EDITORIAL POLITICALLY LIMP PARKER CENTER MESS SHOWS A LEADERLESS CITY HALL.

FRUSTRATED by inaction from City Hall leaders about when the police force can move out of the decrepit Parker Center, Los Angeles Police Commissioners last week suggested they might take action into their own hands.

The defiant board members said if the city won't immediately move the LAPD's command staff out of what they consider to be an unsafe building, they might just declare the building unsafe and order it vacated in 90 days.

It's unlikely the advisory panel, picked by the mayor and City Council, would have the authority to pull off such a coup. But their frustration with the spinelessness of their elected bosses is understandable, if not uncommon.

The city plans to build a police headquarters at First and Alameda streets downtown by 2008. But the Los Angeles Police Department wants out of the aging Parker Center sooner, citing health hazards such as asbestos and cramped quarters.

Originally, part of the deal included moving to a temporary location at the Transamerica Building that the city is buying. But Ron Deaton, chief legislative analyst, nixed that idea a few months ago, saying the city could save about $29 million if the LAPD stayed put and other city departments moved to the downtown office building.

``The problem is, no one here has the political will to go against King Deaton,'' said Police Commissioner Rick Caruso last week.

No political will: That's been the problem not only with how Parker Center has been handled, but also with nearly everything that City Hall touches, from its kowtowing to public-employee unions to its lackluster efforts to fight gang crime.

The state of Parker Center is not news to anyone downtown. The mid- century building has been dilapidated and run-down for at least the past decade. And its problems were exacerbated by damage from the 1994 Northridge Earthquake.

But instead of renovating the world-famous LAPD headquarters when it might have been reasonable to do so, or moving the staff to regional locations, political leaders just stalled. They also overspent on the lavish, $300 million refurbishment of City Hall - money which, if spent more wisely, could have helped pay for repairs at Parker Center.

In short, they made a bad situation worse.

At this point there's little the cash-strapped city can do. It's already spending about $215 million for the new Parker Center, and is cutting all sorts of city services to keep financially solvent.

A mutiny by the Police Commission would not accomplish anything real, though it would help illustrate the frustration and futility that many Angelenos feel when dealing with City Hall.

When the strongest political will to be found in Los Angeles is among volunteer commissioners, something is very, very wrong.