Pasadena Chief Quietly Leaves His Mark

In the behind-the-scenes world of city managers, where notoriety usually spells doom, Donald F. McIntyre is the consummate survivor.

Since 1973, he has quietly weathered the vicissitudes of Pasadena politics, enduring in a job so vulnerable to shifting opinion that in the same period most of his peers have been sent packing at least two or three times.

So when McIntyre announced his intention last month to resign from the helm of the San Gabriel Valley’s largest city, it drew about as much attention as the low-key administrator had attracted at any time during his tenure.

“If a city manager’s picture is on the front page, it usually means he’s in trouble,” said the 59-year-old McIntyre, who, after his departure next summer, has no particular plans. “It’s always been my style not to upstage the politicians.”

Not that McIntyre, who enjoys the support of five of the seven city directors, is being forced from his $109,453-a-year post. It’s just that he senses the political tides changing again and says he’s not sure how much energy he wants to devote to staying afloat.

“I think I probably would have stuck around a little longer,” he said, “but I’d like to leave on my own terms, not someone else’s.”

Indeed, Pasadena’s diverse community of decision-makers seems split about McIntyre, a retired Navy Reserve captain of conservative Scottish roots.

To some, he is the core of stability, a super-bureaucrat whose financial expertise has helped Pasadena evolve over the last two decades from an economically and racially troubled town to a techno-business center with a socially progressive agenda.

To others, he is the embodiment of where the city has gone wrong, the symbol of an Old Guard that has promoted development over neighborhood concerns, the very reason why more than 57% of voters last March favored a sweeping slow-growth initiative.

But almost all agree--even his most ardent critics--that his diplomacy and professionalism are unequaled.

“I respect him and I’ve also been trying to get him fired for three years,” City Director Rick Cole said. “It’s remarkable that he hasn’t had more controversies. That’s an extraordinary tribute to him.”

Since his appointment 16 years ago, McIntyre, an athletic man with an intense gaze and a thinning ring of silver hair, has become one of the deans of San Gabriel Valley administrators.

During his tenure, West Covina has had two city managers, Arcadia three, Monterey Park, Azusa and El Monte four each, Alhambra five and Pomona seven. Only the quiet bedroom community of San Dimas can boast of a city manager--21-year veteran Bob Poff--who has been at the helm longer than McIntyre.

“Don is like the guy in a Western movie who keeps getting his toes shot at,” said Jim Plotkin, a business leader in Pasadena’s Old Town. “He jumps and he jumps and he keeps landing on his feet.”

Yet McIntyre has found that the ground keeps shifting on him each time he lands.

He was hired during an era when the revival of a decaying downtown was nearly the sole concern of city leaders. But now he is faced with a much broader set of tasks put to him by a much less homogeneous power structure.

At one time, McIntyre had only to think in terms of revenue-producing developments. Now he must juggle the diverse concerns of slow-growthers, preservationists and neighborhood activists, who in recent years have added their voices to Pasadena politics.

“I think a new manager could bring a perspective that is more accommodating of all those interests than I am perceived to be,” McIntyre said.

Grass-Roots Groundswell

That’s just fine with Mike Salazar, one of the organizers of the city’s slow-growth movement, who says it took a grass-roots groundswell to awaken McIntyre to concerns about over-development, the proliferation of high-rises and worsening traffic.

“I think anyone who questioned his ability as a city manager would probably be laughed out of town,” said Salazar, co-chairman of Pasadena Residents in Defense of our Environment (PRIDE). “But I think the city has changed from his original days, and we need a manager who will more aggressively support those new community goals.”

City Director Jess Hughston, who, along with Cole, favors McIntyre’s ouster, agreed.

“Don was probably there when we needed him, and he helped turn the city around,” Hughston said. “But now we need more of a balance between business development and human services. That’s an area he hasn’t paid enough attention to.”

Others, however, such as Donald F. Yokaitis, who served on the Board of Directors when McIntyre was hired, are sorry to see him go.

‘Gets the Job Done’

“I happen to think Don is one of the truly outstanding city managers in the United States,” Yokaitis said. “He’s a consensus type of person. He’s businesslike and goal-oriented, and he gets the job done.”

Nicholas G. Rodriguez, a Pasadena attorney who has often been a political antagonist of McIntyre’s, also praised his performance.

“We’ve certainly had our differences, but I’ve also been able to find a lot of common ground with him,” Rodriguez said. “That’s a credit to his ability to really set aside personalities and stereotypes and take a hard look at the issues.”

For McIntyre, who has served under 20 different city directors, “it’s all a balancing act.”

It’s also an act McIntyre learned long before he accepted Pasadena’s top post.

Budget Analysis

Raised in rural southern Illinois, McIntyre earned his master’s degree in political science and public administration at Michigan State University in 1953. The same year, he co-authored “Preparing the Michigan State Budget,” an article that appeared in “Public Administration Review.”

When he was just 30, he was hired as town manager of Los Gatos, Calif. Five years later, he had earned a spot in the 1965 edition of “Outstanding Young Men of America.”

From there, he became city manager of Oak Park, Mich., and after being selected for a month-long training course for urban executives at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, he became manager of Vallejo, Calif., where he stayed until he was hired by Pasadena on June 4, 1973.

It’s not the kind of background that rewards a flamboyant person, and McIntyre, a Presbyterian church elder and father of five, is anything but that.

‘Warm, Gentle’

“I once called him a cold fish, which I think offended his friends more than it offended him,” Cole said. “He is actually a warm, gentle individual. But, publicly, he is a very distant, quiet, awkward figure.”

Out of view of the public eye, however, McIntyre is known for his keen sense of humor, his passion for bicycling and his tenor voice, which he puts to use singing carols at Christmas parties. And those who know him well see another side altogether.

“When I think of Don McIntyre, I think of him with an open shirt, a cold beer in his hand and a good cigar,” City Director William Paparian said. “He may come across very understated, but beneath that veneer is a real down-to-earth person.”

Not Always ‘Cold Fish’

While McIntyre acknowledges that he may seem distant at times, he insists he “can be other than a cold fish.” It’s just that there’s nothing very sexy about the intricacies of municipal government, which is an arena that brings him heartfelt satisfaction.

“I really believe in and enjoy the governmental process,” he said. “I’d like to think that when it’s all done, I’ve actually contributed something to society and not just spent my life making money.”