Former SLO mayor, public works director dies. ‘The world needs more leaders like Dave Romero’
A multi-term former San Luis Obispo mayor, city councilman and longtime director of public works who advocated for city infrastructure has died at the age of 93.
Dave Romero, who during his tenure with the city embraced his nickname “Dave the Pave,” died in his San Luis Obispo home Thursday after suffering health complications associated with renal failure, according to family members.
Romero served as San Luis Obispo’s city engineer and then Public Works director from 1956 to 1992. He was responsible for roads, sidewalks, water supply, downtown parking, sewage systems and other city systems and programs.
Romero also served on the City Council for 16 years, eight of those as mayor, between 1992 and 2010.
Flags in the city of San Luis Obispo “will be lowered to half-staff to honor the passing of former Mayor Dave Romero,” city officials said Friday in a statement.
“It is impossible to overstate how much Dave loved San Luis Obispo,” former San Luis Obispo city manager and friend Ken Hampian told The Tribune in an email. “He would tear up just talking about his beloved ‘SLO Town.’ That love translated into great respect for residents and city staff, and no matter the issue, he set a very civil, kind tone. The world needs more leaders like Dave Romero.”
A registered Republican and fiscal conservative, Romero was known to be willing to work with those whose views he didn’t agree with.
Serving in nonpartisan City Council and mayoral roles, he was focused on serving the city as a priority, according to friends and family.
“Mayor Romero was such a fundamental part of the fabric of our city, it’s hard to find the right words to mark his passing,” said SLO Mayor Erica Stewart. “He loved this city, and his contributions will live on for generations to come. Through the roads he helped build, water he secured, and downtown improvements he inspired, he was a critical part of so many of the things we love about our community today.”
John Dunn, a San Luis Obispo city manager of 13 years, said Romero was “his boss for five years” and that Romero effectively became his supervisor as a city council member.
“No, we didn’t always agree on things, but we would hammer out a path forward, and always retained respect for each other,” Dunn said.
An amusing representation of his willingness to cross the aisle was a regular performance with Christine Mulholland, a former San Luis Obispo City Council member.
“She was very liberal and he was very conservative, and they would dress up as Sonny and Cher and sing ‘I Got You Babe,’ ” said Teresa Bruce, Romero’s daughter. “They loved it. Even though they didn’t agree on many things, they would always say they really liked each other. And they performed together. That was a highlight of their time together.”
Romero spent decades serving the city
Romero had a key hand in public facilities, including the San Luis Obispo connection to the Nacimiento Water project, the construction of Whale Rock Dam, wastewater treatment and flood protection facilities, tree plantings, sidewalks to make downtown more walkable and about 100 building retrofits and improvements to local streets, city officials said. He was also an advocate for downtown vitality.
Romero almost lost his job in 1964 when council members at the time were “livid” after he told a reporter he “preferred closing off Monterey Street to expanding it” to create what would become Mission Plaza, according to Tribune files.
The Council, which was recommending a Monterey Street expansion, held a hearing on Romero’s “disloyalty,” but ultimately didn’t fire him.
The charges were later dropped and voters “said they wanted Mission Plaza instead of a wider Monterey Street, and the (then) mayor was voted out of office,” the 1986 article said. Romero told what was The Telegram-Tribune at the time after the controversy that he was just giving his opinion after being asked.
Starting with a salary of $7,800 in 1956, Romero retired making $75,000 a year in 1991, according to a July 1991 Telegram-Tribune article, but his job title never changed.
“I haven’t gotten a promotion in all these years,” Romero joked in that article.
He liked San Luis Obispo for its size and qualify of life, but also wanted to make sure as it grew, its infrastructure kept pace, and considered it a point of pride to have led several projects, former City Council member Dodie Williams said.
Williams served on the SLO City Council between 1994 and 1998 and developed a friendship with Romero and his wife, Mary Belle.
“He was so active and so loved by the city because he really cared about San Luis Obispo, and wanted to make things better — and he did,” Williams said.
