When laws go bad

It seemed like a good idea to someone at the time. In Miami, Dade County passed an ordinance prohibiting registered sex offenders from living within 2,500 feet of anywhere kids gather.

This is that place:

sexoffender_bridge.jpg

The bulk of the felons living under the bridge — and in tents lining the side of a causeway, in full view of tourists headed to the beach — are on state probation, the Associated Press reports today.

Homeless advocates and county officials today said the homeless sexual offenders could be moved soon, although it’s not clear to where. One building said to be under consideration is an abandoned jail.

(Photo: Dagoberto Duran, 32, listens to radio under the Julia Tuttle Causeway in Miami, Wednesday, July 22, 2009. AP Photo/Alan Diaz)