"Everyone around here is gonna be happy:" Common Council ordinance restricts where sex offenders can live
MILWAUKEE (WITI) -- Serious restrictions on where sex offenders can live in the city of Milwaukee. The Milwaukee Common Council passed an ordinance on Tuesday, July 22nd -- limiting where sex offenders can live to just a handful of places within the city.
Right now, more than 85 percent of sex offenders in Milwaukee County live in the city of Milwaukee. That's a percentage that's gone up in recent years because of residency restrictions in nearby municipalities. Now, the city of Milwaukee has its own.
When two sex offenders moved into a home on Van Beck Avenue in Milwaukee, neighbors were upset. Today, only one of those sex offenders still lives in the home. The other is back in prison.
"When I heard one of them violated the law shortly after moving here I was hoping they would get out," neighbor Justin Scott said.
Now, neighbors are learning of a new residency restriction ordinance that would stop sex offenders from moving in.
"I think everyone around here is gonna be happy," Scott said.
"Basically the ordinance that was approved by the Common Council would restrict any serious convicted sex offender from residing within in 2,000 square feet of a school, park, playground, daycare center or any other location where kids congregate," Milwaukee Alderman Tony Zielinski said.
Zielinski says Milwaukee is a magnet for sex offenders, thanks to surrounding communities passing their own residency restrictions. Wisconsin's Sex Offender Registry shows thousands in the city, and if Mayor Tom Barrett signs the ordinance, few will be able to live in the city.
"The sex offenders that are already residing within those limits -- they`ll be grandfathered in, but this is, for the most part, a very transient population -- so the expectation is within a year, two years, three years max, many of the sex offenders will have moved on," Alderman Zielinski said.
The red and orange on this map shows where sex offenders cannot live. Any area that is not colored, is where sex offenders can reside.
One of those spots is Alderman Terry Witkowski's district. He voted against the restrictions.
"We will have people that will go underground and live where they want to live and you won`t know where they are," Alderman Witkowski said.
Apartments at 23rd and College will be one of the few places sex offenders can live.
"I don`t like that. There`s too many kids around there. We got a bus stop with eight buses every morning. During the school year I would not like that at all," neighbor Adam Bujanowski said.
There is a larger political play at hand here -- and that is to force the state to enact a statewide sex offender residency law. That would sort of level the playing field, so that not all of the sex offenders end up in one community.