uh showing firearms.

Uh, we are getting a list of those names, and we're actually going to their door, meeting with their parents, meeting with the student or or children, and that's along with SPD probation, Syracuse City School District uh officials to meet with the young people, find out what's going on with them.

Um, I will say this that anybody that's watching, you have a kid, you know they're involved in some kind of way, and they have a gun, call our offices.

We we want to get guns off the street, and we want to get guns out of the hands of young people.

14 to 15 year olds should not be around firearms at all.

So if you're a parent and you feel that our home is not safe, there is an issue here.

We want to make sure we come, we can come talk to you.

Um, and it does not always just have to be police.

If you want my office to come, we can come have a conversation, but we want to get that gun out of your home.

Um that that's how we reduce gun violence, especially with our young people.

So the question continues: what are we doing?

There are services, they're mentoring.

So when we go to the door, it's not this, it's not a punitive uh information we're giving them, but we're telling them, hey, we want to help you.

We have programming, we have outreach organizations that's willing to help.

Uh Chief talked a little bit about our office and the work that we're doing.

It wouldn't be an office without the organizations that's doing the work.

Um, but would not be office without those boots on the ground every day, those uh uh what we call credible messengers or mentors that's every day that's out helping young people right now, right now today, at this time, there's somebody that's talking to a young person right now that can change their life.

So I really want to take this a minute to thank those organizations, Mayor, for for the work that they have done.

Without those are the heroes we don't hear about, we don't see about, we don't see them on camera, but they're the one that's actually doing the work.

So uh that's that's it for me.

Thank you.

Thanks, Latia.

Again, really want to credit Latif um for for being, I think the analogy we used the other day was uh offensive coordinator, quarterback is another.

But uh again, there's a lot of really good people and organizations doing really good work.

I think Latif and his office have really uh again built a uh stronger system and ecosystem really of uh uh gun violence reduction efforts.

Um also wanted to mention a few other examples that I think all of this has been building up towards.

Um certainly Latif mentioned the school district, they are an active partner just because school is out doesn't mean the district is not at the table.

They are uh and uh we're already in close coordination as we get towards the first day of school, so the district's a critical partner.

Our parks department has had programming going on all summer for kids and adults, and uh and it it makes a difference.

The police athletic activities league, again, programming all summer.

Our summer youth employment program has has put hundreds, if not uh more than a thousand kids, young people to work this summer where they've been able to earn a living, um, gain valuable skills that they can uh use to advance uh both their academic uh and their professional careers.

So again, um a lot of really good work going on, a lot of uh important work still to be done.

I want to shift gears and talk uh about safety again, but uh with within a different context, and that's uh traffic safety.

So if anyone has been paying attention in the news in recent weeks, we've seen some really uh horrific tragedies.

Uh, individuals that have been killed being hit by uh vehicles, whether they be trucks uh or cars, uh it's a problem.

It is a real problem here in the city of Syracuse, again, not limited to the city, but one that we're taking very seriously.

Um the most recent incident involved a seven-year-old child, and and again, that is uh that that is unacceptable.

Um that uh those incidents and and that those trends have been what led us down the path towards uh becoming a vision zero community and have led to a lot of our uh our traffic uh enforcement and traffic safety measures.

The one specifically I just want to give a quick update given um how close we are to the first day of school is on our school zone uh automated traffic enforcement.

So as a reminder, there are really three components of the program.

There are the bus stop arm cameras, which we deployed uh in the spring and uh have been operational since then.

And of course, as school gets started again, uh we'll see a lot more buses on the streets.

Um additionally, our two other uh phases are going to be rolling out in the coming weeks.

So it is our goal to have uh most, if not all of our uh school zone speeding cameras uh fully operational by the first day of school on September 3rd.

Um, and we will begin rolling out our uh our red light um uh traffic cameras as well uh around that time.

That they will be roll uh it will be they will be rolled out um uh over the course of weeks and months ahead.

So we they won't all go on at once.

Um but again, all of these tools are intended um to be force multipliers to assist SPD uh and uh and our other partners in ensuring uh safety on our streets.

