EDITORIAL A TALL ORDER.

NORA Vargas is no doubt kind and well-intentioned. But as head of Los Angeles' Office of Immigrant Affairs, which is charged with making city services available to immigrants, she's taken on an impossible task.

Los Angeles has thousands of immigrants, speaking dozens of languages. There is no way a single office of two workers, no matter how highly motivated, could even come close to meeting their needs.

More important, it would seem that the largest problem immigration poses to L.A. isn't how immigrants can obtain government services, but how government can possibly keep pace with a constant stream of newcomers, many of whom are here illegally.

Which is why the Office of Immigrant Affairs seems like the wrong answer to the wrong problem - typical of a city government more interested in symbols than solutions.

We wish Vargas well, but don't envy her.