EDITORIAL THE COUNCIL GETS A D.

IF there's one thing to be said for members of the new Los Angeles City Council, it's that they're consistent.

For the third time in a row, the members have earned a D on their quarterly report card. The pathetic grade is a reflection of the council's timidity, inaction and lack of vision.

Three months into 2002, the council has next to nothing to show for its efforts or its members' $133,051 salaries - the nation's highest for city council members.

The last quarter was wasted dickering on subjects such as billboards and the Ambassador Hotel without moving forward. It was a quarter of passivity, with scarcely any attention paid to the city's most pressing problems, like traffic, crime, housing and jobs.

The only highlights were the members' ethical failings. In January we learned that Dennis Zine spent his first three months on the council as an inactive LAPD officer, thereby padding his pension by $13,803 a year. And Council President Alex Padilla was forced to pay a $2,500 fine for a campaign-finance violation.

All in all, a most unimpressive quarter.

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L.A. CITY COUNCIL QUARTERLY REPORT CARD

3rd Quarter: D

Cumulative: D