<!--Rick Forgione--><table width="234" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" background="http://static.cnhi.zope.net/flashpromo/niagaragazette/images/byline_234x60.jpg" height="60"><tr><td><div align="center"><font size="3" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">By Rick Forgione</font><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><br /></font><font size="1" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><a href="mailto:rick.forgione@niagara-gazette.com">rick.forgione@niagara-gazette.com</a></font></div></td></tr></table>
The highly publicized debate over the housing of registered sex offenders will be up for further discussion during a public forum Monday.
Organized by City Council candidate Candra Thomason, the forum is scheduled for 6 to 8 p.m. at the Niagara Falls Library and will include a panel of speakers representing various groups concerned over the placement of offenders in residential neighborhoods and in close proximity to schools.
“The answer, ‘they’ve got to live somewhere’ is not acceptable,” Thomason said. “The only answer is to get them completely out of our neighborhoods and place them where there is no residents or schools. We don’t want to see children in harm’s way. This has been a hot issue for some time.”
The debate was thrust back into the spotlight earlier this summer after registered sex offender James A. McKinney was assigned to the Midtown Inn on Niagara Street in Niagara Falls despite the majority of his sex crimes taking place in North Tonawanda. Located only a few blocks away from Niagara Street Elementary School, the Midtown Inn housed at least eight Level 2 and 3 sex offenders at the time of McKinney’s placement.
Following a public outcry to have him moved from the Falls’ site, McKinney was relocated to North Tonawanda’s B-Cozy Motel, 1200 Niagara Falls Blvd. He will have to be moved again before the start of the new school year since the motel is too close to a daycare and a soon-to-be-open school.
Meanwhile, preparations are being made to move all remaining registered sex offenders out of the Midtown Inn and into another site at 918 Niagara Ave. in the Falls. That address is also in a residential neighborhood and is only about a half mile away from Abate Elementary School at 1625 Lockport St.
“We definitely have issues with that,” said Falls School District Superintendent Cynthia Bianco.
School attorney Maria Massaro will represent the district on Monday’s discussion panel. Also scheduled to participate are Sharon Szwedo and Ron Anderluh of the Niagara Street Business Association, Dorothy West, president of the LaSalle Preparatory School parents group, Niagara Falls Republican Committee Chairman Robert Krause and a representative from the city’s Human Rights Commission.
Thomason said state Sen. George Maziarz will be in attendance to make an opening statement. Residents can voice concerns during the meeting’s second half and Thomason is hoping Niagara Falls Mayor Paul Dyster and state Assemblywoman Francine DelMonte will be there to answer questions and provide an update on the relocation.
“We’re not playing a game here,” she said. “It’s time to resolve this problem.”
Contact reporter Rick Forgione
at 282-2311, ext. 2257.
