Miami-Dade Blinks on Residency Restrictions
Feeling the heat of worldwide focus on an encampment of citizens living beneath the Julia Tuttle Causeway, Miami-Dade Commissioners have repealed the hodge-podge of sex offender residency laws created and passed by municipalities within the county lines.
Previous NIMBY restrictions literally exiled anyone designated as an offender from living within Miami-Dade, leaving many on the streets, legally restricted from housing or shelter with friends or family living within the designated off-limit zones. As the laws stood unchallenged, cities and counties throughout Florida wildfired the concept of restricting residence within the individual communities.
Thanks to the grassroots efforts of many effected by these laws, the general population became educated on the broad range of offenses considered sexual in nature, many which involve no physical interaction with anyone. Thanks to the Florida legislature who stood by and watched the laws take on a life of their own--quick easy vote-getters--more and more citizens found themselves facing such charges and upon conviction, branded with a label that most immediately associate with child molestation. As an example, teenagers engaged in typical adolescent behaviors (i.e. inappropriate texting as one example)--arrested and convicted of the same--are required to register as sex offenders.
Took a few years, but thanks to the efforts of overzealous law enforcement, soon most everyone knew someone or of someone designated as a RSO and the circumstances surrounding that distinction.
The Julia Tuttle Causeway encampment of sex offenders living under the span quite effectively underscored the homelessness consequence created by such restrictions. The fact Ron Book, Chairman of the Miami-Dade Homeless Trust had lobbied for passage of such laws at the state and municipality levels provided the exclamation point of what the hell is going on here?!?!The new ordinance in a conch shell:
--1,000-foot buffer zone for all other places where children gather (Florida state law)
--300 feet no-loitering zones where children congregate
My first impression. Define loitering. I'd like to know if as taxpayers, those registered will now be permitted to utilize state parks, public boat launches and all and any community area as would any other Floridian.
Many questions remain. The prediction is as goes Miami, so will the rest of Florida.
***
Miami Herald, 1/21/2010:
(...)
(Miami-Dade) County Commissioners on Thursday passed, 12-0, a sex offender ordinance that repeals more than 24 different sex offender laws enacted by municipalities within county borders. The new law creates one standard that it hopes will balance the need to protect children while still giving housing options to sexual offenders.
The ordinance also creates a new provision that supporters say is a more workable and realistic solution to protecting children: child-safety zones.
Almost all the municipal ordinances tend ``to create zones in which sexual offenders are completely excluded from available housing,'' the ordinance reads.
Under the child-safety zones, sex offenders are prohibited from loitering within 300 feet of where children congregate. In other words, it restricts sex offenders from being near children, but doesn't leave them homeless.
Read more here.
Labels: Julia Tuttle Causeway, Miami-Dade residency restrictions, Ron Book, sex offender laws in America
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Maybe I'm reading this wrong, sunny but things don't seem much better???
Here's three things that should give everyone pause.
OH and WHY are so many lawmakers all tied in with making MONEY OFF SEX OFFENDERS??? NO WONDER the wife of Robert O'Neill's business partner can go around threatening to have people put on the sex offender's list. She's probably paid a goddamn finder's fee !!!! I want to interview EVERY sex offender and find out how they got put on that list. I bet you that would be a tale that would put EVERYONE INVOLVED IN THE PRISON.
Read these links.
First .. John Walsh is responsible for founding the Missing Children's Center, right???
NOW, the director is making OVER ONE POINT FIVE MILLION A YEAR !!!! And it's private while still citizen supported. Interesting connection to the justice dept which is also shared by above business partner of Robert O'Neill United States Attorney.
Next up we have many, many things but here's one that slipped by a lot of us... Good old Bob Martinez (wingwalker) and his brother founded THIS place to track offenders WAY BACK !! (there's that magical political connection again and martinez is also a wa insider) THIS PLACE PRO TECH is making SEVENMILLION PLUS dollars a year for tracking LESS THAN TWENTY FIVE HUNDRED people and really doing nothing even one smidgen of a job as important as an air traffic controller?? SEVEN MILLION.
And, finally we'll recall Hank Asher's gazillions. Smug. AND the many others who have enriched themselves at the expense of other human beings ...
Sunny so what do ya suppose a 'finder's fee' would be worth to a frigging millionaire who has a lifetime position of a million dollar year OR MILLIONS to a person who would deliver him up a juicy, new sex offender to live off the back of????
Be VERY interesting to know where the person who entrapped yours is at now.
Illicit money is hard to hide. It always shows.
Find out.
We should be getting more of these stories especially from the unbelievable ones. Now there is a multipurpose reason for turning in people such as the x you hate and others ... LIFETIME INCOME from the scumbags who are millionaires.
I like susan taylor martin she has been hammering away at this.
Why don't you talk to her???
See if she can track a few suspicious ones from onset to life on the hot seat??
Oh, btw when I state that I do not know or am I related to any sex offenders I hope you have always realized that I say that BECAUSE anyone can say you speak up because you are affected. BUT, I speak up as should EVERYONE because it affects US ALL. I hope you got that. No one knows better than me who has some cunt following me around because her husband and his friends want to steal my property threatening to put my family member on a sex offender's list.
