EDITORIAL OUR CITY HALL NEW VAN NUYS FACILITY SHOULD RECOGNIZE VALLEY'S IMPORTANCE, NOT THE POLITICIANS.

NOT since the days of the Soviet Empire has a public building been saddled with a name as drab, uninspiring and downright condescending as the official moniker Los Angeles officials have slapped on the newly restored Van Nuys City Hall:

The Marvin Braude San Fernando Valley Constituent Service Center.

Snore.

No offense to Braude. As the community's representative on the City Council for 32 years, he served the public better than most of his colleagues. He deserves to be honored, though one would think the Marvin Braude Mulholland Gateway Park would have been honor enough.

Apparently not.

So be it. If city leaders want to give Braude another pat on the back, they could erect a statue bearing his likeness just outside the new center - or put a Braude bust someplace prominent inside.

Anything would be better than sticking the facility with the unwieldy MBSFVCSS acronym as its title.

Previously, the MBSFVCSS was known as Van Nuys City Hall. But the building sustained serious damage in the 1994 Northridge Earthquake, and even though city leaders had no problem coming up with more than $300 million to turn downtown City Hall into their own Taj Mahal, the Van Nuys facility sat shuttered for years.

In 1999, city officials promised that a new city office building would be completed by 2001 at a cost of roughly one-tenth of the renovations downtown. Of course it was a low priority, so problems set the project back and it was quietly reopened only earlier last month, with an official dedication scheduled for June.

So, at long last, Valley residents get their own City Hall again but with a retired lawmaker's name attached to it.

The official title also includes the words ``San Fernando Valley'' but they come after Braude's name. It's an unsubtle reminder of a constant reality in city government: The politicians come first.

But the worst part of the MBSFVCSS name is that dreadfully utilitarian phrase, ``Constituent Service Center'' - as impersonal and uninspiring a collection of words as have ever been strung together. It's eerily reminiscent of the inane jargon of communist regimes that produced euphemisms like ``people's republic.''

Spare us the bureaucrat-speak.

This isn't the politicians' center for processing - excuse us, servicing - their constituents. For those of us in the Valley, it's our City Hall.

Sure, it might not be as fancy or expensive as the City Hall downtown.

It might sit in the middle of an underused neighborhood suffering from decades of city neglect.

The services it offers might not be much, especially in light of what we pay for them.

And there's no denying we've waited far too long to get this little.

Be that as it may, it's still our City Hall, and its name ought to reflect that.

But if we're stuck with MBSFVCSS, we suggest renaming that lavish obelisk downtown the James Hahn Los Angeles Insiders Self-Service Center - or JHLAISSC for short.