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How Romero became ‘Dave the Pave’
Romero — an avid outdoorsman who enjoyed backpacking, skiing and whitewater river rafting — enjoyed the quality of life in San Luis Obispo, he said in a Dec. 1, 1986, article on his public works contributions.
He also strived to plan for growth and to accommodate community needs.
“There was very little traffic, very little congestion,” Romero said of when he first arrived. “Now people problems have multiplied. At the same time, the streets are better, the water system is better..I do not believe in trying to control growth by restricting the size of our public utilities or not improving sewers or streets so people can’t drive through them. If we want to control growth, let’s do it by some other means.”
Romero’s nickname, “Dave the Pave,” was originally a criticism coined by political opponents during a tight reign in terms of growth during a city council campaign.
“Some months ago, I kiddingly referred to that event,” Dunn said on Friday. “He thought for a moment, and said ‘I was proud of that label. I’m an engineer and we engineers love to build things. I consider myself a builder.’ ”
Despite his reputation, Romero also advocated for open space.
“He was passionate about having open space and loved to hike all the hills,” Bruce said.
City Council member Jan Marx described Romero as a fiscal conservative who was very interested in budget.
“He had a real warm heart and a sense of humor and also just really good judgment when it came to practical concerns,” Marx said. “I learned so much from him and he was one of my mentors.”
Romero was recognized as the SLO Chamber of Commerce Citizen of the Year in 2014.
City officials react to death of longtime civil servant
In a statement, San Luis Obispo city officials said that during Romero’s 60-year tenure with the city, he had a “hand in nearly every major piece of the city’s infrastructure,” including new parks, the Los Osos Valley Road overpass and the Performing Arts Center at Cal Poly, among other facilities.
“Understanding the value of water, Mayor Romero worked to secure a reliable water supply for the city through projects like the Whale Rock Reservoir in the 1960s and, more recently, the Nacimiento Reservoir Project and the development of the city’s recycled water system,” they noted.
In 2010, the City Council voted to name the city’s Corporation Yard in his honor.
“When it comes to public service, it would be hard to find a finer example than Mayor Romero,” City Manager Derek Johnson said in a statement. “Whether in his role as public works director, city council member, mayor or professor, his life’s work was to make this city what it is today.”
Romero also taught classes at Cal Poly for several years.
Former mayor was ‘utterly a gentleman’
Romero was born in Detroit but grew up in Albuquerque, N.M., according to Bruce. He graduated from the University of New Mexico majoring in civil engineering.
He served in the National Geodetic Survey, a branch of the U.S. Navy, Bruce said. That agency manages systems related to transportation and communication, mapping and charting, and science and engineering work. Since 1970 is it has been part of the the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
He was introduced to his wife, Mary Belle, who died in 2014, by her brother who was stationed on a ship in Alaska with Romero. Dave and Mary Belle remained married for nearly 63 years until her death.
“(Romero) absolutely fell head over heels for her,” Bruce said.
Williams added: “They were a wonderful couple. They were the most gracious people you ever want to know.”
Bruce said her father remained active camping, hiking, and rafting well into his retirement. They took Romero skiing for the last time when he was 87.
His daughter said that he was surrounded by his family and Grace Church Pastor Ken Peet when he went to sleep for the last time on Thursday night.
“We could tell he was passing,” Bruce said. “We just all prayed here over him and just told him we loved him and he could go ahead and go to heaven.”
Romero is survived by their two children, Cathie and Teresa, and their families.
“We knew him for nearly 40 years and every turn, he was a caring, committed person, utterly a gentleman, devoted to his family, his church and his community,” said Maggie Cox, who formerly owned Barnett Cox and Associates (now AMF Media), who served with him in various community volunteer capacities. “His heart beat for San Luis Obispo.”
Bruce said a memorial is expected to take place for Romero in late April or May, likely at Grace Church, but a date hasn’t been selected yet.
This story was originally published March 18, 2022 at 1:59 PM.
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