BUT even before that. Hell for all I know I got their attention not just with property but because I am outspoken against their illicit blood money.
Don't give a F. Let em all go back to slinging crack. Or working for a living .... HOW DARE someone threaten an innocent person with that???????????????????????
Not only that still working on little threats to set said person up. Realized today it would be THE THIRD in my family. Fuck them.
We have to form a PAC.
Oh, and the ones they'll cover up for.....
This guy was reported and reported but the school principle covered up for him.
< THE PRINCIPLE BE ARRESTED FOR child endangerment now???
HE SHOULD BE
I definitely do, Vox. Your involvement--with no family members designated as a SO--has helped lift the spirits of more people than you will ever know. Thank you. It means so much to me...to my family...and if I may speak for those who work tirelessly on this issue...to them all.
Regarding the Miami ordinance, it seems sort of like a play on words. Since this post, I've had questions of the 300 foot safety zone and of course, "where children congregate", which can mean almost anywhere....does that mean 300 feet from every park bench or 300 feet from Dairy Queen?
And where are these areas located? Nice areas, industrial areas or areas where you wouldn't walk a dog?
Inferring, that phrase can mean whatever "they" want.
Also, the schools in Miami-Dade...could be one on every corner...throw in day cares and pre-schools, we might be right back where we started....no place to live.
I'd like to see a new map indicating areas that have now opened as housing options.
I believe this is a start, a message to municipalities to come into compliance. By doing so, less populated areas will prove more available for housing, 2500 feet from schools or not as most of Florida is rural and the number of schools in a community prove fewer in number.
Which--in a way--Miami may succeed in driving SO's out of their area. Too bad it's not like the old days, when Miami was chock full of senior citizens parked out on the porch of residential hotels.
I do hope the ACLU will consider a suit...IMHO, the 2500 feet from schools is unnecessary as I know how difficult 1000 feet is to negotiate. Again, my hopes are someone somewhere has pinpointed every type of school in M-D county to determine if the ordinance is merely words rearranged to look like a change.
:) Thanks again, Voxy.
Read this! The gladhanding between Bush and Martinez. Is Mel Martinez related to Bob Martinez???
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeb_Bush
just scroll down to politics.
Wow. I'll check it out.
Sunny
I'm so sorry that I did not read this last Friday. I have been buisy on another project.
Sunny, if you could leave this post up for another day, so others can read my comment:
LISTEN UP RSO's.
Dave Aronberg along with Rep Crist and Rep Glorioso (by separate submission) have sponsored a bill (S 1284 - Aronber/Crist) and (H119 - Glorioso) That will just about mirror both Lee counties ordinance and the new ordinance in Miami.
Both bills have a few items that are VERY troubling.
1. Firstly, it gives local law enforcement the ability to tell "individual RSO's" (prior to 1 July 2010) that they will have to adhere to a 2500 restriction no matter what the new law repeals. (YOU DON'T GIVE LAW ENFORCEMENT THAT KIND OF DECISION AUTHORITY OVER ONE INDIVIDUAL AND NOT ANOTHER UNLESS THAT ONE PERSON IS BEING ARRESTED). However, under these new bills, the "chief law enforcement officer" will have the ability to pick and choose who the law will apply to and who it will not.
2. There is no mention of any "Grandfather clause". That is to say, those of you who own property and have been there prior to enactment of the AWA or even the state 1000 foot law will be subject to the new 1500 law. This is unconstitutional. My thinking is it may be a DUE PROCESS violation.
3. Both bills have conflicting language. They both need to be cleaned up a lot so it's not so BROAD or VAGUE.
I am not a lawyer and am not giving legal advise, however, if these bills get passed and it becomes law, it may be a good idea for all RSO's to file suite against the State of Florida.
To me, this is just seems to be another to use Sex Offenders to GET A CONVENIENT VOTE.
You can have a look at both bills here:
S 1284 - http://www.flsenate.gov/Session/index.cfm?Mode=Bills&SubMenu=1&BI_Mode=ViewBillInfo&Year=2010&BillNum=1284
H119 - http://www.flsenate.gov/Session/index.cfm?Mode=Bills&Submenu=1&BI_Mode=ViewBillInfo&Billnum=0119&Year=2010
I told you way back they were hauling longterm homeowners out of places in KY and IN. Someone needs to step up and run against these guys.
Sunny ??? Why not you?>
Oh, i can think of a few reasons....:)
Sunny
check this out !!!
NOW !! Then read the cases. Then find out why we can't get this done here with these wonderful ummm progressive democrats.
http://www.wkyt.com/wymtnews/headlines/63209152.
The story has disappeared from the link it goes to but it appears they are fighting this HARD in ky. We're not fighting hard enough here in florida. If these are the democrats we're offered we need NEW ONES.
That's IT.
People should not be asking for half a loaf. People should be saying NO RESTRICTIONS.
SCREW YOU.
It's UNCONSTITUTIONAL.
lOL !! I hope they are fun ones (the reasons) LOL
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&source=hp&q=IN+sex+offender+laws+overturned&aq=f&aql=&aqi=&oq=
google sex offender law overturned.
