Let’s face it, no matter where someone on the registry lives, so long as their name and picture are on the list, neighbors will complain. They don’t want registrants living too close to here or or too close to there, not in this area nor that one, not near this group, nor near that group. As communities try to outdo each other with harsher banishment laws, fewer areas are available and within those select areas, few landlords willing to rent to a disfavored group.
The foreseeable result is clustering, but even when that happens, neighbors complain. Neighbors in Englewood, IL are asking their Alderman to take action against a building that houses dozens of registrants. Its one of the few places they can go. The oblivious Alderman, Roderick Sawyer, is now questioning why, if the state of Illinois can prevent registrants from living in an exclusion zone surrounding a school, why the state can’t also prevent so many registrants from living in one building.
Here’s another prediction, Alderman Sawyer… if you are successful in creating laws to bust up these clusters, where do you think these people will go? To the streets. As many communities have discovered, if you take away all viable housing options from people, they will wind up homeless or go underground. Then you will have your constituents complaining about all the homeless registrants! No matter where they live, so long as we have this draconian list, neighbors will complain.
Kudos to the Chicago Sun Times for reporting on this story in a balanced way.https://chicago.suntimes.com/2021/3/25/22334208/sex-offenders-englewood-apartment-sawyer-aclu-editorial
i was just contacted about my status being upgraded to a moderate level, i have been a low level since 1994. they called on landline then cell, they did not leave a message, i called them. they wanted me to come down to sign something. i reregistered in november on the phone. what do you think
thanks
Texas 2
That happened to me a few years back but the Florida Department of Law Enforcement did it automatically without my knowledge. Only found out after a court appearance where I won a dispute against them on another issue. I think it was retribution.
Another lawyer said I could have it correct for $1000.00. Well #1 I do not have a $1000.00 and #2 I already paid to go after them once, imagine what they will do to me if I win against them again? I hate having to register 4 times a year instead of the 2 I was doing, but taking a few hours 2 more times a year is better than spending $1000 I do not have an having to piss them off again. They won this round.
Where does it say anyone has the “right” to be protected from anyone? We’re just gonna start making up rights is that it? An assumed right is a legal right?
You assaulted someone, so the State is going to force you to live a certain distance from me in order to protect my right to be protected from you? Huh?? And the ACLU just speaks and gets quoted as if that right actually exists. Thanks, ACLU idiot.
Yes, I wrote to the Sun Times. Common sense will prevail. it has to.
Rich
You sadly assume all people possess common sense in the first place LOL. Some have it but do not know how to access those files in their brains.
Citizens, neighbors and law makers cause these issues, so they need to stop the bitching.
Can I plagiarize this? Perfect for a testimony against residency restrictions bills that we are fighting here in Texas.
absolutely
This story deserves a follow up with more detail on our side of the issue. They say you can send correspondence to [email protected]. Sounds like an opportunity to lead the discussion rather than being the target for a change.
A bill was introduced into the Illinois legislative body that would change the residency restriction from 500 feet to 250 feet. Since no mention was made in this editorial, I assume the bill died. (Living in a city with a 2500-foot residency restriction, I would give anything for Illinois’ 500 feet.)
This idea of “not in my backyard” is a growing trend and not just for registrants. According to the Florida Bulldog, some people in Lake Worth Beach are trying to force low-income senior citizens out of their community — some seniors who have lived there for decades.
At a July 24, 2018 commissioners’ meeting, two commissioners “made it clear they wanted to push out low-income residents and discourage people who didn’t fit their preferred demographics from moving in.”
One commissioner stated that he wanted only people making at least $60,000 a year and with a college degree.
A second commissioners stated that Lake Worth Beach should not be welcoming people who are not “supposed to be there”.
Sounds as though some in this country are proposing a medieval caste system.
https://www.floridabulldog.org/2021/03/lake-worth-beach-gentrification-purge-now-targeting-low-income-seniors/?mc_cid=0e5b3227e9&mc_eid=7e59a34945
Media
The cheapest property for sell in Key west a while back was $1 million. A few older folks could have sold their small plots with run down trailers but were stuck in their ways. Once they started dying, the city started doing immiment domain to get the properties dirt cheap.
Happened to me in Houston. Found a bedbug infested bunkhouse that would take me, until the neighborhood activist caught wind 6 months later. She went to the Mayor, who called in the owner, who caved because he was a retired Houston motorcycle cop. Gave me two weeks to find non-existent housing. Called my brother and moved to the top of a hill in Texas Hill country.