Sex offenders sue over Julia Tuttle bridge colony

A lawsuit claims that Miami-Dade's sex-offender ordinance is creating a public safety crisis. A multipronged legal battle erupted Thursday over the growing colony of sex offenders forced to live under the Julia Tuttle Causeway. The American Civil Liberties Union of Florida sued Miami-Dade County, arguing that the state's rule that sex offenders must live at least 1,000 feet from where children congregate supersedes the county's stricter 2,500-foot ordinance. Then the city of Miami prepared to sue the state for placing the offenders -- whose legal addresses are under the causeway -- too close to a barrier island that it considers a park. Though no one has proposed a solution, the ACLU and the city say they simply want to clean up the shantytown that is spilling out from under the bridge, and find those living there a respectable and safe place to live. Under the 2,500-foot law, convicted sex offenders have no other place to live in the county that does not violate the rule. The vagrants -- many of them homeless felons -- live in shacks in a no-man's land that has generated national debate over the consequences of residency laws for sex offenders. The local laws aim to drive out the colony, which has surged to as many as 140 people and has earned Miami some unflattering attention for two years. The ACLU's lawsuit names two people who live under the bridge as plaintiffs. It asserts that the county ordinance is also a threat to public safety because it forces sex offenders into homelessness, makes them abscond and impedes law enforcement from keeping track of them. In an e-mail, David Raymond, executive director of Miami-Dade County Homeless Trust, said he was not aware of the lawsuit and could not comment. Calls to Assistant County Attorney Thomas Logue and county Commissioner Jose ''Pepe'' Diaz, a sponsor of the ordinance, weren't returned Thursday. Posted on Friday, 07.10.09