Study shows sex offenders in Minneapolis are overly concentrated in three areas

Preliminary findings of a study commissioned by the Minneapolis City Council confirm that sex offenders are overly concentrated in three areas of the city.

Phillips, north Minneapolis and Near North are all communities with disproportionately high numbers of predatory offenders.

City Council Member Blong Yang said the report confirms what residents living in those neighborhoods already knew. And, he said, those residents are frustrated.

"I think folks are just begging for an answer. It seems like these reports, as good as they are in terms of giving us information, they don't really give us the answers that we want, Yang said.

City Council Member Barb Johnson said the over-saturation is compounding problems for areas of the city that are already struggling with poverty and other challenges. She said neighbors in her ward have even tired of notification meetings.

"We've gotten to the point in north Minneapolis where people don't even ask for these meetings anymore because you'd be asking four times a month in a neighborhood," Johnson said. The report found that a lack of other housing options was sending offenders into those three areas.