Application to mail at Periodicals Postage Rates is Pending in Pensacola, FL
This Community Newspaper is a weekly publication of Escambia Santa/Rosa Bar Association Page 1 Vol. 15, No. 34 VISIT THE SUMMATION WEEKLY ONLINE: www.esrba.com August 25, 2015
4 Pages
Around town with DeeDee Davis By Josh Newby
DeeDee Davis loves Pensacola, as she will exuberantly tell you herself. Here full-time since 1983, she first fell in love with our corner of the Gulf Coast during her summer vacations from Auburn. She would often frequent Navarre Beach and enjoyed so much our emerald waters and quaint neighborhoods that she decided to become a resident herself. She has been a state representative, an educator, and now spends her time in commercial real estate and volunteering to give back to the city she loves. You can find her at most fundraisers and cultural events when she’s not busy working to help usher in downtown’s continuing renaissance. Starting this month, DeeDee Davis will contribute a monthly column to Pensacola Magazine. On behalf of the entire staff of Ballinger Publishing and our many readers, we welcome your wit, insight and experience, DeeDee. You’ve been in Pensacola a long time. What are some of the more significant changes you’ve noticed? I love seeing what’s happening to downtown. I love downtown Pensacola. I love seeing it come alive. We’ve become a real city downtown. The rebirth is so exciting and encouraging. It’s a big change from five years ago. It’s been coming but I think the right dynamics and individuals are in place—a strong mayor and strong businesses that believe in downtown. The Studers have put their resources here even though they can go anywhere and I’m so glad they have stayed here. The university is also a big player. I love seeing the team grow. I also think that changing to a strong mayor form of government allowed for a lot of these changes. It changed the whole mood and energy of Pensacola. I understand you were a state representative. Tell me about that. It was natural for me because I had taught government for 25 years. It was very comfortable for me to move into that arena. It’s interesting going in as part of a minority party, because I was an elected Democrat. The Republican tidal wave was already in place at that time. It’s hard to be effective unless you have a lot of courage to be the bomb-thrower. The minority party is a watchdog party, and so it was different for me. But I did enjoy it very much. It was part of a learning experience. You’re very passionate about education, right? It was what I always wanted to do. I had thought about maybe going into law, but I really wanted to teach, so I took the best of both worlds and taught law-related subjects. I taught high school all those years. Education is the breeding ground for change and it is what has made me align more with the Democratic party. Thomas Jefferson felt that, despite the words, all men may not be created equal, but the place where they get an equal opportunity is in the public school system. So I believe very strongly we need to do everything we can to make the public school system as good as we possibly can.
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Executive Director Mike Doubek mike@esrba.com Member Services Specialist Michele Kelley michele@esrba.com
Escambia/Santa Rosa Bar Office 216 S. Tarragona Street, Suite B Pensacola, FL 32502 Publisher Escambia/Santa Rosa Bar Association Published Weekly At: 216 S. Tarragona Street, Suite B. Pensacola, Florida 32502 Phone: 850-434-8135 Fax: 850-436-8822 Email: esrba@esrba.com Website: www.esrba.com Office Hours Monday - Thursday 8:00 A.M. - 4:00 P.M. Friday 8:00 A.M. - 2:00 P.M. Application to mail at periodicals Postage Rate is Pending at Pensacola, FL Subscription Rates $20/ year ( All ESRBA Members) $22.50/ year (Escambia/Santa Rosa/ Okaloosa County Non-Members) $27.50/ Year ( Other counties within Florida & All other States NonMembers) Postmaster Send Address Changes To: The Summation Weekly 216 S. Tarragona Street, Suite B Pensacola, Florida 32502
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Around town with DeeDee Davis (continued) What do you love most about this place? It’s a vibrant city without being a huge city where you get lost. I love the fact that we have the arts that we do in this town. There aren’t many towns our size that can boast of having a world-class opera and symphony and ballet. It’s just incredible what we have in this town. How did you get involved in real estate? My father has always tinkered in it, so whatever business knowledge I have I have picked up from him. I’ve always been interested in it. Over the years, I’ve gotten more and more involved. I’ve been doing it more than 10 years and I really enjoy it. I love making the deals, whether it’s in politics or business. What appeals to you about the social party scene in Pensacola? I love supporting the arts and the not-for-profits in this town. It’s one of the reasons I love writing about things like this: I love promoting the people and culture of Pensacola. I love sharing that. That’s my involvement more than anything: I like supporting those causes. What do you see for Pensacola in the future? More residential. You can see that on the horizon. Of course, more residential brings more business. We’re limited only by geography. The city only has, because of all the water, a certain amount of land. That’s what I see coming. When you get more people here, you get more business, which means more jobs, so it means more young people and a better tax base to support the arts and programs we feel so strongly about in this town. I will actually be living downtown soon, right about Jewelers Trade Shop. I’m so excited. I love downtown living. Pretty much everything I do is downtown. My church is here, my business is here, I love the restaurants downtown. What’s your vision for your column in Pensacola Magazine? This column will be an opportunity to promote the people and events of Pensacola. We have so much going on that is so exciting and we have so many opportunities. I’ll often run into somebody who has read about an event or something and they’ll wonder how they can learn more about that organization. That makes it all worthwhile. Are there any non-profits you hold dear? I’ve been involved in a long list of them over the years. Now more than anything is the Council on Aging. I’m the immediate past-president of Council on Aging’s board. I feel very strongly about what that organization does, because dealing with senior issues is not particularly sexy. This is an organization that makes the most of every single dollar. I admire their work and their organization so much. I’ve remained heavily involved with them even though I’ve scaled back a lot of the other activities I’m involved with.
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