Politics & Government

With Sex Offender Bill Passed - and Veto Overridden - Supervisors Take Sides on New Plan

As thoughts turn toward site selection, "whose backyard?" becomes next question.

At a press conference in Westhampton on Monday to implore the Suffolk County Department of Social Services to implement a plan that would site homeless sex offenders throughout the county, Riverhead Supervisor Sean Walter said he would "be screaming bloody murder" if one such site was proposed in Riverhead, a contrast to his neighboring supervisor to the south, Anna Throne-Holst. 

During the press conference Legislator Jay Schneiderman, I-Montauk, was describing the difficulty DSS may face as it tries to create living space for approximately two dozen homeless sex offenders, who have been housed in trailers in Riverside and Westhampton for the past four years. 

The DSS has recently been given the task of finding six sites throughout Suffolk County, each of which would house a maximum of six homeless sex offenders. No town nor legislative district can house more than one communal home.

Find out what's happening in Riverheadwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Walter interjected during Schneiderman's explanation and added that in addition to setbacks already placed upon sex offenders' living spaces, such as quarter-mile setbacks from schools and playgrounds, he would battle any communal home in his town. And he would not be alone, he said.

"That's going to be a real fight," he said, referring to the site placement of the homes. "Because I'm going to tell you that when they come into my community and try to site one, I'm going to be screaming bloody murder not to have it wherever they're putting it. I guarantee every supervisor will be doing that."

Find out what's happening in Riverheadwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Throne-Holst, shaking her head, disagreed. 

"It's incumbent on every municipality to do its fair share," she said in an interview following the press conference. "There's an argument to be made that we've done more than our fair share and should be rewarded going forward, and perhaps not put at the top of the list for site locations. But I'm expecting that everyone else do their fair share as well. If everyone takes the attitude of 'Not in My Backyard,' we'll have four more years of what we've just seen."

During his press conference speech, Walter did say that he "would be happy to take care of the sex offenders who come from my own town."

After the press conference, Walter said he preferred the voucher system supported by County Executive Steve Levy, which has been implemented in other counties such as Nassau and Westchester. 

"The vouchers are not perfect," he said. "But if they work in other counties ... it's the lesser of two evils. My biggest fear is that it takes a year and a day to site one of these. And you have how many throughout the county?"

And not long after , Levy's concerns seem to be already playing out. 

In his latest veto statement, the county executive wrote the following of the proposed site selection system: "such a process is sure to result in widespread opposition and legal challenges that will delay the operation of these small shelters for months if not years. In the meantime, this will continue to leave the Department of Social Services in the position of operating the trailers in Riverside and Westhampton."

In 2007, both trailers were instituted as a temporary emergency housing option. However, they have remained and become the center of lawsuits that both towns have filed against the county.

Schneiderman acknowledged that it's "never going to be easy to site the locations. Nobody wants to be near them. But having them all on the East End isn't fair."

He also said that site placement of the homes would not need town approval.

At the press conference, the South Fork legislator said that he had spoken to DSS Commissioner Greg Blass, who told him that no contract has been signed with the private vendor in charge of setting up the six county-wide emergency housing homes, adding that it may be a couple of months before a contact is completely drawn up.


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