Witness the evolution of a lobbyist.
Options running out for sex offenders living under bridges, South Florida Sun-Sentinel, 2/5, 2008
(...)
The lack of housing poses "a serious problem," said state Rep. Jack Seiler, D-Wilton Manors, chairman of the Broward County Legislative Delegation. "What you don't want to have happen is to have them just drop off the map."
Lobbyist Ron Book, who pushed for stronger laws, was unsympathetic. "When an individual gets convicted for sexually deviant behavior, at the end of the day nobody wants them living in their apartments," he said.
Close the sex offenders' camp under causeway, The Miami Herald, 6/6/2009
(...)
The American Civil Liberties Union is planning to file a lawsuit. Ronald L. Book, chairman of the Homeless Trust, now admits he was wrong to support the 2,500-foot buffer, and that a smaller buffer would still protect children and find a suitable place for felons to live without becoming a global embarassment for South Florida.
(Well, let's not get carried away. It's quite possible a shove to a stand may be involved.....)
Deal could see Julia Tuttle Causeway sex offenders rehoused, Miami Herald, 7/21/09
Facing growing criticism over 70 registered sex offenders living in squalid conditions under a Julia Tuttle Causeway bridge, Miami-Dade officials and homeless advocates say they are working to relocate them to housing.
In the first step, eight camp dwellers will be moved to a private apartment building in South Miami-Dade in coming days, and officials are looking for a bigger place for the remaining people to be housed, said Ronald Book, chairman of Miami-Dade's Homeless Trust, who is leading the effort.
``Everybody is moving in a positive direction, but we're not where we need to be,'' Book said of the drive toward a permanent solution for the encampment, the target of mounting criticism at home and unflattering portrayals across the world.
Book declined to discuss possible locations, but parties familiar with the search said one venue under consideration is the old North Dade Detention Center, a county jail near the Golden Glades interchange and Miami Gardens that has been vacant since it closed in September 2007. The county has tried unsuccessfully to sell the building.
Some of those living under the bridge said late Tuesday night that they were skeptical of Book's latest plan.
Homer Barkley, 45, said he would be worried if he lived under the same roof as other sex offenders. ``I have done my time for what they said I did. Now I want the chance to lead a normal life,'' Barkley said.
The Julia Tuttle encampment primarily houses registered sex offenders, mostly men, who cannot find residences elsewhere. That's because a host of county and city laws prohibit them from living within 2,500 feet of where children congregate -- including schools, parks and day care facilities.
Many of the felons are on state probation, and state Department of Corrections officers, unable to find suitable housing, steered them to the site as one of the few legal addresses in Miami-Dade County.
``It's a public safety issue,'' said Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernández Rundle, who met with Book and others this week to discuss solutions. ``They are living in inhumane conditions. It's not safe for them -- and it's not safe for others.''
Book said his efforts have focused on finding long-term living arrangements that would not run afoul of laws. The ideal place, he said, would be an apartment building or former hotel that is in foreclosure.
Still, many thorny issues must be ironed out. Who would supervise the residents? Who would pay for liability insurance, and their rent? ``I can't have these people living on the taxpayer's nickel for the long-term,'' Book said.
As the camp's ranks have swelled over the past three years or so, so has the flood of unflattering attention -- and lawsuits.
Debate over the sex offender encampment was chronicled Tuesday afternoon in a national broadcast of NPR's All Things Considered. (Listen here).
On July 9, the ACLU sued Miami-Dade County, saying its 2,500-foot ordinance should be struck down because it cannot trump the less-stringent 1,000-foot limit mandated by state law. The result, the legal group contends: a shantytown that increases, rather than helps diminish, the danger to Miamians.
Other critics agree, saying the overlapping laws actually push sex offenders underground and make it harder for officials to track them because few have stable addresses.
On July 10, Miami sued the state, saying the camp is too close to Picnic Island No. 4, an island park in Biscayne Bay accessible only by boat.
Gov. Charlie Crist's office, in a letter to Miami City Manager Pete Hernandez before the lawsuit was filed, said that ``local officials are charged with exploring lawful housing options'' for offenders under state corrections supervision.
While the efforts to relocate the camp dwellers is laudable, the overly strict local laws will promote creation of encampments elsewhere, predicted Maria Kayanan, associate legal director for Miami's ACLU.
``Nobody is addressing the root problem -- the local governments are interfering with state statute,'' she said. ``Everybody is pointing fingers at each other and trying to put a Band-Aid on the issue.''
credit:
DAVID OVALLE
***
FYI-
Check out the "informed" comments over at USAToday.
Miami to find housing for sex felons living under bridge
7/22/2009
9 comments:
OPEN YOUR EYES AND THINK!!!!!!
Florida, Please ask yourselves one question. WHEN did it ever become a good idea to let a POLITICIAN make policy for mental health issues.
Sex offenders are to be treated by mental health PROFESSIONALS. They have the training for it.
A POLITICIAN is trained on how to get a VOTE...and it's all they care about!
Do you now understand WHY the United States is having many problems with the Sex Offender issues?? It's because a POLITICIAN decided to take away the responsibility from a Psychiatrist and Psychologist and use it to get VOTES!!!
--------
GET RID OF THE DAMN POLITICIANS SO WE CAN HAVE A SAFE FLORIDA AND SAFE AMERICA AGAIN...Click on my name above!!!!!!!!!!
