EDITORIAL TROJAN HORSE? L.A.'S BIRTHDAY PROVIDES GIFT FOR DOWNTOWN BUT CRUMBS FOR THE VALLEY.

TODAY is the 222nd birthday of the city of Los Angeles, second largest city in the country.

And just in time for this anniversary, downtown gets word of another gift: A 16-acre park is planned to link the county and city civic centers with greenery, outdoor cafes and entertainment, housing, and a hotel.

As always, the neighborhoods where Angelenos actually spend their time and money will get the booby prize: the tax bill to subsidize services while all the economic benefits stay downtown.

The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday set the stage for the creation of a board that will design the park, along with the parking lots and the surrounding new residential and commercial buildings that will be a part of L.A.'s own imitation ``Central Park.'' The city's Community Redevelopment Agency votes today whether to support the Los Angeles Grand Avenue Authority.

The idea behind this plan, which was created by billionaire Eli Broad and fellow philanthropist and developer Jim Thomas, is to continue building an old-fashioned downtown in L.A. This is the monster that has eaten the city's wealth for 30 years and is getting a boost from the opening of Disney Hall next month and the cathedral last year.

The grand plan for this Grand Avenue plaza would be to draw people to downtown on nights and weekends, when they normally stay away and find happier places to play.

Maybe it was just a coincidence, but on the very same day that the five county supervisors endorsed a New York City vision for the downtown L.A. money pit, Mayor James Hahn dropped into North Hollywood along with other dignitaries to trumpet how well all the previously testy public agencies are now merrily working together to build the NoHo Commons.

Like the downtown civic center park, NoHo Commons is a redevelopment project designed to remake one of the less-attractive areas of the city with businesses, houses and people - lots of people converging and buying things and sitting around in cafes. Mainly, the announcement was that NoHo Commons will have a much-needed new high school right near the valuable property at the end of the subway line.

Now, we're not sneering about the new school and other buildings that are part of the North Hollywood ``transit village'' redevelopment planned for the crumbling streets around the Red Line Station. It's just great that the new CRA honcho, Bud Ovrom, has decided to turn his attention to this long-neglected area.

Hopefully, he'll pull it off and have the clout to actually turn the area into something valuable.

But, come on, when you stack the NoHo ``transit village'' against ``Central Park,'' it feels a little like being the unloved sibling who opened the wrapped box on Christmas Day only to find underpants.

It's also a bit suspicious that the supervisors' action marks the first time the park concept had been aired publicly despite the fact that it had been in the works for three years.

Perhaps the supporters of the project worried about the kind of reaction they'd get if it came out before they even threw a few crumbs to the Valley or other neglected neighborhoods of the city.

This is just the latest attempt by Los Angeles' leaders to Manhattan-ize a downtown that has continued to resist attempts to make it a fun destination no matter how much public money is thrown its way. Clearly city leaders have some self-esteem issues with L.A.'s glamorous, older big sister.