EDITORIAL AMBASSADOR RECALLED THE CITY COUNCIL STALLS A LONG-NEEDED SCHOOL.

AFTER 11 years of extensive bungling, the Los Angeles Unified School District finally won the historic Ambassador Hotel for a badly needed high school.

That was back in October. Now, nearly six months later, City Hall has taken over the bungling.

Last week, the council declined to endorse the plan to build a new high school on the site, instead opting to send the plan back to committee and solicit more public input, further delaying the project.

It's understandable why the council would want to proceed with caution.

After all, the Ambassador deal has cost the LAUSD tens of millions and made many a lawyer rich over the course of the district's on-again, off- again attempts to purchase the property. When an entity that built the still-abandoned Belmont Learning Center atop a leaky oil well for $175 million wants to undertake another ambitious project, it makes sense to pay close attention.

But the city government's record on large public works projects is also less than stellar. (Take the $300 million it spent renovating City Hall, for instance.)

And as the wheels of government grind on in their interminably slow fashion, LAUSD students are left waiting.

The City Council must make its Ambassador decision wisely - and quickly, too.