Imperial Valley press., 1929-04-18
SPLENDID TALK
ON CITY PLANS
GIVEN CHAMBER
Expert Urges Attention
To Zoning While Area
Is Still Small.

y is SIlIl SEndl.
| Chamber OF commerce members
were privileged to hear a very fine
talk ON city planning yesterday noon,
given by James 0. Stevenson. dircc-
tor Of the Town Development Ser
vice Of Los Angeles. Stevenson
who las studied city planning and
/ chamber OF commerce work for 20
years, stated that unless there are
enough individual homc owncrs, ne
community viii achieve the greatest
/ happiness. The plan ef most Of the
! carly colonies, he stated was oWa"r-
ship 10y a few. and in every cas-,
colonization urder this plan was q
failure. Where there is not in
{ divjduaI ownership, he stated
".thcro is no responsibility, with no
responsibility there is no interest,
/ There is uo character and without
character We cannot have civi-i2a-
] tiou.
Stevenson stated that commun-
it;cs should encourage permanent
residents and less sale and leasing
! Of property for speculation. lie told
I that through wrong sub-dividing
Los Angeles now has enough area
/ to accommodate 2oo000,Coo people
/ with enough business frontage for
/ the entire United States. Be
cause Of improper coming many
! sections had been ruined. "'This
/ could have been avoided if zoning
and subdividing had been worked
OFT in a wholesome, orderly manner,
through Iced rship Of the chamber
Of commerce, = he said "El Centre
is young and YOU should start now
to zone and' plan the city SO these
mistakes viii not b. made which have
ruined many cities and defIatcd the
values of land but, YOU cannot sue
cced in doing these things unless
your people become property own
crs.
The great problem cities a.c fac
ing today. Stevenson believes, is to
work method O. taxing other
things than the home. lie believes
that every individually owned and
occupied home or homestead should
have whole or large tax exemption
and that this woUld solve. - per
cent Of the social problems of today
because it would encourage home
owning and make home ties and
responsibilities to the community.
Aten Praises Arizona
Ira Aten, director of the Imperial
Irrigation District told of the recent
good will tour to Arizona, of the en-
tertainmcnt accorded the California
visitors and the development Of the
Arizona cities. He spoke especially
Of the wonderful strides Phoenix has
made in It's development and of his
observation Of the farm commun-
titles. Atcn S Observations were in
line with the belief Of Stevenson
for lie stated that the Arizona farms
looked more prosperous than those
of Imperial Valley and the reason
was. he felt, because the owner IN
most cases was living on his farm. |
He also noted the development of
power lines i'll the rural cnmmun-
ities. Il sometimes think Aten
said. "that Imperial Valley would
be better off if it were 800 miles
from the coast, because then people
would have 10 stay on their farms
and care for them.
Leo Hetzel, president, announced
that at the next meeting five mem
bers Of the chamber viii be- elected
to the nominating board, to nomi-
nate "a men as directors. The c.ec-
tion will take place on May 10.
W. A. Tondro told briefly Of the
visit Of the Goodrich Rubber Com-
pany 5 "Silver Fleet to arrive
here next Wednesday, The mem
bcrs Of the fleet win lunch with the
chamber of commerce.
Basil Williams, accompanied byI
his mother, Mrs. Horace Williams,
played two violin selections, "Ado-
ration, - by Borowski and a number
from 1.-The Merry Widow His cX
cellont playing won the enthusiastic
applause Of the company.
Routine matters were taken up at