django syncdb isn't ?!

i think this example shows it all: after changing my model, i use manage.py sql to rebuild the schema, and then manage.py syncdb to sync it with postgres. but psql does not reflect the changes?! watch in particular the NULL status of attributes like CTYPE:

$ python manage.py sql showCrime

BEGIN;
CREATE TABLE "showCrime_oakcrime" (
    "idx" integer NOT NULL PRIMARY KEY,
    "opd_rd" varchar(10) NOT NULL,
    "oidx" integer NOT NULL,
    "cdate" date NOT NULL,
    "ctime" time NOT NULL,
    "ctype" varchar(50),
    "desc" varchar(80),
    "beat" varchar(5),
    "addr" varchar(80),
    "lat" double precision,
    "long" double precision,
    "ucr" varchar(5),
    "statute" varchar(50),
    "crimeCat" varchar(50)
)
;
COMMIT;

$ python manage.py syncdb

Creating tables ...
Installing custom SQL ...
Installing indexes ...
Installed 0 object(s) from 0 fixture(s)

$ psql -U USERNAME djangodb

djangodb=> d "showCrime_oakcrime"

       Table "public.showCrime_oakcrime"
  Column  |          Type          | Modifiers 
----------+------------------------+-----------
 idx      | integer                | not null
 opd_rd   | character varying(10)  | not null
 oidx     | integer                | not null
 cdate    | date                   | not null
 ctime    | time without time zone | not null
 ctype    | character varying(50)  | not null
 desc     | character varying(80)  | not null
 beat     | character varying(5)   | not null
 addr     | character varying(80)  | 
 lat      | double precision       | 
 long     | double precision       | 
 ucr      | character varying(5)   | 
 statute  | character varying(50)  | 
 crimeCat | character varying(50)  | 
Indexes:
    "showCrime_oakcrime_pkey1" PRIMARY KEY, btree (idx)

at one point CTYPE and the others did have NOT NULL qualifiers (because i'd mis-specified blank,null values in my django model) but they are staying as they were; there seems to be some database state maintained somewhere?