Sex Offender Plan Irks Landlord

10-4-2007 Wisconsin:

WAUKESHA -- Ron Becker, a local lord of low-income housing, isn't quite sure how he'll respond if laws are enacted here that tightly limit where known sex offenders can live.

Becker said Wednesday that he might complain to the American Civil Liberties Union of Wisconsin about the city violating the rights of sex offenders.

Or, Becker said, he may do something more audacious, maybe spray paint "sex offender" repeatedly on a van and drive it up and down W. Main St. while shouting through a loudspeaker his displeasure with the new law.

"Over the years, I got a reputation that I could be a time bomb ready to go off," Becker said. "When I was younger, I did things like that to make a point. Now that I'm 66 . . . the ACLU might get a call."

Becker watched silently as the Common Council late Tuesday directed City Attorney Curt Meitz to draft a sex offender ordinance. Aldermen are expected to fill in the measure with details about where sex offenders can live, possibly at the first November meeting of the Ordinance and License Committee.

Many blame Becker for concentrating sex offenders who are fresh out of prison in Waukesha, an accusation of which he is well aware.The state Department of Corrections, which works with Becker and several other landlords to find housing for the sex offenders it supervises, reports that this week, 357 registered sex offenders reside in Waukesha County and about 186 are in Waukesha. In the city, 97 are under state supervision. In the county, 138 are under supervision.

Many were calling Waukesha a "dumping ground" for sex offenders, but the tolerance level hit a tipping point when the state placed sexual predator Dennis Marth into a single-family home along well-kept Buena Vista Ave.

Ald. Randy Radish, who serves downtown and its bordering neighborhoods, led the charge to quickly place controls on where sex offenders could live, which meant reigning in Becker and others.

Taxpayer rent subsidies

The Department of Corrections reported that over a six-month period ending Jan. 31, it paid Becker $14,933 in rent subsidies to house released prisoners who included sex offenders.

Ald. Carrol Waldenberger, who heads the Ordinance and License Committee, said the city must find a way to stop the sale of undervalued properties to those who want to create sex offender housing.

Two property firms that bear Becker's name hold nine residential buildings, City Hall records say. Another firm that Becker said he has a financial interest in owns the Buena Vista Ave. and two other Waukesha properties.

Becker said he has sold off most of his holdings, except for the Waukesha House on W. Main St., to land contracts in which he holds the mortgages.

If the city's passes a sex offender ordinance, it will one day regret the move, he said.

Looking to others

Waldenberger has asked aldermen to look at Franklin and Grafton sex offender ordinances for guidance. Those laws prohibit sex offenders from living within 500 to 1,000 feet of each other to prevent concentrations that can hurt the property values.

Regulations also can prevent more than one sex offender from living in one residential property. That measure takes away the financial incentive of having multiple offenders in rooming houses and homes.

More restrictive measures include prohibiting property owners from renting to sex offenders who are under state supervision programs and not allowing registered sex offenders who are not from Waukesha to set up housekeeping here.

"Do you think they can get away with that?" Becker asked about the proposed restrictions. "Are they (aldermen) looking at the disadvantages?"

Confining the concentration of sex offenders to two or three neighborhoods avoids placing them into 15 or more neighborhoods, he said.

Violating the civil rights of sex offenders will bring the ACLU into the game, and "make the ground shudder under these municipalities' feet," Becker warned.

ACLU of Wisconsin Executive Director Chris Ahmuty could not be reached for comment. ..more.. by Darryl Enriquez, The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (Wisconsin)