EDITORIAL : KIDS BE DAMNED, CITY HALL SAYS ANOTHER ATTEMPT TO MISUSE BOND MONEY, THIS TIME FOR PARKS, IS A SHAMEFUL BREACH OF THE PUBLIC'S TRUST.

THE wolves guarding the sheep are poised to strike again.

Just six months after voters approved Proposition K to improve parks for children citywide, some Los Angeles city officials want to siphon off $1.5 million from that measure to settle a lawsuit.

That this dishonest attempt to rob children and residents of badly-needed money for parks has been backed by the City Attorney's Office and the head of the parks department is shocking. Mayor Richard Riordan, City Attorney James Hahn and Parks Commission President Steve Soboroff need to pay more attention to business.

Soboroff, who campaigned for the passage of Proposition K and is chairman of the Proposition BB school bonds oversight committee, admitted Tuesday he had no knowledge of this latest sham until the Daily News made it public Wednesday.

The mayor, who appointed Soboroff to head the Parks Commission, should be grilling Soboroff at this very moment on how he missed this shell game with the public's money. And Soboroff, we hope, is doing some serious re-education of parks department General Manager Jackie Tatum and her staff.

Hahn, who successfully ran as the man who would vigilantly guard the public's interest, should be doing the same in his office.

Riordan, Hahn and Soboroff are legally and morally responsible to make certain every public dollar is spent wisely and legally. It's their job to make certain that the old ways down at City Hall are abolished.

Proposition K, barely approved by city voters in November, allows the city to assess property owners for $25 million a year for 30 years to buy land for parks and improve and maintain parks.

It was sold as L.A. for Kids. At no time did the supporters for Proposition K tell voters part of the money promised for parks for children would go to settle lawsuits.

Thank heavens for Councilman Richard Alarcon, who blew the whistle on this shameful situation.

No more cheating the taxpayers.

The public demands accountability straight down the line. The City Hall bureaucrats who proposed this outrageous scam - Tatum and Deputy City Attorney Marcia Kamine - should know their jobs are on the line and it is no longer acceptable to treat the taxpayers' money as if it were Play-Doh. The same message should be made clear to every department head and every city employee.

Before the November election, the Daily News opposed Proposition K mainly because - unlike a similar Los Angeles County measure - there was no independent oversight committee to make sure the money was spent as promised.

Soboroff himself pushed for a blue ribbon citizens panel to provide oversight for Proposition BB school bond money. He is the chairman of that committee and has made it clear it will be a true oversight - not hindsight - committee.

If he thinks it's good for schools, then it's a good idea for parks. After all, both measures are supposedly for children, both involved vast sums of public money and both the city and the school system have serious credibility gaps when it comes to living up to their promises to the public.

A City Council committee today is considering putting the wolves in charge of overseeing the parks bond issue expenditures. The committee would include City Administrative Officer Keith Comrie and Chief Legislative Analyst Ron Deaton with various bureaucrats in nonvoting roles.

What is needed is an independent blue ribbon citizens committee to monitor the allocation of money from Proposition K.

Nothing less will do.