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Parents in a Lower Manhattan neighborhood are holding their kids a little closer since The Post revealed convicted pedophiles are continuing to live near local playgrounds.
While cops are keeping a better eye on the area, the sickos still roam around free, forcing disgusted moms and dads to remain hypervigilant.
“I don’t know what New York has become,” said EJ, a 40-year-old neighborhood mom, as she recently pushed her young daughter on a swing in Hester Street Playground.
The kiddie hot spot is near a converted hotel at 61 Chrystie St., which two high-level registered sex offenders call home.
A nearby second shelter at 197 Bowery counts a half-dozen sex-offender ex-cons among its residents.
EJ and other adults scoffed at a state law that only prohibits registered sex offenders from living 1,000 feet clear of child-care facilities if they are still on parole or on strict supervision — saying it’s not good enough.
“That’s not even a reasonable gap between a child and a threat,’’ EJ said. “Would I put a crocodile 1,000 feet away from my child? No. It would eat her.”
Nearby, a 20-year-old college student baby-sitting her 3-year-old cousin agreed.
“So what’s that supposed to mean? They’re rehabilitated?” she said. “The ones that abused children should never be allowed to live that close to children.
“They should stay away for life as long as their offenses involved children.”
An NYPD cruiser stopped by to check up on things during the recent Post visit to the park.
But that hasn’t eased parents’ concerns.
The Post first reported on the situation at Chrystie Street in July, revealing that at least five Level 2 and 3 sex offenders — the two most dangerous designations — were living at the Chinatown shelter, which is just 243 feet from the other shelter housing pervs.
Their notorious denizens included a creep convicted of raping a 7-year-old girl multiple times and another who molested 12- and 9-year-old girls, both of them serving time in state prison for the sick crimes.
On April 19, The Post found that at least two of the convicted sex offenders are still living at the sites.
It also revealed that least five level 2 offenders were still living at the Bowery shelter, which is just around the corner from the Rivington Playground, including one who sodomized an 11-year-old boy and another who was convicted of aggravated sexual assault of a 12-year-old girl.
“As a parent, this is sickening to me,” local dad and activist Brian Chin said at the time. “We have so few children’s parks in our neighborhood, and out of all the places that they could put violent sex offenders and pedophiles, they’ve deliberately chosen to put them directly next to two of our kids’ parks here.
“These multi-million dollar shelter operators don’t care what kind of danger they’re putting our community in as long as they can make a profit and keep paying themselves half-million dollar salaries.”
A rep for Breaking Ground, the operators of the Bowery shelter, said last week that the city Department of Homeless Services and the NYPD Special Victims Unit has regulatory oversight.
They said state law does not address residency restrictions.
City DHS officials said the Big Apple’s Right to Shelter Law “provides shelter to anyone in need,” while noting that the department adheres to all state and local laws and regulations.
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