ROUND 2

from 2023 June Preston Hollow Advocate

WHERE CAN I FIND

District 11 incumbent on second election

Story by ALYSSA HIGH

District 11 City Council member

Jaynie Schultz has known she wanted to work in local politics almost her whole life. It all started when then Assistant City Manager Levi Davis spoke at Schultz’s high school.

“I came home that day and told my parents that I wanted to be a city manager,” Schultz says. “I didn’t know what it was, but I did know I wanted to be involved in city activities and the way that cities are run, so I’ve always been in love with all things Dallas.”

On May 6, Schultz beat out her competitor with 58.6% of the vote, Dallas County reports.

Schultz has lived around District

11 her entire life and has always participated in city planning or local businesses in some capacity. She has a master’s degree in urban studies.

While on the City Council, Schultz has focused on panhandling, homelessness, lowering crime, increasing the commercial tax base and repairing streets and alleys.

In addition to district appointments, Schultz was the only freshman appointed by the mayor to chair a committee. Currently, she is the chair of the Workforce Education and Equity Committee.

“We’re going to be working with the business community to understand the business case for the Racial Equity Plan,” Schultz says. “There’s a lot of misinformation about the city’s initiatives toward racial equity, and what I am absolutely determined to do in my next term is to help everyone in North Dallas and in the business community understand that it is in their economic interest to move this racial equity plan forward.”

WHAT GOT YOU INTO LOCAL POLITICS?

I was actually raised in District 11. I live about half a mile from where I’ve lived almost my entire life. I went to Dealey Elementary, and then I went to Franklin [Middle School]. Then, I decided rather than going to Hillcrest, I would go to Skyline High School. I graduated in 1978. During my time at Skyline, I had a speaker come in named Levi Davis, who was the assistant city manager at the time. He spoke to our class when I was in 10th grade.

I got to be in an incredible program, later called the executive assistants program, where I had an internship at City Hall answering mail for Mayor Folsom and for City Manager George Shrader. From an early age, I was imprinted with all things Dallas and love of city management and city government.

WHAT MADE YOU DECIDE TO RUN FOR CITY COUNCIL THE FIRST TIME?

In 2014, Council member Lee Kleinman asked me if I would serve as his planning commissioner. I accepted gratefully and loved every minute of my 6 1 / 2 years on the planning commission. When his seat, the District 11 seat, was open, I decided that I wanted to continue to serve the city. It was the next natural step for me in leadership.

I had done not just things in the city but a lot of community leadership back in my 20s with the Texas Women’s Foundation back when it was the Dallas Women’s Foundation. I’d always stayed involved with a nonprofit and board activities at the national, local and international level. My passion was there, so it was a natural fit.

WHAT DID YOU ACCOMPLISH IN YOUR FIRST TERM?

I stepped into what became my most happy place. I’ve really spent the last two years understanding the language of City Hall. I always say it’s a whole separate language. But I was learning the staff, meeting them, figuring out how to develop good partnerships with our professionals. In addition to our regular work, there were a couple of things that I wanted to bring to the table as a council, and I was able to do that.

One of them was creating a strong pipeline for future leadership in the district through our Neighborhood Leaders Institute. We regularly bring together neighborhood leaders where they can talk about issues that have to do with their own organizations and their own neighborhoods. We also give them a deeper education and understanding of how the city works, whether it’s a city department code, sanitation or bigger.

One of the big projects I knew I wanted to take on was the challenge of panhandling. Leading up to my election in 2020, Forest Lane and Central Expressway was the intersection that had the highest 311 complaints for panhandling. It had really become a place where it wasn’t even safe to drive over there. So, over the course of the last 18 months, I’ve been working with the city staff and with Council member Willis in District 13. We work together a lot, and we helped develop a program that would reduce panhandling.

HOW DOES THAT PROGRAM FUNCTION?

That program has two components to it. One is using the city staff to regularly go out there and clean at those intersections. The other is to launch what’s called “Give Responsibly,” which is an opportunity for residents who feel the need to give to someone who’s panhandling a way to channel that heartfelt donation to organizations that are actually serving the homeless community. Eighty percent of panhandlers are not without shelter, so there’s no reason to support these, I call them businesses. This has really helped reduce the panhandling all along Central Expressway.

ONE BIG DEBATE POINT IN THIS YEAR’S ELECTION WAS THE DALLAS INTERNATIONAL DISTRICT. WHAT IS YOUR GOAL WITH THAT?

