Day-Care Center’s Plea Brings Area Relief From Drug Dealers

It’s been almost a year since Dorothy L. Davis appeared before the Santa Ana City Council. She was pleading for help.

Tall and elegant, the bespectacled Davis told council members that drug dealers and addicts were taking over the South Sullivan Street neighborhood where she operates the Pride Development Council Day-Care Center. Davis founded the center 10 years ago to provide low-income parents with an inexpensive place to send their children while they worked. But the center was surrounded by brazen drug dealers.

The dealers openly sold marijuana and cocaine in small plastic bags near the steps of Davis’ day-care center. In an apartment complex parking lot across the street, buyers frequently drove around an empty guard booth, waiting to be served. And addicts would sit in the shade of several large trees by the center and shoot up.

The children at the center often could see drug transactions through the windows while they worked on their homework assignments or played games.

“At that point, I was desperate,” Davis said in an interview Thursday. “I know I was opening a can of worms with those dealers out there. But I wanted them to go away.”

After Davis’ appeal, the police sent a platoon of officers to more closely patrol the neighborhood. The owners of the apartment complex were asked to clear out the parking lot and keep loiterers away. And city officials vowed to Davis that they would help her keep the day-care center safe.

Now Davis and her son, Terence, the center’s administrator, say they rarely see drug dealers on the street during the center’s operating hours, from 6:30 in the morning to 6 at night. The apartment complex across the way now has two parking lot gates and a guard who checks for identification. The large trees have been pulled out and smaller ones planted in their place to prevent the addicts from hiding themselves.

Day-care enrollment, which dropped from 75 to 30 last year, has gone back up to a steady 70. The children are no longer asking their teachers questions about dope dealers because the dealers no longer sell openly in front of the center, Terence Davis said. And the center still keeps in close contact with police.

In her office decorated with various community commendations, Dorothy Davis says she is more peaceful now since her day at City Hall. Behind her chair is a sign that reads, “Lord, Help Me Hang In There.” Another wall carries the emblem of the United Way, which along with the city helps fund the center to serve children from 2 to 14 years old.

“I was terrified for the children,” Davis said. “I always thought the children were safe in our care. But the idea of all that drug trafficking going on outside made me worry.”

Even the children have noticed a visible change in the center’s surroundings. Jared Shores, 11, says he remembers how dealers yelled at passing cars. He doesn’t hear that anymore.

“Everything is quiet now,” Jared said.

Tony Ibarra, 12, says he used to be afraid because he thought that the dealers would cross the street and cause trouble at the center.

“They don’t hang out here anymore,” Tony said. “It makes me feel safe again.”

Even with the calm that has come to the center, Terence Davis says the neighborhood is still fighting drug dealers and other crimes. He says that as soon as the center closes its doors, the guards leave their post and the dealers start their trade as the sun goes down.

“The problem is not completely solved in the neighborhood,” Davis said. “We’re not naive enough to say, ‘Drugs have gone away.’ But for now, it’s a big improvement for our kids. They don’t have to see that kind of trash when they are in our care.”