Sex offenders squatting under a Miami bridge may soon have to pack up and find another home if city officials get their way.
With nowhere to turn 70 sex offenders have set up camp under the Julia Tuttle Causeway for the past two years, living in near squalor in Biscayne Bay close to a small island.
But Miami City Manager Pete Hernandez sent a letter to Gov. Charlie Crist this week, urging the state to move the convicted offenders from the area which he says sits a little too close to the nearby island.
Federal law says the sex ofenders aren't allowed within 2,500 feet of where children congregate and the island is 1,200 feet from their makeshift encampment.
Though Hernandez and other city officials aren't happy about the convict hangout, the Department of Corrections said no children are in danger.
"[The island] is not considered a park where children congregate. There's no playground there," DOC spokeswoman Gretl Plessinger told the Miami Herald.
She also said the island is far enough away to meet the state's required distance of 1,000 feet.
