CITY HALL ROUNDUP : They launched a campaign to make sure the rocket ship returned to home base.

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED: If the kids ask, let’s just say the 28-foot rocket ship in Torrance’s Los Arboles Park blasted off on an important mission and temporarily lost its way in outer space. But luckily the loud voices of angry parents functioned as a beacon and brought the ship hurtling back to Earth.

When the city dismantled the playground attraction in February because of safety concerns, the response was an immediate community uproar. More than 100 protesters, some of them aerospace engineers, urged city officials to return the rocket ship to the park, saying it was a historic landmark. In fact, Life magazine featured the rocket in a March, 1963, story a few years after it was installed at Los Arboles Park.

The city reversed its course, and now the rocket is again pointed toward the heavens. But final repairs are still taking place, and the rocket won’t be ready for play until a rededication scheduled for Sept. 12. At the ceremony, the park will be officially renamed Los Arboles Rocketship Park just to make sure the vessel doesn’t stray again.

“When you make a decision like that, you better make darn sure everyone in the neighborhood agrees with you,” said John Hoffman, a Torrance parks services administrator.

That’s a roger, Houston.

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DUCKS IN A ROW: Point Fermin Park gardener Cathy Cover’s pet ducks, Wally and Daisy Mae, waddled merrily on the park lawns in San Pedro again last week after winning a city dispute over whether they should be banned from coming to work with their owner.

“We have some happy ducks here,” said Cover, who divined the pair’s jubilant mood by the pitch of their quacking.

Concerns over liability prompted a Department of Recreation and Parks supervisor last month to enforce a long-ignored regulation prohibiting employees from bringing their pets to work. In the weeks that followed the clampdown, Wally and Daisy Mae lived in a large, cardboard box in Cover’s apartment while she was at work.

“They went through a personality change,” Cover said. “When I would get home they would be kind of aggressive and they didn’t eat. It was as if they were asking, ‘Mom, what’s going on?’ and I was the ogre.”

So, the happy couple has returned to its garden paradise.

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NEW SHUTTLE: Palos Verdes Transit officials will soon begin operating a four-van shuttle fleet serving children who attend Palos Verdes Peninsula schools.

The service, which will run every 15 minutes weekdays from 6:30 to 9:30 a.m. and from 2:30 to 6:30 p.m., will be free for the first three weeks beginning Sept. 1. Starting Sept. 18, fares be $2.

Semester passes will be sold for $300 at the Palos Verdes Estates Police Department. The passes will also be for sale at the high school Sept. 11 and 14, and at the intermediate school Sept. 10 and 11. Tokens will be sold at those locations and at Hughes Market on Hawthorne Boulevard at Crest Road.

“I think it’s a great way to start the school year,” said Rancho Palos Verdes Councilman Steve Kuykendall, who serves on the transit board.

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EASY RIDERS: The streets of Avalon soon may be the only ones in the state where motorcyclists are allowed to ignore California’s mandatory helmet law.

The Assembly on Friday approved legislation, 45-16, to allow the city to exempt motorcyclists from the law. The bill, authored by Sen. Robert Beverly (R-Manhattan Beach), is pending before Gov. Pete Wilson.

During a brief Assembly debate, supporters argued that riders in the one-square-mile Catalina Island city should be able to ride helmetless, citing its unique setting, compact size and 20 m.p.h. speed limit. They also point out that no motorcyclists have been seriously injured on the island.

Under the measure, the city could require helmets for drivers and passengers younger than 15 1/2.

Assemblyman Richard Floyd (D-Carson), who spearheaded the 1991 motorcycle helmet law, said the Beverly measure would set a bad precedent.

“Avalon is, regardless of the feelings of the inhabitants, part of this state,” Floyd said.

LAST WEEK’S HIGHLIGHTS

Los Angeles: The City Council’s Transportation Committee recommended approving $104,000 toward a new electric trolley system in San Pedro. Similar funding commitments already have been made by the city’s Harbor and Water and Power departments.

Torrance: The Parks and Recreation Commission on Wednesday directed a committee to study a proposal by a roller hockey association to build a rink at Torrance’s Wilson Park. Players have been using the park for roller hockey games in violation of a city ordinance.

THIS WEEK’S HIGHLIGHTS

Los Angeles: A proposal to build Air Force housing on 23 acres at Angels Gate Park in San Pedro will come before the City Council’s Arts, Health and Humanities Committee at 2 p.m. Monday.

Manhattan Beach: The City Council will vote Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. whether to raise parking meter rates in county and state beach parking lots to $1 per hour.

MEETINGS THIS WEEK

Avalon: 7 p.m. Tuesday, 209 Metropole Ave. (310) 510-0220. Televised live on Channel 3 (Catalina Cable) and repeated Saturday morning.

Carson: 6 p.m. Tuesday, 701 E. Carson St. (310) 830-7600. Televised at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday on Channel 26 (Continental Cablevision) and repeated the following Wednesday.

El Segundo: 7 p.m. Tuesday, 350 Main St. (310) 322-4670. Televised live on Channel 22 (Paragon) and repeated at noon Wednesday.

Inglewood: 7 p.m. Tuesday, 1 Manchester Blvd. (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.

Lomita: 7 p.m. Monday, 24300 Narbonne Ave. (310) 325-7110. No cable telecasts.

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.

Manhattan Beach: 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, 1400 Highland Ave. (310) 545-5621. Televised on Channel 3 (MultiVision) at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday.

Rancho Palos Verdes: 7 p.m. Tuesday, Hesse Park, 29201 Hawthorne Blvd. (310) 377-0360. Televised live on Channel 3; repeated at 7:30 p.m. the following Thursday.

Redondo Beach: 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, 415 Diamond St. (310) 372-1171. Televised live on Channel 8 (Century); repeated at 3 p.m. Wednesday and 6 p.m. Sunday.

Torrance: 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, 3031 Torrance Blvd. (310) 618-5880. Televised live on Channel 22 (Paragon), and replayed at 10 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday, and at 10 a.m., 3 p.m. and 8 p.m. on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.