Jayne Snyder, in her own words:
I was a junior high physical education teacher for about two years.
I was the first physical therapist at the University of Nebraska when women’s sports began to be a requirement at the university level.
In 1990, I decided to open my own practice. That same year I was elected president of all the physical therapists of Nebraska.
I actually started running and biking in about 1980, so I was involved in finding a place to do those activities. At that time, we had very few trails in Lincoln.
The MoPac (rail line) that goes out towards Eagle and beyond was being abandoned at that time. And the farmers were gonna buy that land back up.
Myself and seven others put up our businesses and homes as collateral and purchased it.
We had gone to numerous banks and no one wanted to help us buy an abandoned railroad.
So we raised the money to purchase the trail and we raised the money to develop it and then we gave it back to the NRD.
Since then, I’ve been involved in every major fund-raising event for trails in the city of Lincoln.
I was raised by a single parent and essentially had the opportunity to put myself through college.
I think that helped me from the beginning in learning about financial responsibility.
I actually started working when I was 12. I was cleaning houses and ironing and babysitting.
So I pretty much supported myself through junior high and high school and my first degree.
Two of my supporters right now are women that I came into their homes (and worked for them). Which is kind of fun.
I had one brother. He was four years older than I was.
Unfortunately, we lost him when he was 26. He was a jet pilot and he crashed and so that was why I came back from California.
He was flying in formation and he decided to turn off and go on to Phoenix and so he went into a roll and never came out and crashed upside-down. On Mother’s Day.
He and Frank Solich were going to go to physical therapy school and open their own physical therapy practice.
Of course, we know Frank went on to be a football coach and my brother passed away. That was where I kinda got the scheme, “I think I’ll go to physical therapy school and open my own practice.”
My mother managed Miller & Paine for Gateway and so she was kind of my role model for business and responsibility.
I think most of my role models have been women: Eleanor Roosevelt and my mother and grandmother.
She (my mother) lived to the age of 90.
She was still working out at Prairie Life until two weeks before her death.
While I was (at Stanford) there I did internships throughout California. I was in Watts, Los Angeles … L.A. County.
I had an opportunity to go into Mexico and on Saturdays we would hold polio clinics in Mexico because polio was still rampant.
Probably the most life-changing experience I had was during the Vietnam War. I had an internship … in San Francisco and we had evac’d or helicoptered in about 10 or 15 patients a day, mostly all amputees.
One of my patients had lost both legs and both arms by stepping on a land mine.
I was fortunate enough to be elected to numerous positions with the American Physical Therapy Association, so for about 12 years I traveled about twice a month to either Washington, D.C., or some other state.
I had to learn to express myself on my feet.
I got involved in politics because I couldn’t see that our profession was at the table when important decisions were being made about the outcome of the care for our patients.
What I like about (politics) is the ability of a citizen or a group to make a difference in policy.
I, at one time, had thought about running for the state Legislature … but it was never the right time.
I didn’t want to run against someone that I thought was being responsible as a representative.
I thought about running for City Council two or three times in northeast Lincoln, but again there were some good candidates.
(From her practice, she’s learned) people are very worried about the economy. There are people that are losing jobs. But at the same time, people do not want to lose those programs that are near and dear to them, like the libraries and the parks. They want to preserve their neighborhoods.
I’m gonna be running the half marathon on May 3rd.
People tell me not to talk too much about my running because running marathons is not normal.
I’ve run about 50 marathons. I’m trying to run a marathon in every state and I’m up to 26 states right now.
I run to keep myself balanced.
I think it’s real important that everyone has a diversion, especially some kind of physical activity, so that they can cope with all the stresses that come with living.
I got into it about 34 years ago when I realized I was out of shape. Stressed.
I was falling apart as a 20-year-old. And so I started running.
I had a resting pulse of over 100. I was fatigued going up and down steps. I did no exercise. All I did was work.
I’ve biked across Nebraska now about five times.
And I used to do triathlons.
My mother was a good role model. She always worked out at fitness clubs, even when there was maybe not more than one or two in Lincoln. She was physically active her whole life.
Children are different now. They’re in the electronic … mode.
The surgeon general says the average adult and youth needs an hour-and-a-half of physical activity a day.
Nebraska youth … their average is 30 minutes.
My company adopted … Roper (Elementary) to provide them with pedometers and also I go out to help with fitness night.
We’ve been doing that now for about five years.
Currently, there is no one on the City Council that really has a connection to health.
I think that I’m unique. In addition to my business expertise, I also have a concern about the health issues.
10 questions for the candidate
1) Would you vote for a property tax increase under any circumstance? No I won’t. Right now with the current economy, that would be devastating to many families.
2) The city has a large shortfall when it comes to fixing and building roads. What ideas do you have for coming up with more money for streets? The stimulus package is going to provide a lot of resurfacing and work that badly needs to be done. And then this will free up additional money for new roads.
3) The mayor has announced the city faces another multi-million-dollar budget shortfall. Any gap must be closed by raising revenue or cutting expenses. Which will you support? I would support cutting expenses and looking at this based off the Priority Lincoln results.
4) Do you support increasing taxes to build a new arena? No. I am supportive of the arena but not at the expense of taxes on citizens. I think it should be a partnership between private and university and the city of Lincoln. I would consider low-interest bonds, but I need more details on the financing before I make any final commitment.
5) Do you have any problem with building a new arena in a floodplain? That needs to be studied. I’ve just been collecting data on that now. We need to plan for how we would do that and how we would mitigate the water so that it would not have an effect on those businesses and property owners surrounding that area.
6) Do you support the city’s policy of requiring any construction in floodplains be done so that the loss of flood storage is offset? Or is this an unnecessary burden on developers? No I think this should be something that should be considered with new development.
7) Of the $2 per $100 of property value that Lincoln property owners pay in property taxes, what portion goes to the city? (The correct answer is 14.2 percent or 28 cents.) The city only gets 40 percent. (Snyder later called and said she misspoke and that 14 cents of every dollar goes to the city budget.)
8) Do you think the city has wisely used tax increment financing? Yes. I think there’s been some excellent projects. ... I think this is really one of the few excellent programs that we have to increase growth and development in Lincoln.
9) Do you support impact fees, as currently structured, to offset development costs? I think the area of impact fees needs to be further investigated. ... We need to problem-solve for how this might be applied in a more efficient and fair way.
10) What should be done with the roughly $8 million in the city’s little-used Special Assessment Revolving Fund? I think it needs to be used for its original intent, which was new infrastructure. Roads and sewer and water.