Um and uh again, ultimately they're intended to um to protect uh people in our community, but especially the reason we have focused so much on schools and school zones is to protect our most vulnerable population, our young people.

Um so uh those again um bus stop armor is fully operational, uh bus stop arm cameras, excuse me, um speeding cameras uh rolled out uh on September 3rd, as well as the beginning of the uh red light cameras.

So, as a reminder, um, or maybe for the first time, um, it's important to know all of the rules governing these programs are made by New York State and and have been adopted here.

So, in the case of the school zone speed cameras and the red light cameras, the the uh violation is a $50 ticket.

Um it uh also includes if if it if not paid a $25 penalty.

Um our goal here is not to hurt people financially.

It's not a money grab.

And accordingly, um, part of the process is including a warning period where uh for the first 60 days uh from the rollout on September 3rd, people be will be getting warnings.

If you're if you're caught by one of our cameras speeding in a school zone or running a red light, both of which you shouldn't do, uh you will get a warning before you get a ticket for uh 460 days.

After that 60 day notice, that those warnings combined with a robust uh public communications plan.

Uh, we will begin ticketing after that.

And again, uh we would be very happy if we didn't issue any tickets, but what we've seen both on the streets here locally as well as other communities that have uh that have deployed these programs, uh tickets will be written.

Um the good news is we don't see um uh a high recidivism rate where usually once people get a ticket, they get the message.

And again, that's that's the goal.

That's the objective.

So um stay tuned for more information there.

I I want to say this might seem pretty simple.

You throw some cameras up and you're you're done.

Um, this is among the most uh significant and and labor-intensive uh program that the city has undertaken in in many years.

Uh, it involves um uh infrastructure in the right of way.

It involves uh the police department, it involves our municipal violations bureau.

Uh it involves making sure that we have appropriate staffing.

Um, it is a major undertaking.

Uh, and because of that, you know, I it's it's important to manage everyone's expectations that you know this is a pilot program and we're learning every step of the way.

And so um you know uh depending on what we learn, we reserve the right to modify uh our approach, modify the time frame.

Again, the goal here isn't just to get everything up and to start writing tickets, it's to do it the right way that works for city government that works for our constituents and ultimately uh prioritize the safety after all others.

So again, I want to give a shout out to all involved.

Leah Whitmer's here from our municipal violations bureau, her office is going to feel the brunt of uh of those tickets and even warnings when they when they start.

Um Connor Muldoon is here, uh our chief operating officer in the mayor's office, uh kind of quarterbacking this effort.

Again, Chief Cecil and his team are gonna are gonna have they're gonna be the ones reviewing the tickets, and it's gonna be a significant burden on their department too.

So just want to acknowledge the significant undertaking involved here.

But um, this administration has never shied away from uh big projects, and uh uh and we are excited to continue to roll this one out.

Uh on the topic of big projects.

I will now shift uh and bring up Deputy Mayor Sharon Owens.

The issue of permitting has been a priority of this administration from day one.

Uh, we've made a lot of progress, whether it was uh initially creating uh an online viewing platform to review uh electronic um permit submittals and plans, um, whether it was the hiring of uh third-party reviewers to build our capacity to expedite permit reviews or the most recent um iteration, including the full uh uh online uh permitting system.

Again, we've we've done a lot.

Uh it is making a positive difference.

Ultimately, this is all designed to uh make investing in the city of Syracuse, whether it's in your home or your business uh is efficient and effective as possible.

So, Deputy Mayor can come up and share more about our permitting program.

Thank you, Mayor.

I want to uh recognize and thank uh deputy commissioner Jake Dishall and his team for getting us up and running.

Um we are at a point where we are launching an opportunity for our residents and businesses to um renovate and to do work here in the city of Syracuse.

This is a huge moment in our city.

Um, again, as the mayor said, we have heard from our residents, heard from our businesses.

How do we streamline our permit process?

And this is just another step, significant step in that way.

So last week the central permit office launched um its online portal.

