Source: floridapolitics.com 11/6/21
Hillsborough County has an ordinance against clustering sex offenders, but no one enforces it.
When Kim Headland first moved to the V.M. Ybor area 20 years ago, she said there were few if any sex offenders registered in her neighborhood.
“Since then, hundreds — if not thousands — of offenders have been funneled into our community,” she told the Tampa City Council on Thursday. “Much to the financial benefit of a few property owners and the perceived benefit of TPD.”
V.M. Ybor is named for cigar manufacturer Vincente Martinez Ybor. It’s part of the larger Ybor City National Historic Landmark District and is one of only two national landmark districts in the state where people live.
It’s also home to the city’s highest concentration of sex offenders.
According to the Tampa Police Department, there are 803 sex offenders with registered addresses within city limits. There are another 29 listed as homeless. Of those offenders with physical addresses, 100 live in the V.M. Ybor area.
“The cause of multiple sex offenders residing at one location around Ybor is likely due to the limited housing options in Tampa where certain sex offenders on probation, community control, supervised release, or who have been convicted for offenses involving children under 16 can reside,” Chief Ruben Delgado wrote in a memo to the City Council.
…
“Due to these statutory 1,000-foot residency requirements,” Delgado told Council members, “Department of Corrections has identified only three limited areas of the city with low-income housing where these sex offenders may reside.”
Amazingly, it is a police chief who is bringing up these tragic results of severe residency restrictions! That is progress!
Who needs a lugar or MP-40 to herd folks into the ghetto when you can simply use ” regulations” to get them where you want them.
This wouldn’t be an issue if residential restrictions weren’t on the books and if politicians wouldn’t of made sex offenses to be feared. They made a mountain out of a mole hill. Crazy to believe how many people are committing sex crimes under their noses, but can’t even see it.
My gut response is that if you don’t like your neighbors, move yourself.