New law puts most of S.F. off-limits to sex parolees

M&R_245.JPG A small area near AT&T park is the only place available to sex offenders near the Bay Bridge. Any area within the circles is not legal. California has notified 2,700 sex offenders around the state that they must move further from parks and schools because of the new Jessica's Law. A map of the city now shows only a few areas sex offenders may live in the south and far eastern parts of the city. {By Brant Ward/San Francisco Chronicle}9/11/07 less M&R_245.JPG A small area near AT&T park is the only place available to sex offenders near the Bay Bridge. Any area within the circles is not legal. California has notified 2,700 sex offenders around the state ... more Photo: Brant Ward Photo: Brant Ward Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close New law puts most of S.F. off-limits to sex parolees 1 / 1 Back to Gallery

More than 2,700 paroled sex offenders across the state, including nearly 400 in the Bay Area, have been given 45 days to pack up and move or risk going back to prison.

The reason: They are banned from living within 2,000 feet of a school or park, under a new law California voters approved last fall.

Finding a new home won't be easy for many of them, however. That's especially true for those living in a big city such as San Francisco, where it's nearly impossible to find a residence that isn't within 2,000 feet of a school or park.

According to the big laminated map drawn up by the police sex crimes unit at the San Francisco Hall of Justice, only two places in the city seem to meet the new 2,000-foot stay-away rule: the area around AT&T Park, where condos are going for $500,000 and up, and a narrow strip along Ocean Beach.

By the time state agents were done knocking on doors Friday, 46 parolees in San Francisco had been notified they must find new living quarters. Similar numbers of parolees were notified in San Mateo and Contra Costa counties.

In Alameda County, more than 100 were told to move, and in Santa Clara County the total was about 140, according to parole officials.

The number of wandering sex offenders could have been even greater, had the courts gone along with state Attorney General Jerry Brown'sinsistence that the voter-approved initiative, Proposition 83, be applied to any previously registered offender who moves to a new home.

The courts didn't agree with Brown, however, so 90,000 parolees statewide were exempted.

As it is, only sex offenders paroled since the initiative passed are covered. But with anywhere from 400 to 700 additional offenders being paroled in California each month and returned by law to the counties where they last lived, it's just a matter of time before space runs out.

Under the voter-approved initiative, it's up to the parolees to find new housing - and if they can't, they could wind up back in the slammer.

"That's the Catch-22," said Phillip Torda, a spokesman for the adult parole division of the state Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.

Gavin's grand move: City Hall insiders weren't all that surprised at San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom'sout-of-the-blue call for resignation letters from his administration this week. After all:

1. Newsom has long had a penchant for making sweeping public pronouncements - it's the follow-up where he falls short.

2. Newsom has never been comfortable firing anyone one-on-one, so having everyone go on the block as some sort of mass policy play fits his style.

But this play could produce a few unpleasant surprises. Take the Police Department, for example.

It's no secret that both Police Chief Heather Fong and some of the civilian commissioners who oversee the department are on the outs with the mayor, and that he might be happy to accept their resignations.

But some police commissioners are appointed by the Board of Supervisors and don't have to kowtow to Newsom, as panel President Theresa Sparks points out.

Sparks, a board appointee who is no favorite of the mayor's, also notes that there's nothing Newsom can do even if his own appointees don't turn in resignation letters.

Under a law passed by city voters, "the only way we can be removed is by a vote of the Board of Supervisors," Sparks said.

And if Fong is not a target in the Newsom shakeup?

Well, the commission might be able to force her out anyway if she hands in a resignation letter, simply by accepting it, Sparks said.

In other words, Newsom may be setting up a dynamic where the commission and not the mayor gets to make the call on the chief.

The can-didate: Looks like San Francisco mayoral candidate Grasshopper Kaplan will be doing his campaigning from jail for the next couple of days.

Grasshopper, a homeless cab driver, was picked up the other day for camping in Supervisor Ed Jew's driveway. (Jew's San Francisco driveway, that is.)

Grasshopper, who has made being homeless an issue, was trying to draw attention to the fact that Jew allegedly didn't live at the house, or even in his district, when he ran for supervisor last year.

Unfortunately for Grasshopper, Jew is definitely living at the 28th Avenue house now, and wasn't too happy when he found Grasshopper in the driveway, yelling at a next-door neighbor at 2 o'clock in the morning.

As a result, Grasshopper has new campaign headquarters at the county jail, where he is being held on a variety of charges.

From what we hear, he's not winning a lot of votes there, either. He's been put in a medical unit after throwing a chair against his cell door and dumping his dinner on the floor until he got vegan meals.

Civil ceremony: Oakland City Council President Ignacio De La Fuente's son quietly wed his girlfriend Sunday in the same Alameda County courthouse where he pleaded guilty earlier this year to a string of rapes and sexual assaults involving prostitutes.

Dad and about a dozen other family members were in attendance for the civil ceremony - as were five sheriff's deputies who searched the guests and escorted 32-year-old Ignacio De La Fuente Jr. from his cell to a secure courtroom.

It was the first time Sheriff Gregory Ahern had been asked to allow a prisoner to get married since taking over the job in January, sheriff's spokesman Sgt. J.D. Nelson said.

"No (deputy) overtime was used," Nelson added.

The bride lives in Redwood City and has lived with the younger De La Fuente for the better part of a decade.

Dad wouldn't say why the couple chose to tie the knot now. But those in the know say it would be harder for De La Fuente Jr. to marry after he is sentenced to what is expected to be a 14-year term in state prison.

EXTRA! Catch our Web page at www.sfgate.com/matierandross.

Cast your vote on Democratic bundler Norman Hsu's suspect contributions. Play the Barack Obamagreets Oprah Winfrey caption contest. Check out the bricks and kisses in feedback. And read the Extra, Extra, Extra musings and insights of friends including Rich "Big Vinny" Lieberman and The Chronicle's Carla Marinucci and Don "Bad Reporter" Asmussen.