EDITORIAL L.A.'S FUTURE IS NOW SHINING TOMORROW WON'T COME WITHOUT STRONG LEADERSHIP TODAY.

THANKS to a contest sponsored by the History Channel, various architects gathered at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art on Tuesday, offering spectacular visions for the L.A. of the 22nd century.

Some of the more promising proposals included innovative ways to make better use of our infrastructure and accommodate a growing population.

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, who was on hand for the event, liked what he saw so much that he gushed, ``I want to live another hundred years!''

It's a nice thought. Unfortunately, we don't have a century to make L.A. a more livable city, one that's safe, clean, affordable and economically healthy.

Unless Los Angeles radically changes its present, its future is more likely to be dark and hideous than bright and dazzling.

The sort of ideas that the assembled architects kicked around Tuesday -- like densifying around mass-transit systems, and making better use of the city's resources -- are the sort of ideas the city needs to implement now.

For that to happen, there needs to be a shake-up in the way business is done in City Hall.

The corrupt relationship between developers and city officials must end. So must the fiefdom system wherein City Council members unilaterally dictate what happens in their districts, usually benefiting developers and other campaign contributors more than their constituents.

And the city must establish -- and stick with -- a coherent, long-term plan for growth.

The danger in futuristic fantasizing is that we leave it up to our children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren to make the tough decisions we lack the courage to make ourselves. We assume the people of tomorrow will have the answers, and so we need not bother searching for them today.

But as Villaraigosa put it during a less dreamy moment Tuesday: ``How we design and construct our environment matters. Now is the time for us to truly embrace the opportunity to re-envision the way we live and how we interact with one another.''

The future is now.

Los Angeles needs better roads and freeways, better public transit, better schools and safer streets and more well-paying jobs. But that won't happen unless city officials find the courage to stand up for the people instead of kowtowing to special interests.