EDITORIAL : KILLER CROSSWALKS: CITY SENDING MIXED SIGNALS TO SENIORS - AND ANYONE ELSE WHO WALKS IN THIS CAR-CRAZED TOWN.

HOW many elderly residents have to die while crossing the street before the city of Los Angeles makes it a priority to stop the killing?

This is not Kosovo. Stopping the deadly attacks need not take a U.N. resolution.

All it needs is for one elected official at City Hall to pick up the phone and order the city's Bureau of Transportation Design to lengthen the time between light changes at key crosswalks so seniors can make it to the other side before the traffic signals change.

Right now, officials estimate there are outstanding complaints on nearly 100 intersections. Most were filed after 76-year-old Soltan Netan-Eli was killed while in a marked crosswalk in North Hollywood last year.

Why the delay? Simply because the city has its priorities upside down.

Officials say the backlog is due to a lack of manpower.

Translation: Your tax dollars were spent on other things, so the city can't afford extra engineers to do the studies the transportation officials say are required for changing the timing of crosswalk and traffic signals.

What kind of study is needed to determine whether a man or woman in a walker needs five or 10 seconds more time to cross a street? Once again we can confirm that common sense is dead at City Hall.

When it comes to protecting the one-seventh of Los Angeles residents who are elderly, spry city officials gun their engines and leave them to face a losing battle against the crosswalk clock.

As that portion of the population grows with the aging of the baby boom generation, it is more imperative than ever to focus on senior issues. That includes programs to make sure they're fed and housed, as well as making the city safer for them.

The only person at City Hall making any noise is Councilman Joel Wachs, who was a champion for seniors before he entered the 2001 race for mayor. His leadership is vital for the council to take action on this life-and-death issue.

Soon the day will come when the current members of the City Council are back down on earth with ordinary people, their city-paid cars a thing of the past, and they may actually find themselves standing at a crosswalk, wondering if they'll make it to the other side of the street before the light changes and cars start moving.

Then they will know how badly they treated the senior citizens of Los Angeles.