EDITORIAL WELCOME TO L.A.

WELCOME to Los Angeles, Mr. Ovrom.

In your short time as head of the Community Redevelopment Agency, you've seen that business here in the big city works quite differently than it did back in Burbank.

Here in L.A., ``rules'' aren't to be taken too seriously. Quaint, old- fashioned ideals like ``good judgment'' and ``the best interest of the community'' aren't all that important.

Here in L.A., loyalty to the City Hall insider crowd is all that matters. Forget what's good for the city; stick to what's good for you.

It must have been eye-opening when CRA board members recently signed off on a redevelopment scheme for South Los Angeles that they knew was a bad investment of public dollars.

CRA Commissioner Doug Ring, a wealthy developer, called it ``a tough project, in a tough economy, in a tough marketplace.'' Yet he and the rest of the board voted for the giveaway.

Here was a developer, Christopher Hammond, who walks under two dark clouds: one his past shaky financial dealings, the other ethical charges springing from the alleged efforts of his wife - a CRA manager - to steer public dollars his way.

Now Hammond was coming before the CRA looking for what would amount to tens of millions of dollars over the course of decades for South L.A.'s Marlton Square project, which raises more questions than hopes.

There was no doubt how this vote would go when Assemblyman Mark Ridley-Thomas, the former councilman, declared: ``The fact of the matter in my view is if you don't like the project, and the mayor who is your appointing authority has said he wants to see it move forward, it seems to me you ought to evaluate your commitment and your sense of loyalty to the appointing authority.''

Loyalty. That's what it's all about. No, Mr. Ovrom, you're not in Burbank any more.