[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 44 (Tuesday, April 15, 1997)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E664]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




HONORING MARJORIE DAVIS FOR OUTSTANDING AND CONTINUED COMMUNITY SERVICE

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. CARRIE P. MEEK

                               of florida

                    in the house of representatives

                        Tuesday, April 15, 1997

  Mrs. MEEK of Florida. Mr. Speaker, it is my pleasure to recognize 
Marjorie Davis who has contributed greatly to making our community 
safer and a better place to live. Ms. Davis, originally from Overtown 
but now a resident of Northwest Fort Lauderdale, has volunteered her 
time, effort, and hard work to eliminate drug dealers from the 
community, and has created programs that have helped unite the 
communities with one another. She is an outstanding individual who has 
helped shape community pride, generated respect, and manifested hope 
that was once lost.
  The Miami Herald recognized Marjorie Davis in a January 20, 1997, 
article entitled ``Building Bridges Between Communities'' which 
commemorated her honorable civic service. I would like to submit this 
inspiring article for the Record.

                             Marjorie Davis

       The whistler has left the corner of Fifth Street and 18th 
     Avenue in Northwest Fort Lauderdale.
       A defiant intruder in a modest community of neighbors who 
     know each other by name, he would stand with his hat cocked 
     to the side, pucker his lips, and blow to signal his 
     customers.
       Mothers, fathers, and teenagers with an appetite for crack 
     cocaine who heard the shrill would file to the corner like 
     children chasing the song of an ice cream truck.
       For a while, whistler thought the corner was his. That is, 
     until he met Marjorie Davis, president of Dorsey-Riverbend 
     Homeowners Association.
       The corner is hers. Has been for 40 years. She owns a 
     three-bedroom home with a gazebo at 1713 NW Fifth St., and 
     was not afraid to let the whistler know it.
       ``I'm paying property tax for all this corner right here,'' 
     she told whistler one day, looking him square in the eyes.
       ``Old lady, get back in the house,'' he said smugly.
       In the '80s, whistler and his friends stood on corners 
     throughout Davis' neighborhood in the heart of Fort 
     Lauderdale's historic black community. Pimps with flashy cars 
     and prostitutes in skimpy dresses strutted down the 
     community's Main Street.
       Their days were numbered.
       Davis, then an elementary school teacher in her 50s, 
     rallied the troops, a batallion of proud neighbors who 
     weren't going to let their community be overrun by hoodlums. 
     The association--organized in the '70s over lively 
     conversation and plates of barbecue chicken and potato salad 
     at a neighborhood cookout--haunted city commission meetings 
     until they got police to beef up patrols.
       Soon after, the whistler was arrested.
       ``I guess he thought I was just going to run in the house 
     and be afraid,'' says Davis, a widow who turns 70 next month. 
     ``God doesn't like ugly.''
       A child of Bahamian immigrants, Davis was taught to stand 
     up for what she believes in. She and her two siblings grew up 
     in Overtown under the watchful eye of every adult on her tidy 
     block until the highway divided her community.
       Davis is spending her retirement making her neighborhood 
     the kind of close knit community she knew as a child.
       ``You really need somebody to get the people together'' 
     says Lula Gardner, a retired domestic, standing in the 
     doorway of a home she rebuilt and decorated with a garden of 
     Impatients and Chrysanthemums. ``She keeps around here 
     nice.''
       Davis has worked with the city to make it that way, adding 
     shade trees, sidewalks, and a citizen patrol. Along the way, 
     she's battled slumlords, billboards, and politicians looking 
     to build a homeless shelter.
       The fight keeps her young.
       ``My husband used to say, `You put this community before 
     anyone else,' '' Davis says. ``I think they appreciate it.''

  Marjorie Davis has demonstrated her commitment to strengthening and 
linking communities together. Her enthusiasm and service are special 
qualities that make her a remarkable individual who is greatly 
appreciated by many. Mr. Speaker, on behalf of my entire community, I 
commend Marjorie Davis for her outstanding service to our community and 
extend our best wishes for continued success.

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