Los Angeles; Gateway to Hollywood to Serve as Beacon and Beautification Project; Community: Panel OKs lighted 30-foot tower, which signals progress in cleanup efforts in area.: [Home Edition]

The Los Angeles Board of Public Works on Monday gave the final go- ahead for a beautification project that is to act as a Gateway to Hollywood: a 30-foot-high glass tower and a large fountain on the median where Franklin and Wilcox avenues meet Cahuenga Boulevard.

Supporters say the Gateway project, to cost an estimated $658,000 in private and public money, will help that portion of Hollywood continue its winning battle against prostitution and drug dealing.

"We're turning the area around," said Merle Singer, president of the Yucca Corridor Coalition, a group of area property owners and others who have led the effort to clean up the streets and curb the crime there.

Two years ago, coalition members approached the late John Ferraro, the longtime councilman who represented that part of Hollywood, about the...