EDITORIAL HALL OF SHAME COUNTY SUPERVISORS PUT THEIR WANTS OVER PUBLIC'S NEEDS.

YOU would think Los Angeles County doesn't have a problem in the world, seeing how its supervisors giddily plan to spend upward of $200 million on swank new downtown headquarters for themselves.

Apparently the county health system - which has long been bleeding cash and closing down care centers - has miraculously recovered.

Apparently the Sheriff's Department has been able to find those desperately needed 1,000 deputies to complete its force.

Apparently the overcrowded jails have stopped granting criminals an early release due to a lack of space.

Apparently child services is no longer failing thousands of kids and families throughout the county.

Who knew?

No, the county supervisors and their faithful bureaucrats don't need posh new digs. They need a reality check.

On Tuesday, the supes approved a $200,000 study to examine the various options for what form their reconstructed HQ would take. The options range from an overhaul of the existing structure to what seems to be the inevitable option: a new building at the site of a parking lot slated for construction as part of the $1.8 billion Grand Avenue Project - itself something that should go on the back burner for a long time.

The county's study seems like little more than a way for the supes to pretend they are really considering all the options. In actuality, they have long been committed to making their monument to themselves part of the Grand Avenue Project's monument to municipal egos.

Projected price - $221 million, although only a fool would believe a government project would actually come in at budget.

Bottom line: We're looking at a project that could easily end up costing more than a quarter of a billion dollars, and for what? The Kenneth Hahn Hall of Administration, built in 1960, may not be the most charming structure ever erected, but it's safe and adequate.

But safe and adequate aren't good enough for politicians who demand creature comforts unavailable to most taxpayers and want their buildings to look the way they imagine themselves to be - glitzy, glamorous and gorgeous.

The Hahn Building is ``outmoded'' and ``inefficient,'' according to the county's Chief Administrative Officer David Janssen. That might very well be true, but then, so is our system of roads, freeways and transit.

And we'll go out on a limb to suggest that most residents of L.A. County would rather have a modern and efficient transportation system than a modern and efficient county office building. They certainly would rather have supervisors who care about improving the quality of life for all county residents, not just themselves.

Instead of wasting $200,000 studying construction options, the supes should spend some time studying the real - and long ignored - problems of Los Angeles County.