CITY HALL ROUNDUP : Hospitals do their part to make sure no one plays any dirty tricks.

X-RAY TREAT: In the olden days, children would conclude their Halloween rounds by returning home to feast from sacks bulging with candy corn, caramel apples and M & Ms.

But this is the more cynical 1990s, when many families fear that hobgoblins or other ill-spirited types might have implanted harmful objects--razor blades, needles or pins--in their children’s Halloween booty.

So Centinela Hospital Medical Center will screen candy from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. today at its Airport Medical Clinic, 9601 S. Sepulveda Blvd., in Westchester, at no cost. South Bay Hospital, located at 514 N. Prospect Ave. in Redondo Beach, also will provide free screenings today and during the week for families who come to the outpatient registration area near the emergency room.

LeAnn Palm, radiology director for Centinela Hospital’s medical clinics, says her facility has X-rayed M & Ms, Tootsie Rolls, Milky Way bars and “those peanut butter things.”

Children take great interest in the process, Palm said. “They come in and actually watch us do it,” she said. “I don’t think they’d give up their candy.”

Officials at both hospitals report that previous Halloween screenings have turned up no dangerous objects--but they will keep on testing.

LEGAL FOREST: Officials in Torrance have been forced to choose between budget cutting and their ever-present fear that someone will stumble over an exposed tree root and sue the city.

About 30% of the estimated 100,000 city-owned trees have matured within the past 10 years, overtaking sidewalks and sewer lines en masse.

Officials report that dozens of residents who have hurt themselves tripping over exposed roots and cracked sidewalks, have filed claims against the city.

City Councilman Don Lee last month questioned if officials might be remiss in proposing that maintenance costs be reduced by $23,000, delaying the removal of about 100 trees that are diseased, hazardous or damaging property.

“What worries me is we’re saving $23,000 in one place . . . but I’d hate to see us paying out $200,000 to $300,000 the other way because someone trips and falls on the sidewalk,” Lee said.

In the end, budget cutting won out. Meanwhile, city officials promise to vigilantly monitor the costs of tree-related legal claims.

CALLER, ARE YOU THERE? It’s a safe bet nobody will ask about women who have killed their husbands’ transsexual lovers, or people who have been abducted by Martians. Oprah, Phil or Geraldo, it won’t be.

But when Carson City Council members go on live television next week for a “town hall” forum, they hope the discourse on city affairs will be exciting enough to keep people tuned in.

The council will appear on Continental Cablevision, Channel 26, from 7 to 8:30 p.m. Nov. 10 to take questions phoned into the studio or submitted in advance to the city’s public information office. It is the first time a Carson “town hall” forum has been aired live, and officials may consider making it a regular practice, said city spokeswoman Eva Gatling. With 13,000 cable subscribers in Carson, the potential audience is in the thousands.

“I’m not sure what people will ask,” Gatling said. “What’s that saying from ‘Star Trek’? We will boldly go where no man has gone before.”

PACKED LIKE SARDINES: City officials in Manhattan Beach plan to ease crowded conditions at City Hall by converting a small part of an underground garage into office space.

The $525,000 project, which includes installation of an air-conditioning system and heaters, is desperately needed, city officials say. “We’re getting so cramped upstairs (that) people are almost sitting on each other’s laps,” said Dana Greenwood, assistant public works director.

But while city officials have not decided who will move into the new underground office, it appears that employees are not flocking to sign up.

“People are still fighting here over who gets stuck” with the new office, Greenwood said.

Perhaps Greenwood can be excused for helping develop the unpopular project: His own office is in the basement of City Hall, next to the parking lot.

“People say it’s had a weird effect on my personality,” Greenwood said. “Is it raining today? I haven’t even been outside. I hang from my feet when I want to take a nap.”

LAST WEEK’S HIGHLIGHTS

Los Angeles: A new effort was launched Friday to keep open the San Pedro animal shelter, which was targeted for closure earlier this year. At the urging of harbor-area Councilwoman Joan Milke Flores, city officials will consider earmarking $50,000 for the shelter on Battery Street. Previously, Flores and local residents blocked a plan to close the shelter and contract with the county for animal shelter services.

Torrance: Officials on Tuesday agreed to join several other South Bay cities in an environmental impact study of a possible southern extension of the Metro Green Line along Hawthorne Boulevard, one of several routes being considered by county transportation officials. Torrance added the caveat that it would only join in the study if cities on the Palos Verdes Peninsula also participate.

THIS WEEK’S HIGHLIGHTS

Carson: The City Council, meeting Wednesday as the city’s Redevelopment Agency, will consider hiring a consultant for advice on the environmental impact of the proposed Metro 2000, a giant shopping and entertainment center targeted for a 157-acre expanse near the intersection of the San Diego and Harbor freeways. The site used to be a landfill.

Manhattan Beach: The City Council will conduct a public hearing Tuesday on its proposal to pay Santa Fe Railway $3.1 million for a 1.3-acre lot in the core of the downtown area.

MEETINGS THIS WEEK

Note: Some city councils that normally meet on Tuesdays have changed or canceled their meeting s because of Election Day. The revised schedule is listed below.

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

Carson: 6 p.m. Wednesday, 701 E. Carson St. (310) 830-7600. Televised at 6 p.m. Thursday 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. on Wednesday.

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