by Max Marbut
Staff Writer
This is another in a series on area executives and political and community leaders who have played prominent roles in the development of Downtown or Jacksonville as a whole over the years. Some are still in the area, working or retired or a bit of both. Some have moved away and are working in other areas of the state or country. The series continues with Dave Schneider.
What he did: Professional Engineer in the private sector, 1980-88; City of Jacksonville Public Works Department, 1988-present.
What he’s doing now: Senior Project Manager, Office of the Director, Public Works Department.
Dave Schneider has lived and worked in Jacksonville since three weeks after he graduated from engineering school at the University of Cincinnati in 1980. Like anyone who has been here 20 years or more, he can point to a lot of changes all over the county, but the changes Schneider notices are probably not the ones noticed by most other people.
After several years working in the private sector, he joined the City’s Public Works Department in 1988 and at first worked in the roadway design group. Two years later he was transferred to contract administration and said in the late 1990s he experienced a “career-defining move.”
It was during a change in leadership and management in the Public Works Department that Schneider was moved to the Office of the Director.
“I went to work for Sam Mousa and I was there when the Better Jacksonville Plan began,” said Schneider. “Prior to that we did primarily maintenance because we only had about $15 million a year for projects.
“With the Better Jacksonville Plan, we suddenly had $100 million a year for roadways, drainage and projects like the Arena, the Baseball Grounds and the Main Library. The influx of funding that came in 2001 meant a lot of new projects, but a great deal of the design and construction work was done by third parties. I think the (Public Works) staff today is probably smaller than it was in 1990, but we’ve been able to do so much more because we had the money.”
Unable to drive very far in any direction without seeing a project he worked on, Schneider has memories of the way things used to be that are filtered by his career spent improving Jacksonville’s infrastructure.
“I notice landmarks of progress other people don’t even see. I’ll notice an area that doesn’t flood any more every time it rains or a road that handles traffic better now,” said Schneider, who is the last of the original Better Jacksonville Plan project managers still working for the City.
Schneider also has his personal favorites and those are more along the lines of progress everyone can appreciate.
“One of my personal favorites is the Arena, not just because it was one of my projects, but because of the things it has brought to the city,” he said. “We just had Bruce Springsteen here. The NCAA men’s basketball tournament was held there and the gold medal-winning Olympic gymnasts we watched on TV last week competed there, too.
“What I like as a citizen in terms of the Better Jacksonville Plan are the road improvements, especially the overpass projects. The one at Merrill Road and Southside Boulevard has really improved the flow of traffic and so will the ones on Kernan Boulevard at Beach and Atlantic. The new venues and the new roads are both improvements to the quality of life in Jacksonville.”
Schneider was there to watch it begin and now 20 years later, he said, “Our goal is to complete all the projects by 2010 and we’re 95 percent of the way there except for the new Courthouse – but we plan to start that project in December.”
In addition to watching Jacksonville grow and improve, Schneider has also raised his family here and is now watching one of his children follow in his footsteps.
“My daughter Katie is going to the University of Florida this fall to be a civil engineer,” he said. “She had always talked about a career in pharmacy or as a veterinarian but last winter she decided she wanted a career in engineering.
“It makes me feel good that she thinks what I do is kind of cool.”
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