EDITORIAL THE NEXT ELECTION LOS ANGELES' FUTURE HEALTH IS AT STAKE IN THE MAYORAL RACE.

NOW that the presidential election is over, finally, it's time to start seriously focusing on the next election - the Los Angeles mayoral race.

While presidential politics and policies often are remote from our daily lives, the decisions that are made by our local leaders affect our lives intimately - safe streets, economic opportunity, healthy neighborhoods and a host of other issues.

Like the nation as a whole, Los Angeles is nearing a critical crossroads, and the discussion and decisions made in the next year will have lasting ramifications on the city's long-term future.

Mayor James Hahn is a formidable campaigner, but he faces four experienced and serious challengers in his bid for re-election in March: City Councilman Antonio Villaraigosa, a former state Assembly speaker who lost to Hahn in 2001; City Councilman Bernard Parks, the former head of the Los Angeles Police Department whom Hahn forced out; former Assembly Speaker Bob Hertzberg; and state Sen. Richard Alarcon, D-Van Nuys.

It is an odds-on certainty that in a field this strong no one will get more than 50 percent of the vote in the March primary, so a May runoff will be necessary.

With the pay-to-play scandal hanging over his head and criminal investigations pending, Hahn is not guaranteed a spot in the runoff. In fact, any two of these five candidates could find themselves the voters' choices in March.

So there's every reason to hope that we will have a lively and passionate debate in the coming months on how to solve Los Angeles' many problems.

Foremost among those problems is to change the culture of corruption that has sparked federal and local investigations. At the heart of the scandals is that City Hall has for too long been a world of insiders: Influence peddlers, contractors, union bosses and others all feeding off the public treasury without bringing significant benefit to the community as a whole.

Until the political brokering at City Hall ends, Los Angeles will never be able to move forward on providing enough cops, combating the gang crisis, easing gridlock on our streets and highways, developing sensible policies for growth, airport utilization and garbage disposal, to name only a few.

The public may be campaign-weary. But anyone who cares about whether Los Angeles becomes a world-class city - or declines into an unlivable slum - owes it to themselves, their families, friends and community to pay close attention over the next few months.

We need leaders who put the public interest ahead of private interests, and that won't happen unless the citizenry takes an active role in the city's affairs.