LAX Expansion Provides Economic Boost to Local Businesses

Many local small businesses are booming, thanks to an influx of work needed to expand the Tom Bradley Terminal at LAX

Anna Marie Rosales was ready to send out her resume, again.

The former school teacher's small janitorial business, a lifelong dream, was falling apart before her very eyes, thanks to the recession.

"I probably lost seventy percent of my business within the first six months. It was tough," according to Anna Marie Rosales, of "Bed of Roses Maintenance"

But the new, humongous construction site, billed as the "biggest public works project in LA city history" literally saved her.

"I see jobs for my people, for my community, that pay well," states Anna Marie Rosales, of "Bed of Roses Maintenance"

She is one of hundreds, perhaps thousands, of people who see the multi-year Bradley Terminal extension project as an economic savior.

She provides clean-up and janitorial service for forty-eight construction trailers now, employing 50 to 75 people, many hired from surrounding neighborhoods.

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"I see money! Heh heh heh," states Donny Potter, with Clean Up America.

Donny Potter owns around forty huge trash containers, scattered throughout the site. His workers dispose about 500 tons of debris a week.

"We've hired about ten people so far, and we'll probably hire about another ten," according to Donny Potter, with Clean Up America.

Experts think that twenty thousand jobs will come from the project over the next few years, just in the construction field alone.

"You're going to see a completely new airport," states Gina Marie Lindsey, Executive Director, LA World Airports.

The Bradley Terminal is the "piece de resistance," say airport officials.

A totally re-imagined airport experience for weary international travelers, at an air travel hub which now rarely does well in customer satisfaction surveys.

"And that's wrong. We're the 'front door' for the city. We have to reflect the city's values," states Gina Marie Lindsey, Executive Director, LA World Airports.

For small business owners like Rosales and Potter, those values include jobs, and an opportunity to fly high again, when things could not have looked bleaker.

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