Close the camp

1-28-2010 Florida:

OUR OPINION: Revamped rules will end squalor under causeway

The convicted sex offenders living under the Julia Tuttle Causeway now have a better chance of finding decent living quarters, thanks to the Miami-Dade County Commission. Commissioners unanimously repealed 24 different laws enacted by cities in favor of a single countywide ordinance.

The vote comes many long months after embarrassing national news coverage about the shantytown under the causeway and the squalid living conditions under the bridge that leads to South Florida's most glamorous city. Why it took so long to deal with this dangerous situation is a puzzle, but at last commissioners showed pragmatic leadership.

The ultimate solution to put an end to the current hodgepodge of city and county laws, however, is for the state Legislature to establish a uniform standard for where sex offenders can live.

The camp was created after dozens of cities in Miami-Dade passed sex offender laws that prohibited them from living close to not just schools, but -- depending on the city -- also day care centers, playgrounds, parks, bus stops and other places where children congregate. The protection zone was cast so wide that it made it virtually impossible for many offenders to find places where they could legally live. The state Department of Corrections abetted the situation by releasing offenders and placing them under the bridge.

Granted, convicted sexual offenders are unlikely candidates for sympathy, but Florida's law is so broad that all types of offenders have been lumped together to be treated like dangerous pedophiles. If offenders have served their time and are keeping out of trouble they should not be dumped under a bridge.

The new county ordinance prohibits offenders from living within 2,500 feet of a school and applies the state's 1,000-foot protection zone around other places where children gather. Commissioners also created child-safety zones banning sex offenders from loitering within 300 feet of where children congregate. Safety zones are a more effective and realistic tool for protecting children from molesters. As it is, many of the people under the bridge also work, so the loitering provision is a plus.

About 35-50 offenders are living under the bridge, down from 100-plus when the camp was in the national spotlight. Ron Book, head of the Miami-Dade Homeless Trust, has used his position on the Trust and his influence as a powerful lobbyist to marshal resources to find many offenders legal residences in recent months.

The irony is that it was Mr. Book who urged lawmakers to write tough sexual-predator laws after learning that his daughter, Lauren, had been sexually molested. They went on a campaign for tougher state and local laws. But the well-intentioned effort backfired, leaving Mr. Book, as head of the Trust, in the hot seat.

The County Commission has greatly improved local offenders' chances of finding decent housing, and public safety demands closing the disgraceful causeway camp. Now state lawmakers must adopt a statewide standard that is both protective of children and practical enough that offenders can have a roof over their heads that's not a bridge. ..Source..