EDITORIAL L.A. ALIVE DEVELOPMENT SHOWS POTENTIAL FOR ALL OF LOS ANGELES' NEIGHBORHOODS.

WHAT'S not to like about L.A. Live?

The planned $1 billion downtown sports-entertainment-residential complex - which officially breaks ground today - represents the sort of forward-thinking development all Los Angeles needs. It will bring people, jobs, excitement and international prestige to the city, as well as tens of millions of dollars into the public treasury every year.

The sooner L.A. Live becomes a reality, the better.

The same, however, cannot necessarily be said for another downtown project - the proposed 56-story, 1,200-room hotel adjacent to the Los Angeles Convention Center, whose developers demand the promise of a public subsidy before they get started, plus the right to keep the 14 percent occupancy tax for the next 25 years. That works out to about a quarter of a billion dollars over time.

With that kind of money on the line and the massive losses the city is suffering from its white elephant Convention Center, it's no wonder the hotel is a big question mark that needs a lot of public scrutiny and debate before it gets the green light.

L.A. Live will be built - and is likely to become a tremendous success given the track record of Anschutz Entertainment Group President Tim Leiwicke, who developed Staples Center - with or without the hotel.

Maybe, as some claim, a mammoth hotel is what's needed to save the Convention Center, which runs a $1 million operating deficit, and also saddles the city with $30 million in annual debt financing.

But city officials have a long way to go before persuading the public that a hotel is the answer to all the Convention Center's problems.

To get there, there are some simple things they can do.

First, the city needs to get an independent and impartial analysis of the plan, complete with actual income projections to show how the hotel would bring the Convention Center to solvency and make money for the city. Show us the numbers.

Second, and more important, is that city leaders must demonstrate that creative energies and taxpayer money are being brought together in the Valley and the other under-served parts of the city to create good jobs, good housing and good schools in a safe and healthy environment.

No one begrudges L.A. Live. It promises to be a great boon for downtown and all of Los Angeles, creating a safe, healthy and prosperous destination - something that cannot be said with the same assurance for the grandiose Grand Avenue Project that appears to offer little to the region's economy.

The critical question is this: Where's the same energy, vision, public-private cooperation that has gone into L.A. Live and Grand Avenue being brought to bear to regenerate North Hollywood, East L.A., Pacoima and South L.A.?

If Los Angeles' leaders could offer real plans for comparable revitalization throughout the city, the public would be far more likely to invest in trying to save the Convention Center.

L.A. Live holds great promise for the city, showing what strong civic leadership can accomplish. Let it be a beacon to the world - and a sign of good things to come for all of L.A.