EDITORIAL : FIX THIS; SKYROCKETING COSTS OF REPAIRING CITY HALL IS ONE MORE REASON TO CONSIDER SECEDING.

THE city doesn't have money to combat gangs. Sorry.

Money to fix streets? Forget about it.

More police? No way.

Fix aging sewer pipes? Maybe next year.

Cut trees? Wish we could.

Not to worry, though.

The City Council has millions to rebuild City Hall in the grand manner to which they're all accustomed. And that's all that counts.

And that's the problem. The council thinks ``public service'' means the public's here to serve it, not the other way around.

So, naturally, the 15 lords and ladies of the manor aren't going to bat an eye when the cost of making City Hall safe in an earthquake goes from the $97 million voters approved to an astronomical $311 million - including a full restoration the public never had a say about.

Since the rest of L.A. exists to serve downtown City Hall, then it logically follows that the people of Los Angeles won't mind if their own neighborhoods are neglected so the council can build a grand palace of self-aggrandizement.

No finer example exists of what's wrong with L.A. than the rebuilding of City Hall.

In 1990, voters approved a $97 million bond measure to make City Hall earthquake-safe. But the council didn't do anything with that money for four years.

Then the Northridge Earthquake occurred, giving the council another pretext to ``fix'' City Hall.

Rather than doing only earthquake work, however, officials decided that as long as the city was going to tear out walls to put in seismic safety supports, it might as well replace the 27-story building's aging mechanical systems, including heating, air conditioning, plumbing and electrical wiring.

That expansion was estimated to cost about $276 million. Calling that amount outrageous, Mayor Richard Riordan formed a task force that recommended a scaled-back, bare-bones project that would cost $160 million, with most of that covered by $140 million from the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

The City Council ignored the report.

And now we learn it's managing to add nearly $40 million more at the behest of preservationists. And you can bet that's not the end of it.

Once again the council has shown it has no respect for the taxpaying public.

Such arrogance is an insult to the people of Los Angeles.

The people of L.A. - from the San Fernando Valley to San Pedro, from South Central to the Westside - can't afford the council's arrogance, its extravagance, its ignorance of the values of its taxpayers.

Who do they think they are, the MTA? Hey, council, fix this - city government.