We are thrilled about this.

Um, and it's going to allow us to make improvements to our process for residents and businesses.

And so it is going to streamline the review approvals in addition to our third-party reviewers, streamlining that process.

It is going to, and this is huge, provide on-demand 24-hour access to businesses or residents who are busy running their business or working all day but have a kitchen project.

So that at night or on the weekends, they can, when city hall is closed or one-park place, they can go online and continue their project um process.

It's going to improve our user-friendly um experience.

Um they can uh users will be able to track the permit, contact city staff, and pay for any fees um related to their project all online and payment with a credit card is available.

And they're going to be able to upload all the required documents, no more required trips downtown, um, taking off launcher getting you away from your site, which is what you want to be focusing on to upload those documents.

Um, and once the project is approved, your permit placard, which is required for you to do work at City of Syracuse.

If you're doing work, construction work, go through the process because you have to have a permit.

You'll be able to uh download that permit, print it, and put it right on your um construction project.

Huge online capabilities for us to be able to streamline and be more flexible for the needs of businesses and residents.

Side two, we have uh many different permit types.

Um you would your mind would be blown in how many permits are required by us.

But we categorize them into two areas um residential, which is one and two family dwellings, and then commercial, which can be a combination of multifamily, that's three or above units, mixed use or commercial.

And so uh residential and commercial and a quick search of permits on our website brings applicants to a page where they can apply for residential and commercial um permits, and it just is going to make it more uh easier.

And so Greg is helping me to demonstrate.

So if you see in the commercial, if he clicks on that, it's going to work.

Yes.

So you'll be able to learn the process as Greg scrolls down of what permits are required for a commercial project.

You'll see all of them there.

Um Greg clicked on that, what it's going to take you to at this point is that page.

You must create an account.

And that is how we are able to get all of the information needed to do everything that I just described and be interactive with us.

Let's go to residential, Greg.

And so we go to our residential construction permits and drum roll.

Greg's gonna scroll down to show you just how many different projects and permit requirements there are when it comes to um residential from roofing to I just had a conversation with a friend of mine about building a deck, and say you please follow the process and build the deck appropriately.

And so these are so many different areas that you'll be able to go on.

We're really excited about this.

Again, I cannot give, and and Jake will say, don't point to me, point to my team, but just to be able to get us to this point where we are flexible, fluid, and accessible to construction and building as our city grows, we have to grow with our ability to serve our constituencies.

And so we are really excited about this.

We're gonna, I'm gonna be around.

Jake more importantly is gonna be around answering questions about this, but it is online and ready to go now.

Further down the line, we're also going to get into right-of-way permits and also zoning.

But right now, if you're if you're engaged in a project, you can go online and start this.

And we're eagerly waiting to hear feedback about um how this is going and how people really enjoyed this product, this product that we've uh created.

Thank you.

Great.

Thank you, Deputy Mayor.

Um, you know, last year we had the the highest permitted construction value on record in the city.

So uh this could not have uh come at a more crucial time as our community continues to prepare for uh really historic growth between Micron and all the other exciting investments that are happening here.

So again, whether you are a global company or uh homeowner on any side of town, uh we want you to be able to use this process and uh and ultimately invest in the city.

So again, great job to the deputy mayor, to Jake, to his entire team, and uh we're we're really excited to see what comes of it.

Um gonna go back to I mentioned kind of big uh significant undertakings in city government.

Um we talked about uh one that we've that we're currently in the midst of with uh automated enforcement.

We've talked about permitting, which is uh again been ongoing, and of certainly we've spent a lot of time over the past couple of years talking about trash and recycling.

Uh, at this point, I think everyone's figured out the system.

Uh maybe you still forget what which week you're you're on for your recycling, but you can go on our website and look that up real time.

Um, but bringing everyone back to the beginning when we started this project, there were a number of reasons why we wanted to do it.

But the most important one was worker safety.

Um we had significant injuries uh coming out of DPW at a disproportionate rate when looking at other parts of city government.

