EDITORIAL A DOWN PAYMENT DIVERTING 600 TONS FROM SUNSHINE CANYON IS ONLY THE FIRST STEP TOWARD A SANE POLICY.

The Los Angeles City Council's decision to divert some 600 tons of trash away from Sunshine Canyon Landfill above Granada Hills is a good first step, a hopeful sign that at last city politicians are serious about ending dumping in urban areas.

Still, given the tricks City Hall has used to perpetuate dumping at Sunshine Canyon these last 30 years, Friday's vote must be viewed with a certain skepticism.

The plan to start sending one-sixth of the city's trash elsewhere is not set in stone, and is contingent upon what sort of deal city leaders can work out with Sunshine's operators, Browning-Ferris Industries. And given that the council recently approved a five-year deal with BFI, it's hardly holding a strong hand.

But even if city leaders make good on their promise to slow the flow of trash into Granada Hills, they still must do much more to show that they will deliver on the bigger promise of ending the dumping altogether.

It's not enough for them to issue the same feel-good pronouncements that they want to stop polluting neighborhoods with waste and fleets of exhaust-spewing diesel trucks. They need an iron-clad plan to make good on their promises, complete with benchmarks for progress and penalties for noncompliance.

So far, city leaders are saying the right things. They talk of extending the city's mandatory recycling program to businesses and apartment dwellers, who are currently exempt. They propose building local trash-to- energy facilities, and shipping out whatever refuse remains.

But talk is cheap. City leaders have talked about ending dumping at Sunshine Canyon for years. No one denies that the process will take a while. We need evidence that the process is truly under way.

If 600 tons of trash diverted a day is a down payment, it's a good one. But if it ends up being the whole deal, Valley residents are getting snookered again.