Fort Lauderdale city commissioners voted unanimously Tuesday to relax the city’s residency restrictions on sex offenders.
Offenders will now be allowed to live close to bus stops but they are still barred from living within 1,400 feet of a school, daycare and other places children gather.
The change will expand the available housing for convicted offenders from 1.4% of the city to 15.3%. It also brings Fort Lauderdale more in line with Florida state law.
Here is something that May help” sadly i can only remember the decade in the ” a man in Portrichey Florida’ hudson area comitted a sex offence’ he owned is home and it was in an area back then with it was developing’
So the man goes to prision for 15 yrs or so in the meantime a school was build across from his home. when he was released’ he was told he couldnt live in his home, as it was directly across the street, and crosswalk and stop light was in front of his home, her took this to court and won his battle,
with the courts agreeing thatsaying that his home and he was living there before the school was build that this the laws didnt apply of living within 1000 ft of a school the best i can do is to give the street address of the school if someone is interested in research it it may prove useful as to get a SOR out of a neighborhood is to just build a park so the school would know of this case 7229 Hudson Ave, Hudson, FL 34667
9884+77 Hudson, Florida
(727) 774-4000
I am curious as to how they came up with 1,400 feet? Maybe some bigwig lives 1,399 feet from a registered citizen? Or was 1,400 feet all they needed to disenfranchise 85% of the registered citizen population?
Meh! …. While yes, it is a step in the right direction, I wish Fort Lauderdale would have been more aggressive and pioneering and just rid of the ordinance altogether and make living in the city 100%. Maybe when they notice that registrants are not a threat, compliant and live normal every day lives, they can get rid of this SORR nonsense for good.
Good news, but the idea that daycares need such exclusion zones in the first place is ridiculous. Adult supervision is required to be extra vigilant in day care centers. The only way for a child to be endangered there is an attack from a staff member or a kidnapping, neither of which can be prevented by banning registrants from living in the area. It’s a shame that the public doesn’t realize how many former offenders actually keep their eyes open to ensure that children are NOT assaulted. I had to do that last year when a neighbor who is also on the registry was attempting to get way too friendly with a 12-year-old girl. It also meant revealing my status to the girl’s father, but I am just not going to allow a child to be hurt if I can help it. It’s part of my atonement for my own past sin. The way that registries block employment opportunities are a bigger danger. That can force people into crime just to survive. The last thing anyone who has gone through a long prison term for a sex related offense wants is to risk going back there.