Nor'Town: Politics in North Las Vegas, Nevada

The Elections Are Over, Aren't They?

Or are they just beginning? In the midst of an update of the forced migration of Nor'Town sex offenders to our neighbor to the south, we find Councilman William Robinson demanding the removal of the few ill and elderly offenders still in the transitional homes.

Officials did allow a small number of elderly sex offenders to remain at the Ferguson location.

"They are very ill offenders we were not able to place due to their medical needs," Madris said. "Despite their crimes, they are still human beings. We still have to think about what is best for their needs."

But North Las Vegas City Councilman William Robinson said he's working to get the remaining men out.

"They have to go," he said. "It's not a total clean-up if they don't get those (men) out, too. If you leave one, you're setting a precedent for others." (RJ)

Well, I for one can't wait to see a picture in the RJ of the Councilman shoving an elderly fellow in a wheelchair into the street, can you?

I was thinking, what's with Robinson? The election is over. He doesn't need to manufacture distractive issues to blow away an underfunded opponents anymore, does he?

O wait. I forgot. It looks like the run for Nor'Town mayor has begun, and Robinson has found a way to get his name in the paper early on. He's already expressed an interest.

Wonder who'll be next....

And don't you wish you lived in the south west valley, so that you're crime sprees would get reported?

At least the city nabbed the copper thieves.

Mr. Trivializer

The Man of Reason has thrown off his mask of rationality and produced a mailer touting himself as the savior of our children.

William Robinson, the only candidate for the Ward 2 city council seat who has money for mailers, sent out a doozy recently. "Our children shouldn't be targets" says one side, while painting a symbol which looks like it was borrowed from a big box retailer on the gray-scale faces of two stock photo kids.

On the other side, we find Robinson's grinning mug touting himself as "leading the fight to keep our children safe." And, he claims,

Councilman William Robinson didn't want sex offenders gathering in North Las Vegas. After local residents discovered a problem with local zoning laws that allowed registered sex offenders to live in our neighborhoods, Councilman Robinson led the charge to change the rules and kick sex offenders out of North Las Vegas.

Of course, if you look closely at the mailer, you see that it refers to an RJ report which told us of the plight of the 82-year-old sex offender who had no place else to live than the transitional home he was in:

The 82-year-old with the friendly face says he has nowhere to go and no family to help him.

"Maybe I can go to the Salvation Army (shelter)," he says, shrugging. "I don't know what's available."

The 82-year-old, who asked that his name not be published, lives with several other men in a North Las Vegas transitional home for sex offenders. He, too, is a convicted sex offender.

First off, Robinson claims those sexual offenders actually removed, pardon me, "kicked out" of North Las Vegas. But, were they? The MSM only reported that the parole folk were moving them out of the neighborhoods, not out of the city.

Second, it is hardly clear how Robinson is "leading the fight" to change the rules. He did not, for example, testify at some recent hearings of the Nevada State Assembly or Senate committees which are drafting legislation on group homes and tightening restrictions on sex offenders.

But it is disconcerting that the Councilman is catering to the lowest denominator in Nor'Town by talking about "kicking out" sex offenders. It unconscionably dumbs down what should be a serious debate about balancing the safety of children, with the rights--yes they still have some--the rights of persons who have served their time. The Councilman seems to prefer the sort of approach to the problem that Oscar Goodman has tried on the homeless in Las Vegas, kick them out of the city and make them somebody else's problem.

One bit of dumbing-down in the non-debate over group homes for sex offenders is the use of the blanket term "sex offender." The sex offender bill circulating in the Legislature, only affects "third-tier" offenders, those considered most likely to commit sex crimes again. So, whatever solution Councilman Robinson is "leading" us to, it will hardly "kick out" all sex offenders from Nor'Town.

Seems like this would be a really good time for an update on the living conditions of the guys the parole folk were shuffling around. Did they end up in homeless shelters? Or are they living in Nor'Town neighborhoods? Well, MSM? Sounds like a good story, given there's a city council member in an election making it a campaign issue.

Stephens, Robinson's opponent, should call for a real, serious debate about the sex offender problem. It would be an excellent opportunity to prove if he has what it takes to sit on the council.

Status of Group Home and Sex Offender Bills

A senate bill, SB421, to place more restrictions on the establishment of group homes for released convicts will be discussed in the Senate Finance Committee on Tuesday.afternoon after other committee hearings are finished.

