This August it will be one year since 7-year-old Jashawn Parker died in a fire in the apartment building where he lived on DeKalb Avenue in Norwood.

We wish we could say the city has moved swiftly to ensure that this never happens again. But there are no new failsafe mechanisms in place, no new laws enacted and not even the faintest heartbeat of urgency beating in the corridors of the city's housing bureaucracy.

In other words, what happened to Jashawn Parker can happen again. And considering the condition of many Bronx buildings, some of them connected to the same derelict landlords that have been associated with 3569 DeKalb, we'd say it's a safe bet that it will.

The building Jashawn lived in with his father and brother had more than 300 housing code violations at the time of the fire, many of them serious. Tenants had been in out of court for two years seeking a "7A action," where a judge allows the city to give temporary control of the building to an outside administrator so that urgent repairs can be made. A judge did eventually order a 7A, but that was in November, three months after Jashawn died.

If enough people cared, a bill introduced by Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz that could save lives might stand a chance of passing. Dinowitz drafted the bill last fall after learning of the circumstances that lead to Jashawn's death. The bill passed the State Assembly last week. If it is passed by the Senate and signed by the governor, the bill would permit a judge to give landlords only 60 days to make critical repairs before authorizing a 7A action.

To have a chance at becoming law, the bill needs a sponsor in the Republican-controlled Senate.

Four Republican senators from New York City--Guy Velella of the Bronx, Marty Golden of Brooklyn, Serphin Maltese of Queens, and Olga Mendez of Manhattan--represent communities with residential buildings. We hope one will shepherd a similar bill through the Senate. But we know that won't happen without a full-court press from tenants and housing advocates who are now preoccupied with the rent regulation battle.

Can Albany will deal with Dinowitz's bill at the same time? We don't know but we hope so. As we know from the saga of 3569 DeKalb, getting this legislation passed is a matter of life and death.