PA: NIMBY on full display in Decatur Township are residents brainstorm “work arounds” to displace registrants
In July 2025, residents of Decatur Township, Pennsylvania, packed into a township supervisors meeting, many of them angry and afraid. Rumors had spread on Facebook that a halfway house for sex offenders had quietly opened on Hoffman Road. The idea ignited a storm of fear and outrage, stoking familiar anxieties that such facilities bring danger, devalue property, and ruin the character of a neighborhood. But as township officials explained, there was no halfway house—no facility, no program, no institutional connection of any kind. The property in question was privately owned. The individuals living there were not part of any treatment program, but tenants who had criminal records and were now paying rent, working jobs, and, as far as anyone could tell, living quietly within their rights.
Despite these clarifications, residents weren’t satisfied. Some demanded action, asking the township to rezone the property or pass emergency ordinances to remove the tenants. Others proposed more creative workarounds. One resident suggested that the community could pool money to purchase the property themselves—and put playgrounds on it. They reasoned that if there were enough child-centric amenities on the land, the people they didn’t want living there would be forced to leave due to proximity restrictions in Pennsylvania law. The suggestion was met not with criticism, but with murmurs of approval. Another woman claimed her granddaughter had gone for a walk and was “approached by a stranger” who told her it was “too hot to walk (that day)”, though she couldn’t say whether the person was a registrant (not to mention the comment about the weather is totally innocuous).
This is how NIMBYism functions today. What once might have been blunt exclusion is now masked in community-minded language. “We’re improving the neighborhood,” they say, while attempting to displace people whose legal presence they find uncomfortable. The pattern repeats across towns and cities: local governments and residents use every available tool; false allegations, zoning tricks, rumor campaigns, and public shaming—to push out people with criminal records, particularly those on the sex offense registry. These work arounds are not intended to keep anyone safe, but to prevent certain people from simply having a place to live. They circulate rumors on social media, stirring panic, pressuring landlords, and prodding officials into action based on falsehoods.
In Decatur Township, supervisors acknowledged that they had no legal standing to remove the tenants, nor to block private citizens from renting out their property. They noted that any change in zoning or use restrictions would take months, maybe years—and might not withstand legal challenges. But that hasn’t stopped communities from trying.
What unfolded in that meeting is part of a larger, troubling trend: when the law doesn’t give people the tools to remove others they disapprove of, they try to create new tools by disguising exclusion as civic virtue. Buying land to build a playground seems innocent enough. But in this context, it is nothing more than a backdoor attempt to force someone out. And that’s exactly the point.
These tactics are not only morally dubious they are dangerous. They perpetuate a myth that people with convictions, especially those on the registry, are inherently threatening. They use fear as a political weapon, and they often target the most vulnerable: people trying to reenter society, many of whom already face housing instability, unemployment, and social stigma. These efforts to displace and isolate people do not improve safety. If anything, they increase instability and desperation. And in the end, they erode the rights and dignity of everyone by making public policy subject to the loudest voices in the room.
This isn’t just about one property in Decatur Township. It’s about a nationwide mindset one that sees certain people as unredeemable, and undeserving of a home. It’s about how the tools of urban planning and civic improvement are twisted into instruments of exclusion. And it’s about how communities, often without even realizing it, trade justice for the illusion of safety.
We should be building solutions that address real needs and reduce harm, not fabricating excuses to disappear people from view. The rumor that started all this was false. But the reaction it provoked was all too real. And it’s happening in more places than we’d like to admit.
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I wrote a public letter to the Editor or the paper who published this story.
