EDITORIAL NEW BLOOD, NEW HOPE INCOMING COUNCIL MEMBERS COULD HELP TURN L.A. AROUND.

FAREWELL Ruth Galanter, Nate Holden, Nick Pacheco and Hal Bernson.

Your tour of duty is over.

You've all held long terms on the Los Angeles City Council, and your collective mark on L.A. politics has been set. We thank you for your service and bid you well.

Now, it's time to move on.

Today, four new members of the City Council take the oath of office: Tony Cardenas, Martin Ludlow, Antonio Villaraigosa and Greig Smith.

The four join Bernard Parks, who took his council seat in March, in ushering in a new generation of city leadership. This is the first time that the entire City Council was elected under term limits.

With the old guard gone, there's every hope this new breed of council member will shake up City Hall and make a difference.

The council's new members inherit not only the burdens of a bad economy and imminent state budget cuts, but also the mistakes and excesses of their predecessors.

The City Hall they enter today is one woefully short on cash, with a bloated bureaucracy demanding ever higher pay for ever less work.

It's a place where unions, lobbyists, developers, consultants and contractors fight for the lion's share of the public treasury, with only scraps making it back to the public.

It's a place where the real business is done behind closed doors, and where average L.A. residents have little access or input.

In short, it's a place in dire need of reform.

Would-be reformers have gone to City Hall before, but they tend not to last long. Sooner or later, the system either seduces or destroys them.

But it can - and should - be different this time.

Most members of the council have served only two years or less. They see themselves as a new breed, ready to confront L.A.'s many problems, ready to turn the city around and move it forward into the 21st century.

That won't be achieved by doing business the same old way.

They can start by putting the public interest ahead of the special interests.

They can tackle long-ignored problems confronting the city's future, such as gridlock, gangs and housing, by crafting long-term plans that balance community interests.

And they can empower neighborhood councils and other local organizations to represent the public's concerns in City Hall.

The new members of the City Council can create a new kind of Los Angeles government.

But will they?

That's their decision alone.

In making that decision, they might want to consider that in just a few years, their tours of duty will also be over. Gone are the days where politicians can make their mark on history just by sticking around a long time.

If the newcomers want a legacy, they're going to have to earn it.

They might also remember that they owe their new jobs to term limits, and the voters who made term limits a reality. The least they can do is repay those voters with their service.

Council members Cardenas, Ludlow, Villaraigosa and Smith: This is your chance to make not just a difference, but history.