Child sex abuse victims and their supporters are calling on the City of Buffalo to notify the public about the housing of sex offenders.Speaking to reporters Wednesday at the corner of Walden and Bailey Avenue on the city's East Side, community advocate Keyon Lee said neighborhood children have to walk past two halfway houses to get to daycare or to school. Lee says parents don't know they are living close to sex offenders and pedophiles.
"The City of Buffalo has become a rest haven for sex offenders. The City of Buffalo holds 600 sex offenders. Know that I say registered sex offenders, those that have been registered and arrested. And in this very zip code, we have 110 sex offenders. This is sad. This must stop now," Lee said.
Stevo Johnson, an abuse victim, says elected leaders and church leaders are ignoring the problem. Michael DeGeorge, a spokesman for Mayor Byron Brown and Buffalo Police, says the city is always looking for ways to improve its notification procedures.