Stop me if you've heard this song before: Homeless Registrants in Miami must move again

Where have we heard this before? It is like a music tour, the cities change but the names remain the same. Julia Tuttle, Shorecreast, Allapattah, Hialeah, and now apparently Brownsville.

Honestly, when can we stop citing Ron Book as if he's helping with the solution?

If there is a hell, Ron Book will have his own circle of it after his passing.

https://www.miaminewtimes.com/news/homeless-sex-offenders-booted-offered-shelter-by-frank-diazs-united-we-all-can-11191829

Homeless Sex Offenders Must Move Again
JESSICA LIPSCOMB | JUNE 11, 2019 | 9:00AM

Ever since the Julia Tuttle Causeway became an encampment for sex offenders more than a decade ago, officials have been trying to shoo the group away from the rest of civilization. Thanks to stringent requirements mandating that child predators live 2,500 feet from schools, parks, and daycare centers, the offenders have struggled to find legal housing, leaving many effectively homeless. For years, the roving offenders have been shuffled from one place to another, angering unlucky neighbors and nearby business owners.

After a 2017 New Times report about unsanitary living conditions at the group's tent city near Hialeah, county commissioners booted the group. It split into smaller factions across the county; some members even left the state.

Now the county is preparing to break up a growing colony of sex offenders living on NW 48th Street in Brownsville. An official notice posted in the area says the state has declared the encampment a sanitary nuisance, and the county considers those living there to be in violation of Miami-Dade code. The county "will be forced to take appropriate enforcement action including, but not limited to, civil penalties and/or arrest" of those who do not vacate by June 20, the sign warns.

"They put up a notice saying, 'Kick rocks — you've got to get out of here.' The question is, to where?" says Frank Diaz, a local pastor who ministers to offenders at the camp.

Diaz says he and his nonprofit group, United We All Can, already care for homeless people in faith-based shelters across Miami-Dade. He'd like to further his outreach by dedicating an entire "restoration home" to displaced sex offenders.

"What we're asking is the county give us a place in an industrial area where it's away from parks, schools, and communities,” Diaz says. “We can build that place up and house them there. We'll minister to them, but the county's gotta help us find the property."

Ron Book, the ultrapowerful lobbyist who chairs the Homeless Trust, sees merit in the idea. It could help rehabilitate some sex offenders and make it easier for law enforcement and probation officers to keep track of the population.

"If somebody wants to build something away from the general population, we would certainly encourage that," Book says.

But he says he can't seriously entertain a proposal until it's fully fleshed out. And he's uncertain about using the Trust budget for such a project.

"Taking significant funds to fund the building or the renovation — you know, that remains to be seen as to my willingness to do that," Book says.

Without any clear direction on legal homes, the offenders now rely on word-of-mouth suggestions for places that fit the county's narrow criteria. Diaz says the law actually makes residents less safe in some ways because the sex offenders can't find steady housing or work.

"The only thing they're doing is getting angry," he says, "and what we want to do is restore them so they become productive and they don't recommit these types of offenses."

In the meantime, the group on NW 48th Street will be forced to find a new home, which, Diaz says, "is not a solution that works. They're just sweeping bodies under the rug and saying this is not a problem."

The Bookville Countywide tour continues

Apparently, the "solution" to the homeless registrant crisis is to force them to move constantly.

http://www.miaminewtimes.com/content/printView/10376656

Police Now Shuffling Tent City Sex Offenders Around Miami-Dade
JESSICA LIPSCOMB | MAY 24, 2018 | 9:00AM

In 2009, California artist Scott Gairdner made the "Sex Offender Shuffle," a viral video parodying Miami-Dade's treatment of sex offenders. With a catchy beat and '80s-style cinematography, the four-minute spoof of the 1985 Chicago Bears' "Super Bowl Shuffle" mocked the way sex offenders are shuffled from one location to another under the guise of public safety.

Nine years later, the sex offender shuffle is playing out in real life in Miami-Dade. After being forced to leave a longtime encampment near Hialeah, a group of homeless sex offenders was kicked out of its new location near the airport over the weekend.

"There's no solution," says Frank Diaz, a pastor who ministers to the affected offenders. "They're just sweeping them from one place to another."

The evictions date back to March, when the county gave notice to about 100 homeless sex offenders living at an encampment alongside railroad tracks near Hialeah that they had until May 6 to vacate the area. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and Legal Services of Greater Miami filed a lawsuit challenging the county's overnight camping ordinances but lost their first court hearing. The residents of "Tent City" were forced to leave in early May.

After the hearing, the offenders' lawyer, Jeffrey Hearne, accurately predicted the decision would simply create new encampments of homeless sex offenders.

"They'll most likely be relocating to another street corner," Hearne told the Miami Herald .

So in mid-May, a group of former Tent City residents moved to a location off NW 37th Avenue just northeast of Miami International Airport. But last weekend, Diaz says, police stationed themselves in the area and informed the offenders they couldn't stay there either.

"When I ask [the offenders] where they're going, they say, 'We don't know,'" Diaz tells New Times. "They've been split up as the Tent City that we saw, and now there's like four different locations where they're residing."