WTF is up with these losers in FL???
Book,
I skimmed the proposed legislation last night. I only could find the mention of 1750 feet.
Could you better direct me to the citation?
Also, for the group, does ex post facto need be documented within a law to guarantee constitutionality? I'm pondering the inclusion of a grandfather clause......?
Thanks for the great points, Book.
I did google "sex offender law" overturned. The legislation Book cites appears to define what constitutes loitering within the 300 feet safety zones. In the NC church case, I would ask if such was defined or was it the same tired legal clause "where children congregate", leaving it up to police interpretation. That's what we are all worried about....the interpretation of any new law by those who will arrest now and release later, after the damage is done and your face is plastered on the front page on the local rag.
Sorry, My typo in a rush to get the information out. It is 1750 NOT 1500.
My mistake, I stand corrected!
"Also, for the group, does ex post facto need be documented within a law to guarantee constitutionality"...I'll have to refer everyone to a Florida Bar Certified Lawyer for that answer. Sorry, but I am not qualified to handle that question.
What I meant was that when you google 'sex offender law overturned' you see that MANY venues are disputing this fucked up set of laws. BUT instead of asking for a loaf (GET RID OF THEM) they are falling over and agreeing with lesser restrictions. WRONG MOVE. It's clearly unconstitutional. It's either unconstitutional or it's not.
IT IS. IT IS UNCONSTITUTIONAL.
Therefore quibbling over this type of stuff is a mistake. It doesn't matter how many feet it is. It matters that IT IS AT ALL. It's wrong. ALL OF IT.
The fight should not be about clarifying whether you can live five feet closer to your uncle elmo or aunt grady. The FIGHT should be it is NO ONE'S BUSINESS wehre ANYONE lives.
That's the whole loaf. The continued discussion over lengths and places and definitions is just sideshow. END IT.
DEMAND your rights as American citizens.
End of story.
Ok, let me try this again. I have had several people ask me to share my views on the "Grandfather Clause". I have decided to do that, but please understand that I am not a lawyer and I am not giving legal advise. My Opinion only. Here Goes:
-------------------------------------
In answer to Sunny's question about the Grandfather clause... it has been my experience that it needs to be placed within the legal language. When interpreting the law, one must be able to see and understand the "Intent" or "purpose" for it's creation.
If there is no mention of a Grandfather clause, then any local law enforcement officer can interpret the law as follows...."well the new law does state 1750 feet, and it does not say that there are any exclusions, so I will have to make this RSO move".
Now, in reality, the assumption of the Due Process clause of Florida's Constitution as well as the U.S. Constitution, a lawmaker CANNOT create a law that goes against it (The Constitution of either Florida or the United States).
Due Process says that our property cannot be taken from us at a whim (just because the government says so). The person who owns the home would have to be charged and convicted with a crime and "His/Her" House was an element involved with that crime, then the home could be seized and the government could do whatever they wanted with it. This has been true in the past of drug charges.
In the case with this possible new Sex Offender Law, the absence of the "Grandfather clause", could make the RSO move if he/she was within new 1750 residency restriction. Problem is that many of us HAVE BEEN LIVING IN OUR HOMES prior to AWA and prior to the 1000 foot State restriction and have been traditionally GRANDFATHERED in our homes. This possible new law makes no mention of Grandfathering at all. If we are not Grandfathered in, we will lose the right to our dwelling, thus infringing upon the Due Process clause because we will no longer have use of the very domicile that we are and have been paying for. The U.S. Supreme Court still holds the domicile (Your home) as sanctuary (the most sacred of places not to be encroached upon by government. It's the reason that the police CANNOT come into your house without your permission. That's how sacred your home is considered and the Highest Court in the Country upholds that sanctuary!
Continued.....
I was conversing last week with the members of the Florida coalition and found out that the Florida Legislature is very VERY frightened of any law suits resulting from these bills, should they become law. Florida cannot stand to loose money at this point in our economy and law suits brought by RSO's of this magnitude (due to the passage of this law), would bankrupt this state.
All RSO's need to start getting very angry and get together. One such person in the comments said that KY was fighting this kind of law HARD. This person is right. Fl needs to fight back HARD as well. We need to show the lawmakers that the days of getting a vote from our misery is now over!! I'm sure you noticed that the KY Supreme Court overturned their residency restriction law and now the KY AG is trying to get the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn that decision. I have not looked, but I just bet the KY AG is up for re-election or election to another position of government. It's a slimy game to use people as pawns so one man or woman can gain while the rest of us suffer!
This new law solves NOTHING and is only "show" to get another vote. The new residency restrictions still do nothing to protect a child and neither does the no loitering clause/no go zones. 95% of all new sex crimes are created by people WHO HAVE NEVER BEEN ON THE REGISTRY. It's not recidivism that's the problem, it's the NEW people who are creating these crimes that are making all the headlines. The lawmakers are just cashing in on the uneducated public.
The public needs to be aware that this (possible new law) does not make our streets safer and if the law is made against RSO's in this manner, it also sets a precedent that can be used against other groups. The Christian's come to mind as the next group to get hit.
Book