CITY HALL ROUNDUP : Bugged by mosquitoes in pond, Torrance unleashes killer fish.

MOSQUITO COAST: The Torrance Cultural Arts Center that opened its doors this weekend is trying to offer something for everyone--including mosquito-haters.

The complex of stages and studios is built around a spectacular $350,000 Japanese garden, donated by Epson America Inc. It consists of Japanese and California plants, sculptures, a waterfall, a fountain, and one environmentally sensitive pond.

The garden is opening just two weeks after the discovery in Torrance of encephalitis-carrying mosquitoes, prompting health warnings that mosquitoes can breed in standing water. But the new Arts Center is primed for battle: The city has stocked the pond with mosquito-eating fish that are nearly as ugly as the flying bugs themselves.

The specially stocked pond caught Mayor Katy Geissert by surprise last week when she toured the garden last week.

“Koi?” she inquired.

“Our mosquito abatement program,” a city official replied.

In fact, City Parks Director Gene G. Barnett reports that two kinds of fish are sharing the pond: 15 orange koi and eight brown-toned mosquito munchers.

“One for aesthetics and one to get the grunt work done,” Barnett quipped.

COLLEGE TRY: Anyone who has ever attended USC or UCLA knows that the cross-town rivalry runs deep.

So it isn’t surprising that USC alumnus and Carson Community Development Director Patrick Brown winced when he saw the Bruin blue-and-gold color scheme that home furnishings retailer Ikea proposed for a planned warehouse at Carson Mall.

A staff report presented at a Planning Commission meeting last week said the Swedish-based Ikea’s corporate colors are not compatible with the mall or the surrounding area. “Too much blue,” the staffers said.

Brown seized the opportunity to propose another color combination, this one from his alma mater.

“How about cardinal and gold?”

CLEANUP PACT: A Terminal Island metal-shredding business that has drawn numerous complaints from Wilmington boat owners says it will take steps to prevent its metal dust from blowing into Los Angeles Harbor.

In an agreement signed Thursday with the State Regional Water Quality Control Board, Hugo Neu-Proler Co. pledged to modify shredding and conveyor equipment to control metal particles.

The waterfront business, which grinds up old automobiles and other metal junk for export as scrap, agreed to make the changes over a period of six months. The agreement appears to resolve an appeal by Hugo Neu-Proler of a Water Quality Control Board order last May that required the company to stop polluting the harbor by Dec. 15.

In issuing that order, the board asserted that some particles from the plant were carrying toxic polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs. Wilmington boat owners have frequently complained of noise and dust from the plant.

A DIFFERENT SPEAKER: In preparing for its big Martin Luther King Jr. birthday celebration next year, the city of Inglewood is turning to “The Cosby Show” for inspiration.

The city has agreed to hire a psychiatrist who helped comedian Bill Cosby develop “A Different World,” a spinoff of the popular series, as the keynote speaker for the Jan. 20 event.

Harvard University psychiatrist and author Alvin F. Poussaint was recommended by the committee that plans the annual event, said Truman Jacques, the city’s public information officer and liaison to the citizens group. The city will pay Poussaint a $6,000 speaking fee, plus travel and lodging costs.

An associate professor of psychiatry and associate dean of student affairs at Harvard Medical School, Poussaint served as the off-camera psychiatrist for the Huxtables, Cosby’s television family. Poussaint is the author of “Why Blacks Kill Blacks” and “Black Child Care.”

“He has a strong message on violence which all of these cities need to hear,” Jacques said, adding that Poussaint is popular with young people because of his association with Cosby.

LAST WEEK’S HIGHLIGHTS

Hermosa Beach: Ending months of community uproar, the City Council on Tuesday night shelved plans to replace the city police force with sheriff’s deputies as a cost-cutting move.

Inglewood: The City Council has extended for another year a $10,000 reward for information leading to an arrest and conviction in the 1990 slaying of an 11-year-old boy. The body of William James Tillett, a fourth-grader at Kew Elementary School, was found in a Hawthorne carport the night of May 24.

THIS WEEK’S HIGHLIGHTS

El Segundo: The City Council will meet at 7 p.m. Tuesday to review a General Plan that would allow up to 29-million square feet of new non-residential construction in the city. The plan is designed to manage growth in the city over the next 20 years; 350 Main St. 322-4670. Televised live on Channel 22 (Paragon) and repeated at noon Wednesday.

Hawthorne: Nearly two years after imposing a moratorium on the construction of apartments, the City Council will hold a public hearing at 7 p.m. Monday to consider Zoning Code changes that would tighten development standards and reduce density; 4455 W. 126th St., Hawthorne. 970-7902. Televised on Channel 22 (Paragon) at 7 p.m. Tuesday and Thursday and 6 p.m. Saturday.

Rancho Palos Verdes: The City Council will hold a workshop at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday to discuss a revision to the area’s horse trails plan; Hesse Park, 29201 Hawthorne Blvd. 377-0360. Televised live on Channel 3 and repeated at 7:30 p.m. the following Tuesday.

OTHER COUNCIL MEETINGS THIS WEEK

Inglewood: 1:30 p.m. Tuesday, 1 Manchester Blvd., Inglewood. 412-5280. No cable telecast.

Los Angeles: 10 a.m. Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday at 200 N. Spring St., Los Angeles. In San Pedro, 548-7637; in Wilmington, 548-7586; in Harbor City/Harbor Gateway, 548-7664; in Westchester, 641-4717. Televised live on Channel 35; meetings repeated individually at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday and collectively on Sunday starting at 10 a.m.

Rolling Hills: 7:30 p.m. Monday, 2 Portuguese Bend Road, Rolling Hills. 377-1521. No cable telecast.