The Century Corridor is the first view many people have of Los Angeles, and it’s not the best face our city could put forward. That the area is unattractive is clear to anyone who has ever been to LAX.

A blue ribbon commission headed by former Los Angeles City Councilmember Ruth Galanter and Rev. Cecil Murray heard powerful testimony from workers, community leaders, economic experts and educators on conditions near LAX and the Century Corridor.

Perhaps less well known is the potential importance of the 13 hotels on and around Century Boulevard. This is by far L.A. ’s biggest hospitality industry sector, employing more workers and serving more visitors than any other part of the local hotel industry.

Equally invisible to many is that the Century Corridor is adjacent to some of LA’s poorest communities. Next door, Lennox has a murder rate five times higher than L.A. County , while its rate of overcrowding is eight times higher, and the median income is 25% lower than the county’s.

The report Opportunity for All: Creating Shared Prosperity in the Gateway to Los Angeles, sponsored by the Coalition for a New Century, contains the findings and recommendations of the blue ribbon commission, "Century Boulevard Commission on Jobs, Tourism and Communities".

The report was used by two City Council committees which later asked the city attorney to draft legislation for consideration by the full Council. That legislation would apply the city’s Living Wage, Worker Retention and Contractor Responsibility ordinances to workers in the Century Corridor zone. The committee members also proposed a “design overlay” policy, which would open the opportunity for community participation in any development in the area and would set esthetic and environmental standards for development. More