Lynn seeks to kick out sex offender

and Chris Stevens / The Daily ItemLYNN – A Level 3 sex offender who recently bought a home within 1,000 feet of the Shoemaker Elementary School and Gowdy Park insists he is not a danger to anyone and believes it?s unfair that city officials plan to try to force him to move.?I have every legal right to live here,” Richard Galzerano said during an interview Thursday on the front steps of his 32 Daytona Road home in Lynn.?I?m trying to adapt within a community. I don?t believe I?m a threat to anyone.”But that hasn?t stopped Lynn city officials from preparing to send Galzerano a letter ordering him to move from his home, the first such letter they are writing under the city?s sex offender ordinance.Assistant City Solicitor James Lamanna said Thursday he will send a letter to Galzerano by today at the latest informing him that as a Level 3 sex offender – which is defined by the state?s Sex Offender Registry Board as someone having a “high risk to re-offend” – he is barred from living within 1,000 feet of a school, park or other private or public recreational facilities.City officials can fine Galzerano $300 a day if he refuses to move out of the house within 30 days of receiving the notice, according to Lamanna, who said this is the first time city officials have used the ordinance, passed in its latest form in December 2010, to try to force a Level 3 sex offender to move out of a neighborhood.?This is the first time we?ve sent a notice to vacate,” Lamanna said. “We?ve had a number of Level 3 sex offenders come into the office and look at the maps to see where they can live.”Lamanna said city officials modeled the ordinance after others that have withstood legal challenges.But Galzerano, who was convicted in 2008 of trying to entice a 14-year-old boy into his car in Revere, according to police and court reports, says he will fight the law in court if the city tries to force him to move.?I have every right to be here. I stay in my house. I don?t bother people,” he said after checking his mailbox for the anticipated letter from the city. “They can?t do this to me.”But Gretchen Hosker, the program director of the Little Theatre Kindergarten, said Thursday night she immediately sent out notices to all the parents of the children who attend the nursery school and kindergarten, which is located just around the corner from where the Level 3 sex offender lives.?My first concern was how did it get to the point where he was able to move in when we have this ordinance in place,” Hosker, who?s worked at the school for 24 years, said.She stressed that “safety is always number one in my mind,” and school employees remain “super vigilant” to make sure children are always safe.?We are always very careful,” she said. “We always count children when we?re in school, and when we go outside.”Parents of children at the school said they were glad to get the information that a Level 3 sex offender was living nearby, Hosker said.?The ones living in the neighborhood don?t understand why they weren?t notified before I got the letter,” she said.Police Chief Kevin Coppinger said Thursday that he checked and confirmed that Galzerano was violating the city ordinance by living where he lives, but the convicted sex offender has complied with state criminal laws by notifying police that he has moved into the neighborhood.Coppinger said the police can?t charge Galzerano criminally for violating the city ordinance, but they can notify his probation officer to tell him or her that the Level 3 sex offender is violating the city ordinance.Patricia Riley, principal of the Shoemaker Elementary School, located on Regina Road, said City Council President Tim Phelan and Ward 1 City Councilor Wayne Lozzi, who represents the ward where the Level 3 sex offender lives, are holding a neighborhood meeting on Wednesday at 7 p.m. at the school to talk about the issue.But she stressed that safety measures have long been in place that will keep the children safe.?We feel the students