We are here tonight to mourn the death of Councilman James Davis. When James ran for this council seat, in 2001, I did not support him. Nor did the Prospect Heights community - he lost this neighborhood overwhelmingly. Despite that loss, or perhaps because of it, James worked very hard to develop and maintain a strong presence in Prospect Heights. When the Department of Homeless Services and crooked real estate developers started placing illegal homeless hotels in Prospect Heights and Fort Greene, James Davis stood by us and fought with us in our attempts to beat them back. In the battle against the shelters, the Councilman was active, vocal and ever present. In this year's council election, it was my expectation that James would have won Prospect Heights by a wide margin, because of the time he spent here and the attention he helped bring to our concerns. And personally, while we did not always agree politically, I enjoyed working with him and fully respected his talents and potential.

Like many of you I attended the Wednesday evening prayer vigil and this morning's prayer rally. I heard many speakers, among them, Council Speaker Gifford Miller, who butted heads with the Councilman. At one point, in this morning's rally, I heard Speaker Miller say that the Councilman's spending items (member items and capital projects) would be guaranteed. It should not have to take the violent death of a Council Member for a district to receive the resources it deserves. It occurred to me that before their statements of condolences and promises of action fade; we should press the Mayor and the Council Speaker to take real, concrete steps - actions that would honor the work and memory of James Davis and benefit the communities that he served.

Over the last year, the Councilman had come to support the use of the 77^th Precinct Annex (located on the corner of Grand and Park Place) as a substation of the Community Policing Officers of the 77^th Pct. This is something that long-time residents, the Pct. Community Council and community activists like myself have been fighting to get for decades. The 77^th is one of the longest precincts in the city and folks in Prospect Height often feel unprotected. So here is something, in the area of crime and violence prevention, that Mayor Bloomberg and Police Commissioner Kelly can do with the stroke of a pen. They can convert the Annex into the "James E. Davis Community Policing Annex", and assign CPOP officers from the 77^th Precinct to patrol the Prospect Heights area.

The second concrete act the Mayor and Council Speaker can take involves youth, education and sports. Just off Bedford Avenue and Eastern Parkway, in Crown Heights, there is a National Guard armory that can be converted into a youth education & sports center. It is large enough to accommodate any number of activities and could also be utilized by community-based organizations. Richard Green of the Crown Heights Youth Collective, a well-respected youth services provider, has had his eye on getting that asset into the community's hands. The problems have been moving the National Guard and obtaining the funds to convert the armory. If the Mayor and Speaker Miller are truly serious about stopping the violence, about honoring the Councilman's memory and work - they should petition the Governor to turnover the armory to the city and allocate monies toward converting the armory into the "Love Yourself, Stop the Violence Youth and Community Center."

Our communities don't need another march, no matter how large or grand, to commemorate the passing of Councilman Davis. We need tributes, like the Annex and the Armory that will work to effect the changes he sought to make - preventing violence and uplifting our youth.