Many critics, including the ACLU, say the county's restrictive residency requirements are to blame. The Lauren Book Child Safety Ordinance — championed by Florida Sen. Lauren Book's father: Homeless Trust chair and mega-lobbyist Ron Book — prevents child sex offenders from living within 2,500 feet of places where children congregate, such as schools and parks. (The rule is far more restrictive than the more standard statewide law requiring them to live 1,000 feet away.)

In a contentious interview earlier this month with CBS's Jim DeFede, Ron Book shifted the blame to the offenders by arguing they "shouldn't be homeless."

He told DeFede: "They need to work to find places to live."

Book later added he'd "be happy to encourage" life imprisonment for child sex offenders as an alternative to the current housing debacle.

Until a long-term solution is found, Tent City residents will continue to do the sex offender shuffle.

"They're in that limbo, and they keep being brushed away," Diaz says. "I'm not condoning their crimes, but we're humans. We've got to have a little bit of compassion. Let's find a place and put them in housing so they can have some kind of hope to return to society."

Ron Book's Dade County Commissioner patsy Jose "Pepe" Diaz BUSTED for DUI

This is Jose "Pepe" Diaz, and for years, he has been Ron Book's go-to lackey on the Dade County Commission. In fact, he is credited with writing the controversial "Lauren Book Child Safety Ordinance," the 2500 foor residency restriction law that led to the Julia Tuttle Causeway sex offender colony, otherwise known as "Bookville." 

Actually, this is Pepe's MUGSHOT. You see, he was recently arrested for DUI. (HERE IS THE BODY CAM FOOTAGE if you want to see Pepe go full tilt, courtesy of the Miami Herald.) At this time there is no word if he will blame it on a brain tumor. In response Pepe said, "There goes my political career." We can only hope. 

http://www.wsvn.com/story/30072561/miami-dade-commissioner-jose-pepe-diaz-arrested-for-dui

Dade Commissioner 'Pepe' Diaz caught on camera: "There goes my political career"

Posted: Sep 20, 2015 10:10 AM EDT

Updated: Sep 22, 2015 11:14 AM EDT

MIAMI (WSVN) -- Dashcam video has been released showing the moment before Miami-Dade Commissioner Jose "Pepe" Diaz was arrested over the weekend after allegedly driving his motorcycle drunk in Key West.

Diaz, known to ride a motorcycle, was arrested Saturday night following the Key West Poker Run, a charity motorcycle event.

According to Key West Police, the commissioner was pulled over at around 7:45 p.m., on South Roosevelt Boulevard near Sea Side Drive, for going 74 mph in a 30 mph zone. Authorities said, during the traffic stop, Diaz failed to put his kickstand down, causing his Harley-Davidson motorcycle to fall to the ground. According to the police report, Diaz did not place his feet down on the ground to steady the motorcycle, causing him to fall over to his side. They also noticed that he had a slight slur, his eyes were bloodshot and watery. There was also a strong alcoholic odor from his breath. Police said that was when the DUI investigation began, and he was taken into custody.

Dashcam video showed Diaz as he attempted to walk a straight line, at times stumbling during the test. 

Key West Police bodycams and dashcams on the police car rolled throughout the traffic stop. According to the bodycams one Key West officer was wearing, when asked why Diaz was driving over the speed limit, Diaz apologized. "I'm Commissioner Diaz. I apologize," he said.

"You're who?" asked the officer

"Commissioner Diaz for Miami-Dade County," he responded, as he approached the officer.

"Stop right there."

That's when Diaz explained to police that he was trying to catch up to his friends. A few minutes later, he realized the severity of the stop and said, "There goes my political career."

"Sir," the officer said, "I don't make the decisions on whether you drink, you drive."

Diaz was asked to perform several sobriety tests and failed. He also refused a breathalyzer test. 

Commissioner Diaz appeared before a judge Sunday, and his bond was set at $1,000. 7News was the only station there as Diaz bonded out of the Monroe County Jail, just before noon Sunday, but he refused to comment.

Under legal council, he said he could not discuss any details following his arrest. He later released a statement Monday that reads, "Under advice of my legal counsel, I cannot discuss details at this time. However, I look forward to resolving this matter. In the meantime, I will continue to serve my community and the residents of District 12 as I have done for the last 24 years, and I humbly ask for your patience during this time."

Commissioner Diaz addressed the media from his home Monday evening. "Ladies and gentlemen, I'm sorry, once again. I am extremely sorry," he said. "This is a very difficult moment for me, for my family, for my friends, for my neighbors. Especially my neighbors that please, after this, let them come back to a normality of life. It's not been easy for them. I will tell you that I will follow the judicial system, as I believe in it, like I've always believed in it. I will go through this process like anybody else that's been in this situation."

7News requested information from the Governor's Office on what steps it might take following the charges. We were told that the legal team there are looking into this case.

Diaz has served on the commission since 2002 and was previously mayor of Sweetwater. The next commission meeting is Oct. 6.