Supervisor Yvonne Burke will take that legacy of laissez-faire into retirement. Assemblyman Mervyn Dymally and Rep. Maxine Waters raised their voices early against closure, but those voices petered out as time went on and a sense of inevitability set in. They were also saddled with the perception that they were part of the problem at King-Drew -- protecting jobs and their own roles at what was as much a political machine as a medical institution.

But another big culprit in the King-Drew demise, one nobody ever fingers, is the black middle class. Too amorphous? Not at all. By the time the hospital opened in 1972, the black activism that created it was downshifting, and the black middle class was busily consolidating its gains on its way to becoming a phenomenon of the '80s and '90s.

County health officials are warning that area residents are at increased risk of contracting the virus, especially considering that of the 19 mosquito pools that tested positive for the virus in the San Fernando Valley, 17 were in Panorama City - most of them in the wash.

But officials with the Los Angeles County Department of Public Works said Tuesday that federal and state laws protecting migratory birds and wildlife have prevented them from clearing brush within the wash.