A similar assembly bill, AB463 has passed the Nevada Assembly and is now working it's way through the Nevada Senate. It will be heard in the Senate Government affairs committee at 1:30pm today (Monday).

SB232, which places more restricitions on where released sex offenders can live, is also still alive.

The bills should be of interest of Nor'Towners because of all the fuss over the group homes housing sex offenders in Ward 2 a few months ago. It has also become an issue in the Ward 2 councilguy race between incumbent William Robinson and John Stephens:

Stephens criticized Robinson for being unaware that several half-way houses for sex offenders were operating in the city, and for not taking enough responsibility for them. Neighbors were outraged when they discovered the transitional homes were in their communities.

"He dropped the ball," Stephens said. "He wasn't paying attention."

But Robinson, who held two public meetings about the issue and vowed to move the offenders out, said he did what was necessary as soon as he became aware of the problem.

"I listened to the citizens," he said. "God knows I did what I thought was right." (RJ)

Of course, the issue is much more complex than the sound bite fight between the two candidate's suggest. The Las Vegas Weekly had an interesting article worth a read for all of us, and especially the candidates. Booting sex offenders out on the street hardly seems like a good idea.

Early Voting for the Ward 2 seat begins on Wednesday of next week, in case you forgot.

You can listen to or watch the committee hearing over the Internets, of course, over at the Nevada Legislature website.

That's Two

The City Council held a town hall meeting about that halfway house with sexual offenders on Thursday. (RJ). The "heated" meeting discussed two halfway houses. Given that there are 500 hundred sexual offenders in Nor'Town according to the National Sex Offender Registry two house-fulls seem a drop in the bucket.

Said the RJ:

City officials have said that they did not know sex offenders were living in the homes and that they would explore legal recourses to get them out.

Councilman William Robinson vowed Thursday to somehow get the facilities out of North Las Vegas.

"We've got too many scared kids in the neighborhood," he said. "I had a lady call me the other day crying because she's scared."

However, it seems a bit far-fetched that City officials didn't know about the sex offenders, given that the police department is required to notify neighbors if sex offenders move nearby. I got one a post card a couple weeks ago about my neighborhood sex offender, by the way. Other towns have parks. We have sex offenders.

Oh, and hey, council guys, there is that big old National Sex Offender Registry that the chief of police probably could have pointed out to you if you had only asked.

Of course it didn't take long to discover another bad Nor'Town law: It turns out that since the homes are run by non-profits, they don't have to go through a licensing process which would have included notifying neighbors of the home, inspections of the facility, and the other sorts of things grown-up cities have.

And the meeting wasn't widely publicized, either. The NLV website has no mention of it. It wasn't mentioned on the News Releases page and not on the Community Calendar, either. But, then again, the City Council Meetings didn't make the Calendar, either. I hope they at least met the minimal requirements of the open meeting law, which, pathetically, mainly mean they post a notice in the North Las Vegas Library--if they can find a thumbtack, that is.

Sex Offenders as Neighbors

The RJ reports the discomforting story of what it's like to live across the street from a halfway house housing sex offenders:

[Mike] Hubbard and his neighbors in the community near Cheyenne Avenue and Simmons Street recently learned that a transitional home for released sex offenders and other former inmates is operating in their neighborhood.

Up to eight sex offenders are living at the home, 3009 Colton Ave. Those who have called the facility home at one time or another since it opened in 2005 have been imprisoned on charges including statutory sexual seduction and sexual assault on a victim under 16.

"Child molesters and rapists are living in this home in our family neighborhood," said Gina Anderson, a neighbor who is raising two boys. "Most of the families here don't have any idea about it. Children are out riding bikes and skateboarding."

The story reports that concerned citizens met with City Councilman William Robinson, and Nevada Senator Stephen Horseford participated by phone.

"There's no way in hell we should have eight sex offenders living in a house," Robinson said. "Too many youngsters live in this neighborhood. These people (the offenders) have to move."

However, if you check out the site FamlyWatchdog.us, you'll discover that it is really hard to find a neighborhood far from a sex offender in Nor'town. The site shows about 465 offenders north of 95 and 58 are "unmappable"--which seems to mean that there was some reason to think those 58 are in the neighborhood, but whoever keeps up the site doesn't have the address nailed down. Hmm. Aliante seems to be relatively free of 'em. Hmm.

Stay away from the paysite FamilyWatchdog.com, tho, unless you like giving money to strangers over the Internet. Oh, great. According to the FamilyWatchdog.us, there's an "offender home" within two blocks of my place.