Sunny I don't think it is evolution that is happening to Mr.Book ,I believe he is waking to the fact that things are heating up for his clients and he needs to cover his and their asses ,so it is a matter of the pocket book that is steering him in this very unexpected direction he is now showing as a pubic facade ,But the leopard doesn't change it's spots remember. D
IMO-
Ron Book has not changed his opinions one iota. He is, of course, not liking all this adverse publicity, but it has given him a whole new avenue of torture. Now, he can DECLARE himself innocent as being the cause of homeless former offenders (as if his declaration makes it true)and show his sincere (gag) desire to find them a place to live by putting them in an old prison where he believes they belong all along.
He DID admit that 2500' was too much, but said that 1700 to 2000' would work just fine. BULLHOCKEY!
If something does not work, causes more harm and expense to an already financially strapped state, why in the world would you want to continue it at all?!
The actual biggest question of all is SINCE MR BOOK ABDICATED HIS ROLE OF FINDING HOMES FOR FORMER OFFENDER YEARS AGO BECAUSE THEY WERE MONSTERS AND HAS SELF STATED BIAS AGAINST FORMER OFFENDERS, WHY IS HE IN THIS PICTURE AT ALL? Why is his name all over this stuff? Why is he the one making all the decisions? He is nobody. NOBODY!
He is not an elected official. He says he is an "expert" on the subject but he has also said he does not believe the research...so that leaves only the tragic molestation of his daughter by the nanny as a basis of being expert.
Stop letting the wolf run the hen house. Get him the heck out of the picture. I don't understand the bruhaha about this. The answer is simple, get rid of the residency restrictions and the problem is solved. Educate the public...that MUST be done because they have been lied to for so long they are under the impression that RR do something other than cause problems. Educate the public and get rid of Ron Books influence and the residency restrictions!
I agree. Ron doesn't like the publicity NOR the fingers pointing back at him saying he isn't doing his job.
It's an evolution for Ron...of the what goes around comes around type, one he didn't expect as he is rarely in the back seat regarding Florida politics. I agree the publicity was found distasteful by his clients but I can almost certainly say, a couple of phone calls were made by our career-climbing governor to the beautiful city of Miami, likely after pressed by the press regarding his thoughts on the Julia.
Actually, Ron's bad publicity has given politicians the opportunity to end residency restrictions and clean up their acts on the registry (let's see if they take it) as the international press is all over this story regarding the current research and the human rights violation, particularly the family side and the collateral damage inflicted. Another point, those citizens under the bridge are there because they can't live with their Miami families due to residency restrictions. You can't go home in Miami...quite the advertisement.
Mr. Book politically moved his way in to the Chair of the Homeless Trust...believe me, that is every bit as planned as his support for residency restrictions. I'm certain Hitler would've enjoyed his company.
I really don't care if the man evolves as long as our families and loved ones are relieved from the segregarion those such as Book have placed on Florida citizens.
But he has been thrown under the bridge by someone somwhere (ha, metaphor intended) and of course, an abandoned prison is unacceptable...but old Ron has blinked.
AND LOBBYIST DON'T BLINK,,,,it's bad for business.
Kudos for those currently living under JT for standing their ground and not jumping at the chance to be yet again segregated. I applaud them.
They should not agree to move ANYWHERE that he sets up. AT ALL. Then would come into question the water quality, air, quality of life, threats, more murders. People these ARE the nazi encampments.
AND it IS the big picture.
WHO THE F put ron book in charge of anything?
most I see is that he has a LAW DEGREE.
BIG F"ING DEAL.
Him and every other thieving murdering nazi in florida.
this is like pam iorio in tampa creating the homeless situation. while she was taking kickbacks from developers and everyone else under the sun to move her thug buddies here and build EMPTY EMPTY condos ... then she and the bigger thug, school superintendent maryEllen Elia hop on some kind of homeless coalition at the same time they are taking charters from Metropolitan (anything BUT) ministries because they know this opens them up to a public records search. STILL DOES MORONS>
Exercising undue influence.
Irish Republican Army Tampa FL: Bob Oneill front runner for uninted state's attorney business partner. Covering up mortgage scams which all but capsized florida. read woodward law. everywhere you look in tampa all through south tampa are members of the irish republican army and their associates living in homes acquired through the mysterious deaths of the former occupants. Besides that ... their associates, two of whom are my neighborhood domestic terrorists (actually the whole hood now but that's another story) operating under the watchful eye of the Hillsborough Sheriff's Office and Tampa firefighters... CHURCH PROPERTIES. All acquired their property from a church. And the circle wrapping around the Irish Republican Army grows tighter today.
See if I had a US atty for a best friend and business partner I'd be happy but I wouldn't be working with him to cover up lawlessness and murder. And some take advantage of that relationship to cover up their own lawlessness.
Lifting them (in their minds) above the law.
Now they're up to some new tricks ...
Let's remember that this is not a Florida (MIAMI) problem.
It is a NATIONAL PROBLEM.
It is proved that these laws are not helping to restore these people.. they are destroying them. They are starving because they can not find a job, and homeless because they can not live almost anywhere. CAN YOU IMAGINE, NOT HAVING A HOME TO REST? A BED WHERE YOU CAN STRETCH?
I just wonder that the people who are pointing their finger to these people, they have three fingers pointing to them.
The one who is without sin, throw the first rock...
There must be another positive way to help these people. This laws are braking their spirits.
Have mercy, Mr Book.
Please do not become tired of doing good, you can go home and have a bubble bath, but many of these people dont even have a bed to stretch.
Have mercy.
Agreed.
But we can thank those under the Julia for bringing national attention to the issue...
Thanks for your comments.
Welcome.
Post a Comment