Evening star., 1954-12-19
New Planners Intend
To Further Interests
OF District Residents
(Continued From First Page.)

VI DbSbBbNB NOSkVNb1GS
Continued From First Page.)
represent Federal, city or con-
gressional groups.
The law requires that two OF
the five appointed citizen men,
bers must be District residents
The appointments yesterday keep
the membership at this level,
since Mr.. owen will replace a
Washington member, Mr.. Robin
son. The two city residents after
next May will be Mr.. Owen and
John A. Remon, retired Chesa-
peake & Ohio Telephone Co.
official.
Mr.. Remon, commission vice
chairman, praised the appoint
nent of Mr.. Owen and said he
looked forward to working with
Mr.. Norton. He added, however,
that he was sorry two Washing
ton residents were not named" I"
Mr.. Owen said the District
Commissioners had asked him to
be candidate because of a feel
ing there should be more local
representation on the commits
sion.
II want to see the commission
do what's in the best interests
of Washington people" Mr..
Owen said. "Of course, we must
take into consideration that this
is the national Capital. But we
do pay the major part OF its
maintenance"
While not taking an active
part, Mr.. Owen said he had
closely followed recent develop
ments in area planning, and was
particularly interested in south
west redevelopment and highway
and bridge plans.
Hopes to Spur Bridge.
He said he felt It was too
bad" agreement was not reached
sooner on new central Poto-
mac bridge location, but that he
hoped development plans would
proceed smoothly.
In at least two respects. Mr..
Owen has been closely associated
with Planning Commission, ac-
tivities. AS member OF the
committee of 100 on the Fed
eral City. he helped write leg
islation in the 1920s which
brought the commission into be-
ing. In 1914, he headed citi-
zens' committee which reviewed,
chapter by chapter, Planning
Commission study documents
which were issued in 1850 as the
commissions comprehensive plan
for the city's development.
President of the Washington
Board of Trade in 1933-34. Mr..
Owen also is a former presi-
dent of the Washington Building
Congress, the Kiwanis Club of
Washington, the now-defunct
Security Finance Corp. and the
Middle Atlantic Wholesalers AS
sociation, and is now president
of the Wholesale Plumbing and
Heating Supply Associations.
sf- Will Bring Experience. ~.
Mr.. Norton, as full-time paid
head of the New York Regional
Planning Association, will bring
to Washington experience in
some of the same basic devel-
opment problems which are
plaguing this area.
L He told a reporter in a ,tele-
phone interview last night, for
example, that his group was
concerned with development OF
"a regional highway system. a
regional transit system. airport
planning for the area and re-
gional parks. ="
These are precisely the ma
jor problems confronting the
Planning Commission here and
its sister agency, the Ma
tional Capital Regional Planning
Council.
The citizens group Mr.. Nor
ton heads works with official
planning bodies in a giant area
covering New York City and II
surrounding counties in New
York. New Jersey and Connecti-
cut. One of it's immediate goals
again paralleling moves here
is for an intensive study of mass