CITY HALL ROUNDUP : What’s in a name? A lot of mispronunciations for Torrance’s new police chief.

DE-LA-WHAT?: Joseph C. De Ladurantey starts Dec. 1 at the helm of the Torrance Police Department, and that means there are only three more weeks for city insiders to learn how to pronounce his name.

So far, it’s not looking good.

City Council members, school trustees and police officers are privately seeking pronunciation advice. And even City Manager LeRoy J. Jackson, who hired De Ladurantey, stumbled badly when introducing him to the City Council last week.

He is not alone. People call De Ladurantey all sorts of things, and they are rarely right.

“Oh, gawd . . . most of them don’t get all the syllables,” said Susan Olson, De Ladurantey’s secretary at the Los Angeles Police Department’s Harbor Division, where he is now commanding officer.

One Harbor Division officer suggests imagining the results if Della Reese were to marry Jimmy Durante, changing her name to Della Durante. But even then, the inflection is wrong.

The exact pronunciation of the French-Canadian name, according to De Ladurantey himself, is De-LA-dur-an-tey, with the accent heavily on the second syllable.

At Harbor Division, many resorted to calling the boss “Captain D” or “Joe D,” but “Chief D” just doesn’t have the same ring to it, De Ladurantey admits.

As one Torrance employee quipped: “In an emergency, I guess you’d just give up and call him ‘Chief,’ right?”

BOTTLE BAN--Harbor City store owner Geun Young Lee swears he’s never had a gang or crime problem in the two years since he opened Lloyd’s Market on Pacific Coast Highway.

“I’ve never even seen a gang member here,” Lee said, adding that gang confrontations are concentrated several blocks away.

Nevertheless, Los Angeles city officials last week denied Lee’s request for a permit to sell beer and wine because of fears that the sale of alcohol would worsen gang violence in surrounding neighborhoods.

Lloyd’s Market sits in the middle of one of the highest crime areas in Los Angeles--felonies in the area were 137% higher than the citywide average last year. Warring gang members live near the store, Los Angeles police detectives say.

“We feel that selling alcohol in the area will cause (crime) to go even higher,” said Sgt. Rick Dedmon of the LAPD’s Harbor Division. Alcohol and gang members can be a deadly mix, he said, noting there are already four businesses in the vicinity that sell beer and wine.

TELETHON’S ON: With the Tournament of Roses Parade just around the corner, Carson Rose Float Assn. officials faced a daunting number of bake sales and raffles to raise the $60,000 needed to fund an entry.

But last week, the association reached an agreement with Continental Cablevision and South Bay Studios to hold a fund-raising telethon. The first of five telecasts will air Dec. 1, although details about the length of the program and other airing dates have yet to be worked out. “We’re working very hard,” said Councilwoman Vera Robles DeWitt, a strong backer of the association.

Although the city will subsidize the float if the fund-raising goal is not met, Carson officials say it is unlikely that the city will fund an entry for the 1993 parade.

Carson’s 1992 parade entry is a tribute to California’s Gold Rush days and features a family of teddy bears racing their flowered stage coach to California.

PROUD BUT LOUD: Only politicians with pluck should serve on this panel: The Rolling Hills Estates City Council Subcommittee on Peacocks.

Wild peacocks are roosting in trees above half a dozen homes in the city. And residents are divided about what to do about the birds, which keep the hours of owls and don’t mind letting the neighborhood know about it.

“They’re loud enough to wake up the dead,” says City Manager Doug Prichard. “Half the people love the birds and half the people hate the birds.”

Complicating the work of the peacock subcommittee, which was impaneled to find solutions to the rambunctious roosting, is a longstanding bird-protection ordinance in Rolling Hills Estates. The panel is scheduled to issue its first progress report to the council on Tuesday.

LAST WEEK’S HIGHLIGHTS

Carson: The Redevelopment Agency approved design plans for a $30-million renovation of Carson Mall. Project financing is still being negotiated between the agency and the mall’s ownership group, Carson Mall Partners.

El Segundo: Two dozen residents told the City Council that proposed changes to the city’s General Plan could upset the community’s small-town flavor. The council presented the plan to residents after disbanding an advisory committee that helped devise the plan. The committee was disbanded in part because of bickering over the proposed zoning changes and other elements of the plan. The council has until March to act on the matter.

Inglewood: Mayor Edward Vincent set up a committee to explore a possible run to replace retiring Los Angeles County Supervisor Kenneth Hahn next year.

Lawndale: The City Council, moving forward with the city’s first redevelopment project, adopted a preliminary survey area that encompasses nearly all of Lawndale’s commercial and industrial property as well as portions of its residential neighborhoods. Mayor Harold E. Hofmann did not participate in the discussion or voting because he owns commercial property within the survey area.

Lomita: The City Council voted to install three-way stop signs at the T-shaped intersection of Walnut and 247th streets after reviewing a traffic study that reported speeding and accidents at the intersection. The stop signs will be installed within the next two weeks.

Manhattan Beach: The City Council did not snuff out Mayor Bob Holmes’ proposal to ban smoking in all city restaurants and city-owned buildings. Instead, the council agreed to continue discussion of the no-puff policy until Dec. 3.

Rancho Palos Verdes: The City Council approved an 11% rate increase, effective Jan. 1, for refuse collection at townhouses, condominiums and apartments. Waste Management of California Inc., which holds the city’s refuse hauling franchise for multifamily residential units, said the rate increase is needed to offset increasing costs to deposit trash in landfills.

Redondo Beach: The City Council reduced its budget by $1.2 million to offset an impending shortfall and rejected a cost-cutting proposal by City Manager William E. Kirchhoff to lay off 10 employees.

THIS WEEK’S HIGHLIGHTS

Gardena: The City Council is seeking money from the state to continue its loan program for first-time home buyers; 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, 1700 W. 162nd St., Gardena; (310) 217-9565. Televised live on Channel 22 (Paragon) and repeated 7 p.m. on the two following Sundays.

Hawthorne: The City Council will consider a new set of development standards expected to bring apartment construction to a standstill; the new standards would cut density from 35 units to 17 an acre and would increase open space requirements; 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.

Palos Verdes Estates: The City Council will introduce an ordinance that would ban recreational vehicles from being parked in front of homes; 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, 340 Palos Verdes Drive West, Palos Verdes Estates; (310) 378-0383. No cable telecast.

OTHER COUNCIL MEETINGS THIS WEEK

Hermosa Beach: 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, 1315 Valley Drive, Hermosa Beach; (310) 318-0239. Televised live on Channel 3 (Multivision).

Inglewood: 1:30 p.m. Tuesday, 1 Manchester Blvd., Inglewood; (310) 412-5280. No cable telecast.

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.

Rolling Hills: 7:30 p.m. Monday, 2 Portuguese Bend Road, Rolling Hills; (310) 377-1521. No cable telecast.

Rolling Hills Estates: 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, 4045 Palos Verdes Drive North, Rolling Hills Estates; (310) 377-1577. Televised live on Channel 3 (Dimension).

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.