FL- Filing May End Rental To Offenders

So many facts, but what is really happening here? The financial bailout worried me, in that, I feared that investors holding properties where they cannot get top rents, for whatever reason, might wish to get out from under such debt using terms of the Congresses financial bailout. Here we have additionaal factors, existing rentals to RSOs, which councilmen may want out, then the newly issued day care permit, are they connected? The critical point to this advocacy is, are we seeing a new more egregious way to banish folks using new constructive pretexts? Just thinking out loud....

10-15-2008 Florida:

SEMINOLE HEIGHTS - Apartments rented to sex offenders that were at the center of a city zoning debate last year could be headed for foreclosure, court records show.

Aurora Loan Services filed two lawsuits in September alleging that owner Christian Stover has missed payments since April 1 for the property, 6601 N. Nebraska Ave. As of Sept. 6, nearly $199,000 was owed on a 2007 loan, records show.

Stover said he hopes to renegotiate loan terms or, in a worst-case scenario, sell the property.

"I'm going to see what terms they come up with," he said.

Aurora is a subsidiary of Lehman Brothers, but its Web site states it is not part of Lehman's recent bankruptcy filing.

The apartments are across the street from a day care center recently opened by St. John Calvin Presbyterian Church. Last year, the city council approved zoning for the day care center.

About 35 children, most from low-income families with working parents, are expected to enroll, church officials said. The site is secured with fencing and video cameras. The Rev. Earl Smith said teachers are with children at all times.

Stover opposed the council's decision, saying he would not be able to continue renting to sex offenders if the day care were allowed to open. He sued the city in August 2007, but the case is pending after a judge ruled Stover must provide official transcripts of the council's hearings and decision.

Stover is seeking more than $15,000 in damages and revocation of the day care center's permit.

Under state law, sex offenders convicted after 1995 are prohibited from living within 1,000 feet of places where children gather.

County records show Stover bought the apartments in March 2007 for $255,000. Stover said he would not have done so had he known the church planned to open the day care center.

In August, the state's probation department ruled that four of the 10 sex offenders living at the apartments had to move.

Stover said that if he resolves the financial issues he will continue renting to sex offenders. Six offenders live there now, and Stover said he expects to rent additional units soon.

"They have to have some place to live," he said. "It's better than to have them walking the streets or living under a bridge." ..News Source.. by Reporter Kathy Steele