McClure is Demonstrating Why the Sex Offender Registry Doesn’t Work
The State of PA, not local leaders, came up with the absurd scheme called the sex offender registry. They publish a list to tell us about “dangerous monsters” living near us but then says we can’t do anything about it. Huh? What are we supposed to do, stand at our windows and watch them every minute of every day? If they’re so dangerous why are they not in prison? Has the State put the responsibility of watching and tracking these people upon us? A drunk driver hit and killed my mother last year. Personally I’d like to know where Drunk Drivers live so my kids run quickly away from the street when we see them coming. And wouldn’t it be nice to know where the thieves live? See how quickly this starts to get stupid? The reality is “sex offenders” are simply people who committed a crime at some point in their life which had a sexual component. They have been convicted and served their sentence. Now all they want to do and have every right to do, is to live their lives, support their families and never commit such a crime again. It’s what we expect of everyone who has ever been convicted of a crime. McClure is demonstrating precisely how a registry hurts, not helps, our community. It creates fear and panic where there shouldn’t be. It cruelly shames and creates a second class group of citizens open to hate and violence. And all in the name of protecting children? No, we’ve been sold a bunch of lies about who is actually abusing our children and where they live. Children are abused by people they know in places you frequent, not the stranger’s house next door.
@rpsabq
Well written comment! (applause)
It is your kind of advocacy that brings truth to the light while exposing the myths and lies, and this is what journalists need to read and know BEFORE they publish another outlandish story such as this one!!
Well done, rpsabq, and thank you from all of us!!
Remember when a person sexually rapes or molest another that falls under a HEINOUS CRIME that’s in most people’s minds will never be forgiven. Racism is still upfront and occurring in Amurdikka. You’re a white person so you DO NOT have to deal with it hence your response. WEAR MY BLACK MALE SKIN DAILY AND THEN YOULL BE ABLE TO GET AN UNDERSTANDING.
Mr d
I’m African american…
@Mr. D
I DO have an understanding, and I stand with you if that means anything.
Everyday I get up, I have to deal with my name and face on the internet with a label that is completely false that makes it seem as though I am a monster looking to prey on children, and that is a reality I have NO choice but to accept, so I DO understand.
I have many Christian brothers, and sisters that are black, and many friends that are black, and I hear their cries of unfairness like yours and I just want you to know that are many people who do see through the eyes of love, not eyes of color.
We are all made in the Image of God-all of us, and more and more people are realizing that.
Leave it up to people on social media platforms like fakebook to stir up panic, fear, and outrage from someone’s rumor that had no truth behind it about registrants living there.
Once again, the old saying is true;
‘The lie will go half-way around the world before the truth can get 10 feet.’
Stupid idea – If you think the neighborhood is unsafe simply because registrants live there, move yourself.
I half-want these fools to try all that stuff to chase them out and get arrested for harassing the registrants there. The minutes of that meeting should be all the proof needed to support such charges.
NOW YOU KNOW HOW BLACK PEOPLE FEEL IN AMERICA UNDER THE SAME REDLINING ISSUES.
Redlining is a discriminatory practice that limits access to financial services, such as loans and insurance, for residents of certain areas based on their race or ethnicity. This practice is illegal and reflects historical discrimination in the United States. It often results in worse rates or products being offered to customers in neighborhoods with a higher concentration of minority populations.
Redlining is a discriminatory practice where services—especially financial ones like mortgages, insurance, and loans—are systematically denied to residents of certain neighborhoods based on race or ethnicity, rather than individual creditworthiness2.
📍 The term comes from the literal red lines drawn on maps by banks and government agencies to mark areas deemed “high-risk”—often communities with large populations of African Americans or other minorities. These areas were excluded from investment, making it harder for residents to buy homes, build wealth, or access basic services3.
🔍 Key points:
Origin: Coined in the 1960s by sociologist John McKnight
Impact: Led to long-term economic and social disparities, including housing segregation and reduced access to healthcare and education2
Legality: Redlining is now illegal under laws like the Fair Housing Act of 1968, but its legacy still affects many communities today
@Mr. D
Take heart, Mr. D.
America is becoming more ‘color-blind’ each passing day.
However, it is not so with registrants. More laws are being passed against us as the flames of hate and rage are fanned by people like those in this article, and there is no end in sight for us.
I could not agree with you more!
PA resident here.
PA doesn’t have residency restrictions. At all. It was tried and the Commonwealth shot it down.
Ignorant NIMBYs once again showing their collective backsides.