Sex Offenders Unite at 1149 East First Street in Long Beach, California

Mile Milivojevic has a good thing going: he bought a 12-unit apartment building in Long Beach that was in foreclosure and pretty much got if for a song. Then, he fixed up the units a bit, but in a coup that speaks of niche market understanding, he decided to rent almost exclusively to registered sex offenders.

Rapists, child molesters, and others whose crimes are falling into these categories have moved in, and "normal" residents have moved out. Of course, when you consider that the state subsidizes the rent these folks are paying, this is a good gig! As of 02-13-08, Kelly Puente reports that at least 15 registered sex offenders are living at this Alamitos Beach neighborhood address, and this might just be the tip of the iceberg.

Hush hush but legal, this sex offender halfway house is supposed to house no more than one registered sex offender per unit, but neighbors claim that there are a lot more of them than just 12. Mr. Milivojevic states that this is not the case and in fact has an onsite manager by the name of Nash Stefanovic who is also keeping an eye on things and who furthermore decided to go on the offensive by asserting to MSNBC that his residents were unfairly discriminated against.

The odds are good that the parents who are taking their children to the daycare center little more than a stone's throw away from that building are not too pleased, and thus a small business might be forced to close its doors if the sex offenders remain. Add to this the sexual assault on a 13 year old child not too far away by a male suspect - still not apprehended - and the fact that a middle school is a scant few blocks away from 1149 East First Street, and you will understand why residents are ready to declare war.

Sure, the owner is quick to distance himself and Mr. Milivojevic states that the building may be his, but he rented it in its entirety to Mr. Stefanovic. The latter, when he is not offended at discrimination against his tenants, is unsure why instead of the seven sex offenders he knows should be in the building, 15 are registered at his address. Furthermore, he discredits neighbors' reports - Kurt Helin found that these started to come in during the holidays, right about the time the first sex offenders started moving in - of fights, shouting, and other outbursts, and instead claims that it is a very quiet building.

Perhaps most concerning to residents in Long Beach is the fact that Mr. Stefanovic states that he takes in these men "as the parole board sends them over." For reasons that are beyond understanding, it appears as though the Long Beach authorities are in tacit agreement with the practice of warehousing registered sex offenders in residential neighborhoods and are actually encouraging this practice. As a matter of fact, Paul Eakins states that Gordon Hinkle - spokesman for the Corrections department - is very open about the notion that sex offenders are usually housed in clusters to make the job for the parole officers easier.

Neighbors have been up in arms about this practice for a while but it was not until one of them got the local talk radio icons John and Ken from KFI AM 640 involved that city officials seemed to listen just a tat more intently. When the dynamic duo of civic discontent decided to broadcast their show from in front of what they term the "sex offender clown house," local politicians were all but begging for microphone time to express their outrage and willingness to work with the community.

Thus it is not surprising that Councilwoman Lowenthal backed down from the initial idea of just restricting sex offender living quarters as having to be 2,000 feet in distance from daycare centers and instead opted to support much more stringent measures that would prevent this kind of warehousing to occur in other Long Beach neighborhoods. Ms. Lowenthal is quoted as lauding the upset neighbors for making her aware of the "issues that occur on the street level."

While nobody in Long Beach wants to make the jobs of parole officers harder, and while everyone appreciates the efforts of Ms. Lowenthal et. al., it is somewhat disheartening that unless a group of residents does copious research on the Internet, they will not know that there are sex offenders clustered around their homes.

In the same vein, it also is discouraging to note that unless a popular talk radio show becomes involved in a neighborhood's battle to take back their streets, little is done. What is even more frustrating is the fact that government agencies have permission to dump convicted criminals of this kind en masse into a residential neighborhood. Surprisingly, nobody seemed to put together the assault on the 13-year old and the presence of 12 to 15 sex offenders in close proximity.

So here is what we'll do: we will patrol the neighborhood, keep John & Ken on speed-dial, and when we need something done, we'll call them. Once we have Long Beach under control and fixed up, we'll rent them out to Los Angeles, where they can tackle the gang warfare, and once L.A. is cleaned up, maybe we let San Diego borrow them for securing the border.

Sources:

http://www.presstelegram.com/ci_8255925

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23244655/

http://www.gazettes.com/sexoffender2182008.html

http://www.presstelegram.com/ci_8309428