LAX Gets Face Lift for Democratic Convention

The race is on to give Los Angeles International Airport’s main entrance and exit an $80-million face lift in time for this summer’s Democratic National Convention.

In the airport’s first major beautification project since the 1984 Olympics, work began last week on new artwork, walking paths, traffic signs, landscaping and lighting. Convention delegates’ first glimpse of Los Angeles, planners say, should be something better than the current stretch of whizzing traffic, pornography shops and storage warehouses lining Century Boulevard to the San Diego Freeway.

“This airport is the gateway into this country for many people, and the gateway into our city,” said LAX official Kim Day, who is among those pushing the construction project to meet its August deadline.

“We want to extend the door of the airport through the Century neighborhood, to help people get oriented.”

The beautification is not officially part of the proposed $12-billion expansion that airport officials say is necessary if Los Angeles is to continue to grow economically in the 21st century, Day said, but it has been designed to be compatible with that expansion’s blueprints.

Not everyone, however, loves the current face lift or believes that airport officials’ only motivations are to spruce up the area for the convention and make it easier for travelers.

Community leaders in nearby cities who live with the frequent roar of jets and the bother of related automobile traffic contend that the current project is a sneaky way of expanding the airport under the guise of making it more accessible.

“I think it’s an arrogant disregard for the residents in this area and the planning process to proceed under the banner of so-called beautification without the public consent,” said Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Los Angeles), an ardent foe of plans to expand the airport.

LAX officials insist that the Century Boulevard work does nothing to increase the airplane, passenger or automobile capacity of the airport.

In the predawn hours last week, when even the bustling airport had quieted down for the night, workers rolled a giant crane out to the intersection of Century and Sepulveda boulevards and erected the skeleton of a towering pylon, the first of what will eventually be 30 sculptured columns in dramatic placement close to the airport entrance.

Fifteen of the pylons--each 100 feet tall--will form a dramatic circle at the intersection of Sepulveda and Century, the two main thoroughfares leading into the airport. The white columns will be lit from within, and an artist may later be commissioned to program the pylons to change colors in sequence, said Ted Tanaka, the architect who designed the project.

Just east of the circle of pylons, just before Century reaches the airport, workers will install a 32-foot-high, three-dimensional sculpture that will spell out “LAX.”

“That will become as much a symbol of Los Angeles as the Hollywood sign,” promised airport spokeswoman Nancy Castles.

On Century, 15 more pylons of different heights will line a median from Aviation Boulevard to the airport entrance. The pylons will ascend from 25 feet to 60 feet, in an effort to give drivers approaching the airport “the sense that they are about to take off,” Tanaka said.

Inside the circle of pylons, gardeners will place thousands of plants, including birds of paradise, pygmy palms and bougainvillea. The idea is that passengers with long layovers and airport employees can relax in the garden.

Relief is also promised for drivers who feel they’re getting lost on their way in from the freeway. In addition to the pylons, more signs and better lighting will guide them through the Century neighborhood to the airport. To improve safety, more and better security cameras will monitor the area.

Business owners along Century Boulevard predict a revitalization as a result of the project.

Instead of getting away to Santa Monica or Manhattan Beach, guests at the 13 major hotels along Century Boulevard may choose to stroll and shop along Century, said Merry Norris, executive director of Gateway to LA, a business group working with airport officials on the project.

“This is the first impression visitors have of our city,” said Hal Leonard, general manager of the Crowne Plaza Los Angeles Airport Hotel. “Our airport is not the most attractive in the world, but this will enhance their impression.”

The beautification, which will be mostly completed this summer, with an additional $32 million in extra touches added in the fall, is being paid for out of the airport’s general fund from passenger and plane fees.

Most of the work will be done between 1 and 6 a.m. so as not to disrupt traffic.

Nonetheless, longtime airport foes said they are irritated by the project.

“We shouldn’t be spending money on cosmetic things when there are real problems facing people who are affected by this airport,” said El Segundo Mayor Mike Gordon. Instead, he said, the airport should spend money addressing traffic gridlock on the San Diego Freeway and soundproofing residents’ homes bothered by jet noise.

But Gordon regretfully said that he sees nothing illegal in the airport’s spending money to spruce itself up.

“There isn’t much we can do about this, except voice our opposition,” he said.

The city of El Segundo sued Los Angeles last November, charging that the airport is illegally proceeding with its expansion through a series of other small projects to avoid attracting public notice.

The much-debated plans for expansion, not set to be completed until at least 2015, include new terminals, an expressway from the freeway to the airport and a “people-mover” to get passengers efficiently around the airport. An environmental report is expected to be released for public debate by the end of the year.

Benjamin Austin, a spokesman for L.A. Convention 2000, the host committee for the Democratic convention, said planners are delighted that the enhancement project is going forward.

“These are efforts that we want to last long after the convention is come and gone,” he said. “Part of the reason we fought so hard to host the convention is we want to use this as an opportunity to showcase our city to the rest of the world. We want to see our city put its best face on.”