Um, and that simply it wasn't good for our workers, it wasn't good for our operations, and ultimately it wasn't good for our constituents.

So we have some data now that uh that shows uh how significant the impact uh of our new trash and recycling car system um uh is so looking at at the data uh 2020 in 2022, 41% of shoulder injuries when compared to other uh city departments uh were made up by uh uh the division of sanitation.

Um that was 17 incidents, uh, and uh of which seven incidents required needed uh needing time off.

Fast forward to last year, 2024, it was represented 3% sanitation worker injury, shoulder injuries represented 3% uh of all the injuries, um costing a total of 257 dollars, uh limited to two incidents, none of which required uh time off for the worker.

So uh again, the the the proof is uh in the data, it's here for all to see.

It's undeniable, and it it really just goes to show that um this program uh benefited, has benefited the city in many ways, but none more significant than you know than its impact on our workers, which again um impacts their quality of life and ability uh to do their job.

It has a significant financial impact to the city, and uh again, we're really proud of it, and we're really happy for our workers that uh that they're doing so much better.

Uh last topic I want to bring up, uh, also related um uh to DPW, although not exclusive to DPW is uh commercial driver driver's licenses, CDLs.

Uh nationally, there is a shortage of uh CDL uh drivers, uh, and and we are certainly feeling that uh in the city of Syracuse, especially uh at DPW.

So I know we're all enjoying mostly enjoying this this really warm weather that we're having and enjoying the last days of the summer, uh, but we are already thinking about and planning for snow, uh, and there have certainly been times over the past eight years when I've desperately wanted to jump in the cab myself and get behind one of those plows because uh we didn't either didn't have enough drivers or didn't have enough vehicles.

The good news is through a lot of uh investment and planning, our fleet has never been stronger for uh both plows as well as other uh large vehicles, um, but we don't have enough CDL drivers.

And so we are putting a call out uh to um all individuals who have CDL licenses uh in the city of Syracuse who are interested in getting their CDL license.

Uh, we want you to come work for us at the city of Syracuse.

We're gonna be rolling out a number of different efforts to get out in the community uh to make sure people are aware of the opportunities to make sure people are aware of the the training that's available to get your CDL.

Um this is a perfect example of where if you if you're talking to a family member or friend uh and they're complaining that the job market is tight uh or that they're looking for a uh a change in jobs or careers.

This is a an example where there is an immediate need, both here in the city of Syracuse and far beyond us.

And so again, we want people to uh consider um applying to work for the city of Syracuse.

People that are interested uh with their CDL license, or even those that aren't that are interested in uh in working for the city, you can go to our website sway.gov slash workfor Syracuse.

So again, calling all CDL drivers, City of Syracuse is hiring, and winter is coming.

Thank you all so much for your time.

We are happy to answer uh questions, either anything that we covered uh in the briefing or things that we didn't.

Yeah, this question is for the police department.

Um police public concern at all about pedestrian safety during such a busy and historical construction period around the city.

Um we've got three best friend desks involved in trucks doing anything to ensure water bikers are safe while we share the streets with uh heavy construction goods.

Yeah, we're obviously we're concerned about that.

Anytime we see a trend, and if it's a trend that includes uh fatalities, we're concerned about it.

We do have a plan.

I know the mayor probably can speak even more in more detail about this, but we have a plan not only for public awareness for pedestrians, but we're reaching out to DOT and some of the construction companies that work uh and are going to frequent those streets.

Uh, we're doing uh awareness campaigns to them as well.

I know we were we're also talking about seeing if we can uh work with them on alternative routes that aren't quite as populated.

So we're doing a bunch of things behind the scenes as a result of everything you just mentioned.

And just last question.

Um, you say crime here is more cyclical or seasonal.

Seems like it happens in waves, and then as long as the area peaks during certain times.

Um, why may have to case yeah?

So actually, when I use that cyclical thing, it was talking about how if you give officers more time, they do more proactive work, which leads to fewer like less crime.

Uh, and then that leads to more time for them.

But it was, but I can see, but I can answer that question as well.