The old Valley View/Galleria area is a project I have been working on since I joined the Planning Commission in 2014. I’m going to work on continuing our work in the International District and work on acquiring the property for the 20-acre park, which is the centerpiece for our new regional downtown. It’s a huge project that I will be taking on. We’re also working diligently with the city of Richardson to improve the quality of life around this Spring Valley/ Coit area, which is the highest crime area in District 11. So we are working on a project to include the residents who live there in shaping the future of that community for themselves, as well as crack down on landlords who are not giving their tenants the quality of life that they deserve.

Before

THE ELECTION,

It

CAME OUT THAT YOU HAD NOT PROPERLY SUBMITTED YOUR FINANCIAL DOCUMENTS. WHAT HAPPENED THERE?

It was a clerical error, and the wrong financial report was posted. It was immediately corrected as soon as it was pointed out to us by the Morning News . I didn’t even realize until the Morning News called, and the minute after I called the city secretary, and she immediately fixed it. They had the right report all along, but had accidentally uploaded a blank one instead of the one that I completed.

IS THERE ANYTHING OUR READERS SHOULD KNOW ABOUT YOU PERSONALLY?

I’m very proud of where we live. I’m also very proud that I have one of the largest solar arrays [on my home]. A s an environmentalist, I admire a super environmentally friendly lifestyle and home. We raised chickens and bees and lots of kids, and we just love Dallas.

This interview has been edited for clarity and brevity.

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About The Cover

An exterior wall of Allergy and Asthma Preston Center.

Photography by Lauren Allen.

FOR CHILDREN WITH AUTISM, occupational therapy can be the key to reducing sensory overload when doing everyday activities. However, therapy often doesn’t give children the chance to experience these stimuli while around their typically developing peers.

We Rock the Spectrum, a neighborhood gym and third place for children with autism and children who are typically developing to play and mingle, aims to change that.

The gym is run by Taylor Wiesner, who has done behavioral therapy for kids with autism for over 10 years.

“I primarily did in-home therapy with kids, which I love because parents can be super involved, and we are able to teach skills to kids with autism where they need it most,” Wiesner says. “However, they really struggled with social skills at home because they only had siblings, and you can only force a sibling to practice playing a game or whatever would be so often.”

Wiesner opened We Rock the Spectrum in January 2020. Families that attended therapy at Wiesner’s office next door began playing at the gym, and neighborhood families followed suit. Now, We Rock the Spectrum has about 150 kids with a membership who attend multiple times a week.

“I have three typically developing kids, and I was looking for a way to get to have a place where my clients who have special needs could come and play with kids that are typically developing some place where it doesn’t matter if you have words or if you have autism or if you’re flapping or if you’re screaming or whatever it is that everyone can just play in a safe place,” Wiesner says.

The gym features a toddler area, swings that serve different occupational therapy needs, a zip line, a trampoline and other play items that help special-needs children with different sensory needs.

“All of the swings have a specific purpose,” Wiesner says. “They’re either working on balance, or they’re getting some sort of sensory input from them.”

When the open play area becomes too much, We Rock the Spectrum has a quiet room for kids to work on regulating their sensory overload.

“For kids who have autism, oftentimes the gym can get overwhelming. Any place can get overwhelming,” Wiesner says. “So this area is soundproof.”

The room also features a sequined wall for sensory stimulation, a blue-lit bubble feature for a calming effect and an egg chair that kids can sit inside and close for a dark and cozy moment to themselves.

We Rock the Spectrum also hosts birthday parties, field trips and summer camps for both special-needs and typically developing children.

“One thing that differentiates our summer camps is that any kid can come regardless of their ability,” Wiesner says. “We just have to know what needs there are, and we supplement by having volunteers come hang out with the kids who need extra one-on-one time.”

The play area also features a rock wall and an area that rotates seasonally. Currently, the area is set up like a pirate ship complete with life jackets for children to learn about water safety.

“That’s a concern with kids right now, especially those with special needs who don’t know how to swim,” Wiesner says. “A lot of them are attracted to water, so we are going to have safety stories printed out that parents can take home to teach their kids about water safety or what to do around water.”

Within the play area, there is a classroom where kids can play with magnets or a dry erase board, do crafts or camp activities, or have one-on-one time with their occupational therapist.

“The whole goal, even for myself, being a mom of three, is that it’s a great place that your kid can learn to be around kids who are different from them,” Wiesner says.

“[That] is what makes our open play concept and our camps quite different from a lot of other play spaces, because we’re always teaching kindness and compassion. They might not have words back to say to you, but you can ask them to go play and they might still join you.”