EDITORIAL CLOSED FOR BUSINESS CITY POLICIES DRIVE AWAY JOBS, OPPORTUNITY.

THE Los Angeles County Economic Development Corp. has named the top five finalists for its Most Business-Friendly City in L.A. County award -- Burbank, El Segundo, Lancaster, Long Beach and Santa Clarita.

Anybody notice what city is glaringly absent from that list?

Yes, Los Angeles might be the biggest city in the county, and the most populous, with an incredible diversity of people and resources. And yet, it doesn't even make the cut.

For that matter, city officials didn't even bother to turn in the application.

Who can blame them? L.A. is notoriously business-unfriendly. The recent Kosmont-Rose Institute Cost of Doing Business Survey found that L.A. is the 16th-most-expensive city in the country to do business, second in California only to San Francisco.

The study also found that City Hall's much-ballyhooed stab at business-tax reform was ``cosmetic.''

Up against other cities with no business tax, quality public services and a job-fertile environment, L.A. wouldn't stand a chance. Just as it doesn't stand a chance in the far more important competition of luring in major corporations and top employers, who usually settle outside the city limits -- in such places as Burbank, El Segundo, Lancaster, Long Beach and Santa Clarita.

That's a shame.

Because in the past 25 years, Los Angeles County has gained 2.5 million residents, but only 500,000 jobs. Southern California is a region that needs a strong business presence in all communities -- not only for the obvious economic reasons, but also to reduce the long commutes that cram our freeways and pollute our skies.

The effect of L.A.'s unfriendly business climate isn't just that we're losing out on some hokey award; it's that we're losing out on jobs, opportunities and our very quality of life.