[editor-surveyor]

"83 worries me a bit. It seems like the urban areas would have no paroled sex offenders living in them at all --2000 feet from a school or park would effectively send all to the suburban and exurban areas that are more spread out in their city planning"

That is a baseless assumption. It's the suburbs that are dotted with schools and parks; the cities tend to have their schools somewhat centralized. 83 would help to keep them out of young family neighborhoods. 2000 feet is less than 1/2 mile.

[calcowgirl]

E-S... I have similar concerns. It definitely would change the landscape. What it does to any particular area, I don't know. I'd have to look into it more. It certainly looks like lots of San Francisco's finest (NOT) would be displaced to who-knows-where.

Here's a snip from Capitol Weekly a few weeks ago:

Jessica's Law's no-live zone is bone of political contention
By Shane Goldmacher
July 13th, 2006

A November initiative to toughen penalties and place new restrictions on where past sex offenders can live essentially would make the city of San Francisco a sexual-predator-free zone, according to maps produced by the Senate Office of Research.

If passed, the measure would prohibit convicted sex offenders from living within 2000 feet of any school or park where children play.

In San Francisco, one of the nation's most densely populated cities, that leaves only a few square blocks as inhabitable for registered sex offenders. The largest areas that would remain open to past predators would be the airport region, downtown's industrial zones and cemetery-dense Colma--none of which contain much, if any, residential housing.

"We're really clear: It is going to be harder to find a place to live, particularly in the most dense areas, of which San Francisco would be the most," said Sen. George Runner, R-Antelope Valley, who along with his wife, Assemblywoman Sharon Runner, R-Lancaster, spearheaded the campaign to put the measure on the ballot.

Runner, while challenging the specifics of the Senate map, says that there will be difficulties in predator placement, but they are worth the potential benefit.

[Alia]

I checked out my old working class neighborhood with the homes now selling for $5k+ months back, and sure enough.. a zillion sex-offenders living in the area -- 1/2 mile would move them out of that child-centered neighborhood. Good!