EDITORIAL EMPTY POOLS CITY OFFICIALS LET VALLEY KIDS DOWN - AGAIN.

EXPECT a hot summer in the San Fernando Valley, as usual this year. And as usual, expect public swimming pools to be shut down for the season.

Two of the Valley's city pools are out of business this summer, including one in Northridge - for the fourth year in a row - and one in Canoga Park.

Instead of relief from the summer's relentless heat, local kids get excuses from their elected officials, all sorts of explanations for why the nation's highest-paid city bureaucrats weren't able to make necessary repairs during the off season.

Topping the list, of course, is money. City Hall says there's just not enough of it to get to the little things, like providing wholesome recreation opportunities for local kids.

Yet there was plenty of money for all the raises heaped on city employees this year, all the loose spending and poorly run programs. And the Northridge pool's disrepair goes back to well before the onset of the city's financial crisis.

The truth is that the pools aren't open because they just don't rank high enough on city leaders' list of priorities. The official explanations are all just a lot of hot air, and who needs that on a hot summer day?