Residents Of Homeless Sex Offender Camp Ordered Out Given Extension
Follow CBSMIAMI.COM: Facebook | Twitter
MIAMI (CBSMiami) - Residents of a homeless sex offender camp near Hialeah who have been ordered to leave have been given an extension.
Originally, they were supposed to be gone from their roadside refuge near NW 36th Avenue and 71st Street by sunrise Monday. Now the 40 or so residents have until Thursday, May 10th, to pack up and go.
Monday morning, Miami-Dade police showed up the area but said they were not there for enforcement.
"We want to be able to address this in a tactful way. We'd rather go in with the approach that we will educate. The time is going to come where they are going to have to move simply because of the fact that this has already been deemed by the health department as a sanitary nuisance. We also have to take into consideration the surrounding businesses, the surrounding neighborhoods. We can't allow something that is already a sanitary nuisance to be affecting the community or the surrounding businesses," said Miami-Dade police Det. Alvaro Zabaleta.
Police are handing out information on resources to try and get the people to move along before the Thursday deadline.
Patrick Weiss spent the morning deconstructing his makeshift home. He said he hasn't been able to find a spot that would legal to live under the law, but he's moving on anyway. To where, he doesn't know.
"That's basically what it is. It is either that or go to jail and I'm not going to jail over they can't find us a spot to be," he said.
The law prohibits convicted sex offenders from living with within a half mile of a school or park.
The Homeless Trust has offered those forced to move money for rent and help in finding a room or an apartment that is legal.
The county's sanitation services will begin cleaning the area an removing porta-potties Monday morning.
One of the offenders said she applied for housing but that takes time. The move, though good for people living nearby, is making residents over in Kendall nervous.
There is another homeless camp at the corner of Kendall Drive and Krome Avenue. People say they're worried the homeless will migrate over.
Miami-Dade's Deputy Mayor Maurice Kemp said that plot of land is private property, so if the owner doesn't want them there, they can't go.
"No one from the mayor's office, no one from the county, no one from the Homeless Trust is encouraging anybody to go there and that's a fact," he said.
