It’s a risky business for Svorinich at his San Pedro district office.

OFFICE SPACE AVAILABLE: “This building is not earthquake safe. Enter at your own risk.”

That’s the anxiety-producing sign that greeted City Councilman Rudy Svorinich Jr., who represents the harbor district, when he went to work at his district office in San Pedro recently.

As a result, citizens doing business with the Los Angeles City Hall district office will soon find employees working out of trailers or a new building.

Seismic tests on the San Pedro Municipal Building on South Beacon Street, which was built in 1928, have determined that the building is unsafe, Svorinich told residents at a town hall meeting last month.

Just to be on the safe side, Svorinich’s staff will be moved out later this year while the building is retrofitted, he said.

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NOT-SO-CLEAN SWEEP: Some Manhattan Beach residents say they’ll take dirty beaches over ugly streets any day.

When the Manhattan Beach City Council voted to post “no parking” signs around much of the city to clear streets of cars during the street sweepers’ weekly visits, officials received a host of complaints. According to many residents, the signs are just too ugly.

City officials say street sweepers that now must maneuver around parked cars could collect an additional 200 tons of trash every year if the streets were cleared--trash now winds up in the city’s storm drains and, ultimately, in the ocean.

Responding to dozens of complaints about the proposed signage, the council tabled the proposal last week. Instead, the city will institute an educational program to inform residents of the benefits of street sweeping on clear streets. Officials hope residents will move their cars voluntarily on designated sweeping days.

“The people protesting are a small minority,” said City Councilman Jack Cunningham. “If we find that a number of people are not moving their cars, I’m sure the council will push through” a proposal to post the signs.

Street sweepers clean nearly all of the city’s streets, but parking is banned on only 25% of the streets during street-sweeping hours.

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DUNK THE MAYOR: Think Hawthorne Mayor Larry M. Guidi is all wet? For $5 you can make sure.

Guidi has agreed to sit in the dunk tank at the Hawthorne/Kiwanis Fair on July 30 to help raise $2,000 for the Kidz Power Program at the Del Aire Assembly of God church. But don’t look for the mayor in a bikini-style Speedo swimsuit.

“I’m looking into wearing an old suit and tie” for the event, Guidi said.

Guidi said he’ll stay in the tank as long as he keeps making money.

“I’ll go down 400 times if that’s what it takes,” Guidi said.

The money will go to benefit the Kidz Power program, which helps area kids “get on the right track before they get into gangs and drugs,” said Jeff S. Miles, associate pastor of the church. The program uses games, music, drama and lessons to teach community children motivation and self-worth, Miles said.

Miles hopes the mayor’s appearance will generate enough community interest to raise a good percentage of the program’s budget.

“Some people in the community will say ‘Here’s my chance to take a shot at the mayor’ . . . but in a fun way,” Miles said.

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A DIFF’RENT STROKE: Gary Coleman, the former child star who once sued his adoptive parents for stealing over $1 million of his money, is establishing a new home away from home--a game parlor in Marina Del Rey.

“I’m absolutely loving it. It’s a lot of fun,” said Coleman, adding that he is working with a producer on a possible new sitcom, “Arcade,” featuring himself as, guess what?--the operator of a game parlor.

“It’s sort of like art imitating life but bigger than life,” he said. Meanwhile, he’s at the shop four or five nights a week, keeping busy behind the register, demonstrating games and helping with the occasional maintenance job.

“People are coming down in small droves,” he said. But the fans are not wasting a lot of time in idle chat.

“Most of the people who come in are looking for the self-indulgent aspect that an arcade provides, so once they meet me and I shake their hands, they want their tokens,” he said.

As for his parents, “all that is completely settled and we no longer discuss it,” said Coleman, now 26, who starred for eight years on the popular 1978-1986 sitcom, “Diff’rent Strokes.”

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

“Every time I see the moon, I see the guys walking up there, and I think about what an incredible journey this was.”

--David Levine, chief electrician for North American Rockwell’s Apollo program in 1969.