Certainly, um, everyone across the country experiences more crime during the summer than we do the winter.

Uh in fact, on some frigid nights, you won't see anything happening in the city.

Um, so it's it's it goes in those waves, depending on weather, but it could also depend on whether it's very rainy out.

It could depend on whether uh, you know, it's so hot out that no one's coming out of their homes.

So it is it does it is weather dependent.

Uh, but you you can't uh in in years past, I will say this you could almost predict month to month what was going to happen, and you can't anymore.

We've had some very violent crime occur in January, some of our most frigid weather in February, where it's coldest, one of our coldest months.

We've had some very violent crime occur.

So uh you can't predict it, but certainly the weather does have some impact.

Thanks, Chief.

Um, just to add a few other points on the issue of traffic safety and specifically some of these incidents involving construction vehicles.

There's a lot of construction going on around Syracuse and throughout the region.

I don't have to tell anybody that I'm hearing about it.

I think everybody's hearing about it.

Um, that is uh that is um something that we're gonna have to get used to because a growing city experiences construction.

It doesn't make it easy or fun, but it's critical to achieving our goals as a community.

So it's something that we have to get used to, which means people need to adapt their behaviors, whether it's planning for uh more more time uh to get to where you want to go, but also being more aware of of your surroundings, whether you're driving, walking, riding a bike.

Uh everyone needs to uh uh to do their part uh to keep our streets safe.

And um, we're certainly working on uh public education and uh communicating that both internally and externally.

We have been in touch in light of the recent accidents directly with New York State DOT, uh, as well as some of our other partners.

We're looking at what SPD can do in uh in terms of additional uh traffic uh enforcement.

Um I mentioned our vision zero uh efforts.

Um we have a vision zero plan that has been years in the making that is on the common council agenda right now, which lays out uh exactly what we're talking about a strategy to eliminate traffic fatalities and serious injuries.

We have that plan.

Uh we we want the council to adopt it and firm and uh formalize our commitment and memorialize our commitment to this.

Um, but it's never been more important.

Um, and there's a lot of good work being done, uh, but much much more to be done.

So uh it is uh foremost on all of our minds right now.

I have one for uh GC.

Sure.

It's been about a month since uh police president was increased in Armory Square.

Have you seen any major changes because of that pre-quest questions?

Oh, yeah, the major changes we we uh addressed that concern that was down there, meaning the uh early morning block parties that were occurring almost as soon as we put that extra footprint down there, the mayor approved extra officers.

Uh, the past few weekends uh have been very, very quiet and no block parties.

Um, so yes, we've seen an imp we've seen an impact, and it's all been positive.

And is there any chance that that could be going away, or is that going to be staying for good here?

Is there a timeline for that possibly not being there anymore?

Yeah, so we talk about it each week, each week that goes by.

I confer with the mayor and uh certainly the captain that works the detail uh to talk about whether we can pull back and draw down on those numbers.

As it stands right now, the number is still the same.

The still we have the same footprint down there as we did several weeks ago, but we do talk about that all the time uh because it is quiet down there now, but we don't want to pull out too soon.

Right.

Yeah, if I could just add to that, you know, I think a couple important notes there.

Number one is that you know, the in our the Armory Square detail has been in existence for many years.

Uh what we're what you've seen in recent weeks is uh is is a surge in that in that detail.

Uh it's an expanded detail that includes both Syracuse Police uh as well as a number of other agencies.

Uh and again, it's important to know why we did that.

We did that in response to business owner concerns about these large gatherings after hours.

Um, they were being proactive in communicating their concerns to us before something really bad happened, uh, and we were being proactive in addressing that those things before anything really bad happened.

So I think it's important to note that this wasn't result uh the result of uh you know this extremely dangerous situation in Armory Square, especially during business hours.

Um, this was a result of of seeing certain activities that could have led to something bad happening, but because of the the good work of the business owners and of the Syracuse Police Department and our partners, um, nothing bad happened.

What else?

We good okay.

Thanks everybody.

Enjoy the rest of your summer.

See you all soon.

Stay safe.