EDITORIAL : WHAT'S WRONG WITH L.A.? COUNCILMAN JOEL WACHS GOT IT RIGHT: SPECIAL INTERESTS WITH MONEY TO BURN AND WEAK-KNEED POLITICIANS.

COUNCILMAN Joel Wachs let a little sun shine on the truth earlier this week when he said money talks at City Hall and decried the City Council's ``abuse and arrogance of power.''

During 28 years in City Hall, Wachs has seen every political deal, every bargain, every lobbyist, every vote trade, every scheme to appease influence peddlers and please their clients, while the interests of ordinary residents are thrown out with the trash.

So surely it wasn't surprising to the Studio City councilman that his colleagues had rigged the proposal to reopen the city's side of Sunshine Canyon Landfill in Granada Hills after the dump's operators showered lobbyists with $400,000 to help get a majority of the council on their side.

Surely, he wasn't surprised that council President John Ferraro, whose gerrymandered district includes a small portion of the San Fernando Valley, stifled discussion of alternatives to the Granada Hills dump when questions were raised about how city officials failed to look thoroughly at low-cost remote sites or develop a comprehensive plan for the city's trash.

``This just shows that money talks,'' fumed Wachs, who would like to be mayor.

``It is a simple abuse and arrogance of power, and the kind of thing that goes on here all the time, and I'm goddamn sick and tired of it.

``It's been that way with the Greek Theater. It was that way with Staples Center. It was this way with professional football. There's never a chance for the people to be heard.''

In recent years, Wachs has emerged as a fighter for the ordinary people and their values and for spending their tax dollars wisely.

Wachs, in his tirade against the way the council operates, identified a lot of what's wrong with Los Angeles and why so many people and so many businesses have left town.

He explained why many people in the Valley are seriously considering secession, why the city is not a cohesive unit and why after a generation of bad government Los Angeles has become a less and less desirable place to live, work and attend school.

Instead of protecting the interests of the people who pay taxes, the council often sells out to wealthy interests whose money helps them get re-elected.

Many council members are so enamored with their power and privilege and so co-opted by City Hall's corrupt political processes that they think the people they represent are rubes to be manipulated for the advantage of themselves and their pals.

The result is that the people of Granada Hills think the rest of the city doesn't care about the quality of life in their community. So why would the residents of Granada Hills, which, barring a last-minute epiphany by the council majority, will be home to the garbage dump, care if residents of Westchester have to deal with more airport noise or traffic?

Developers and big corporations know that to get anything done, what they have to do is persuade the council member whose district will be affected to buy into their program. If that member objects, the lobbyists then talk sweetly with money to the others until they get a majority.

This is how L.A. city government works.

Few elected officials pay attention to the people who are deeply affected by their decisions.

Without a comprehensive plan for the city, Los Angeles is heading in a direction that will make it an unlivable trash heap.

Joel Wachs is correct when he says the city has the best government money can buy. Too bad we found it on the discount rack.