CITY HALL ROUNDUP : Hard Rock Cafe takes a shot at providing health care for kids.

HARD-ROCK HEALTH: This is not your average doctor’s office.

The decor is not white-walls-and-stainless-steel sterility, but guitars, gold records, vintage posters and other rock ‘n’ roll memorabilia. And there’s no Muzak.

What organizers call “a Hard Rock on wheels” will start rolling next week through parts of Los Angeles, providing free vaccinations for infants and children. It is a joint venture of Inglewood’s Centinela Hospital Medical Center and the Hard Rock Cafe, the restaurant group that features hamburgers and sandwiches amid a rock motif.

But in lieu of hamburgers, the van will offer vaccinations against measles, mumps, polio and other diseases. It will make its first stop Wednesday at the Challengers Boys and Girls Club, 5029 S. Vermont Ave., and will venture into Inglewood and Wilmington later this fall.

Organizers are hoping that the combination of hip decor and “cool, funky music” ranging from Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch to Boyz II Men will help soothe the nerves of anxious children.

“It’s a frightening thing to go get shots,” said Hard Rock spokeswoman Valerie Van Galder.

Wait till the kids get a load of the Red Hot Chili Peppers’ poster.

*

THE LITTLE DICTATORS?: Carson community activists want to scrap at-large City Council elections in favor of choosing members by districts, arguing that it would better serve city residents.

Council members “are pretty arrogant and dictatorial and they don’t listen,” said James H. Peoples, chairman of the Carson Coalition for Good Government, the group seeking the change. “Some will not answer your letter or return your telephone call.”

The group said at-large elections allow special interest groups to dominate elections, leaving certain areas of the city unrepresented and other areas overrepresented in proportion to the population.

Four of the five council members live south of Carson Street and west of Wilmington Avenue, meaning that the concerns of the northern part of the city get little attention, said Peoples, who is weighing a run for a council seat.

The group is working with a voting district expert and plans to collect signatures from at least 10% of Carson’s 40,000 registered voters to place the matter on the ballot for the next election. If 15% of those registered sign the petition, organizers can force a special election, Peoples said.

*

NANNY WOES: One of the biggest challenges Murphy Brown faced on her much-touted season premiere last week was finding a nanny for her newborn son--and figuring out what questions to ask the applicants.

Her employer, the fictional television show “FYI,” could learn a few lessons from Little Company of Mary Hospital about how to aid working mothers. The Torrance hospital offers employees a special resource-and-referral program to help parents look for child care, even suggesting what questions to ask. Such benefits helped place the hospital among the 100 best U.S. companies for working women in a new Working Mother magazine survey.

An article in the magazine’s October issue lauds the nonprofit Catholic hospital for an array of services for its 1,300 female employees, such as subsidized child care, prenatal and baby-care lessons, free mammograms and Pap smears, and discounted memberships at nearby athletic clubs.

Little Company is the only California hospital included this year’s list. The top firms were chosen from 1,000 companies, some nominated by readers and some by the companies themselves.

And don’t even bother looking for “FYI” on the list.

*

ON THE RIGHT TRACK?: Declaring that they were not changing horses, no pun intended, a group of about 40 Inglewood ministers announced last week that they will fight to keep a proposed card club from opening at Hollywood Park.

The ministers successfully fought off card club proposals in the city in 1976 and 1978. The difference this year is that the mayor, the City Council and the city administration are campaigning for a Hollywood Park club, which must be approved by voters in November.

When asked to explain how the ministers hope to defeat something supported by all the city leaders, the Rev. Johnny J. Young declared, “We are the leaders of the city.”

We’ll see who has the strongest hand come November.

LAST WEEK’S HIGHLIGHTS

Rolling Hills Estates: After 18 months, the Rolling Hills Estates City Council on Tuesday approved an update of the city’s General Plan. The update included a zoning change for a 34-acre Northrop Corp. parcel from research, science and development to residential.

Hermosa Beach: The City Council avoided using furloughs and pay cuts for city workers with a new plan to offset budget shortfalls in wake of massive state cuts. The plan will recoup $325,000 by drawing funds from the utility users tax and scaling down street maintenance projects.

THIS WEEK’S HIGHLIGHTS

Redondo Beach: The South Coast Air Quality Management District will have a public hearing at City Hall at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday to take comments on Southern California Edison Co.’s proposal to use ammonia in an air-pollution control system at the local generating station. The air quality district recently completed a long-awaited environmental impact report on the proposal.

Manhattan Beach: The City Council will have a hearing Tuesday on an appeal of its previous approval of a permit that would allow live entertainment at D & OB’s Grill & Bar at 3610 Highland Ave. The council is meeting Tuesday in lieu of its regularly scheduled meeting on Oct. 6, which begins Yom Kippur, a Jewish holiday.

OTHER MEETINGS THIS WEEK

Hawthorne: 7 p.m. Monday, 4455 W. 126th St., Hawthorne. (310) 970-7902. Televised on Channel 22 (Paragon) at 7 p.m. Tuesday and Thursday and 6 p.m. Saturday.

Inglewood: 7 p.m. Tuesday, 1 Manchester Blvd., Inglewood. (310) 412-5280. No cable telecast.

Lawndale: 7 p.m. Thursday, 14717 Burin Ave. (310) 973-4321. Televised live on Channel 60 and repeated several times during the week.

Los Angeles: 10 a.m. Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday at 200 N. Spring St., Los Angeles. In San Pedro, (310) 548-7637; in Wilmington, (310) 548-7586; in Harbor City/Harbor Gateway, (310) 548-7664; in Westchester, (310) 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.

Torrance: 7 p.m. Tuesday, 3031 Torrance Blvd., Torrance. (310) 618-5880. Televised live on Channel 22 (Paragon), and replayed at 10 p.m. Wednesdays and Thursdays, and at 10 a.m., 3 p.m. and 8 p.m. on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays.