EDITORIAL : STAPLES AND ARROWS; TRAFFIC AND PARKING CONGESTION CAN BE ALLEVIATED WITH A FEW WELL-PLACED SIGNS: TURN BACK.

THE highly touted Staples Center is just three weeks away from opening, and the highly confused city of Los Angeles can't cope.

The City Council was shocked - shocked! we tell you - to learn there would be more traffic and parking problems once the 20,000-seat arena opens.

Not to worry, said a representative of the city's Department of Transportation. The city will take care of massive traffic congestion with a few well-placed arrows and message boards.

And parking shouldn't be a problem. Just leave your car on one of the convenient freeways - the Hollywood, the Harbor, the Santa Monica or the Golden State, where traffic will grind to a halt - and return to it after the event.

It's the city's idea of a plan. Better living through science and arrows.

The plan should hold up through opening night. But heaven forbid if there are competing attractions drawing thousands downtown to the 3,200-seat Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, the 2,048-seat Ahmanson, the 50,000-seat Dodger Stadium or the Convention Center.

For example, the weekend of Jan. 8, the Clippers are scheduled to play the Indiana Pacers at the Staples Center. That's the same Saturday that the popular L.A. Auto Show opens next door at the Convention Center.

Despite written assurances to the auto show that such scheduling conflicts would be avoided, they weren't. They should be, and in this instance the basketball game ought to be moved to another day.

(The Daily News will provide readers with detailed maps of the Staples Center area next Friday when it publishes a special section on the new arena and how to get there.)

All of this talk about traffic problems is causing consternation for seasoned downtown NIMBYs like council members Mike Hernandez and Rita Walters. They are concerned about traffic congestion spilling over into residential neighborhoods.

The City Council is scheduled to vote this morning on parking agreements with the L.A. Arena Co., which owns Staples Center.

That may or may not take care of some of the expected parking problems.

But it certainly falls short of a much-needed broad plan for downtown to address traffic on overloaded and outdated freeways, parking, and future development, such as the planned 2,300-seat Disney Hall.

DOT's Alan Rifkin believes as people become familiar with downtown and the best way to get to Staples, ``we think a lot of the initial problems will go away.''

No kidding. People will just stay home.