EDITORIAL : WHAT PRICE PUBLIC SAFETY? COUNCIL'S INDULGENT SPENDING CATCHES UP WITH IT.

STANDING between Mayor Richard Riordan and Los Angeles Police Chief Bernard C. Parks on the tarmac at Los Angeles International Airport on Monday, Vice President Al Gore bestowed $133 million in federal grants on the city to hire 710 new police officers.

It was a Christmas morning moment. The mayor got bailed out for omitting money to hire new officers from this year's budget. Parks got a bigger force.

And most of all, the people of Los Angeles got delivery on a promise to make the streets and neighborhoods safer.

But this is Los Angeles, and all is not as it seems to be.

Even before the shouts of joy stopped echoing, the City Council and City Hall bureaucratic hand-wringers launched their campaign to make sure the 710 new cops are never hired.

Listen to their fears:

The Los Angeles Police Department is desperate for work space, so Parks is hoping voters will approve a $639 million bond measure to build new facilities so the new officers have a place to work, despite the LAPD's wretched performance in frittering away the last police bond issue.

Then there's the price tag for police cars and other equipment the new officers will need to protect the city. Where's the money for that going to come from?

And what about the long-term costs of keeping the new men and women in their LAPD uniforms? The federal grants will pay for 90 percent of the new officers' salaries for three years. That means the city has to cover $15 million in the first three years, then $47.5 million in 2002 and $56 million in 2003.

If we hire and train 710 new officers to make our lives better, all that money will have to come from somewhere, and you don't expect the City Council to get tough on spending and prioritize the city's needs with public safety on top, do you?

These are the same people who allowed sewers, sidewalks and roads to rot while they spent foolishly on things that weren't the city's business, like using the living wage to try to raise the standard of living of low-income workers instead of spending public money on making the city better so there are more and better jobs.

Until there is massive reform, these wacky values of the 15 lords and ladies of the City Hall manor are not about to change.

They can find enough money for hefty pay raises for themselves and city employees. They can find enough money for the self-indulgences of high officials and petty bureaucrats.

But they don't have money for public safety, even when the feds are paying 90 percent.

All this hand-wringing over whether to accept more money for police officers would be funny if it weren't so sad.