Planning Chief Gets an Eyeful, and an Earful : Housing: Four community groups host new director on a day of tours and talks. Residents stress their commitment to fighting ‘ugly’ development.

The new director of the Los Angeles City Planning Department got a message from the communities of Northeast Los Angeles during the weekend: Residents are tired of “ugly” development and will fight to keep the historic character of the neighborhoods.

Members of four neighborhood groups, representing Eagle Rock, Highland Park, Mt. Washington and Glassell Park, organized a day of receptions and tours for Con Howe, a New Yorker who moved to Los Angeles in April to take charge of the city’s planning.

In between three 45-minute van tours Saturday, Howe was received by residents who gathered in three houses.

At each stop, community leaders aired grievances and told Howe what they wanted--and didn’t want--for their communities.

The residents were outspoken and assured Howe that they are serious about protecting the future of their neighborhoods.

At the first reception, in Eagle Rock, Frances Thronson, a Mt. Washington resident, described those gathered as “people with axes to grind.”

Another woman, who identified herself as a member of The Eagle Rock Assn. (TERA), warned Howe not to be fooled by the conservative appearance of the guests.

“We may look low-key,” she said, “but don’t underestimate our determination.”

Seven people, including the four leaders of the hosting neighborhood associations, accompanied Howe on the van tours that twisted and winded through the city’s streets.

Along the way, people shouted out questions and comments to Howe, making sure he saw the houses that stuck out farther than others on a block, disrupting the flow of a street, and the boxy apartment complexes that they said lack architectural design.

In turn, Howe questioned the passengers. Most of his inquiries were opinion-oriented rather than technical. He asked for their feelings about residential development on major thoroughfares such as Colorado Boulevard, and about multiunit complexes with commercial use on the ground floor.

At the last reception, in Mt. Washington, residents sat around Howe and voiced their concerns for preserving the trees and open spaces that they consider indispensable to their neighborhoods. They told him about battles with the Planning Department, which have been lost in red tape at City Hall. Howe listened attentively, took notes, and promised to check into each matter.

Jeff Samudio, a member of TERA, told Howe that residents of Northeast Los Angeles are concerned about “the destruction of the quality of life in our communities.”

Samudio explained that, unlike the Westside, the Northeast area doesn’t have the resources to hire consultants and attorneys to fight for its causes, and so residents have to be militant in their efforts.

At each stop, Howe told residents that he strongly believes in preserving the historic character of neighborhoods while simultaneously improving them.

“Cities don’t have to be frozen in time,” Howe said. “The character and quality of neighborhoods can be enriched by the appropriate kind of change.”

Since assuming his directorship, Howe has toured neighborhoods throughout Los Angeles.

On Saturday, he was most interested in assessing the opinion about new housing. He said he was impressed by the Northeast groups, whose members “showed that they have an understanding for larger city issues and don’t have the attitude that they are living in an isolated little world.”

Howe said that his strongest learning experiences so far have come from interactions such as the one on Saturday. He said in all of the communities he has visited, there has been one constant: “People in general, regardless of income group, care passionately about preserving the character of their neighborhoods.”