CITY HALL ROUNDUP : One reason why Daryl Gates always draws a crowd in Wilmington.

HAIL TO THE CHIEF: Los Angeles Police Chief Daryl Gates certainly has his detractors citywide. But in Wilmington, he’s considered quite a swell guy.

That much was clear recently when Gates spoke to another standing-room-only gathering of the Wilmington Home Owners, a group he has addressed three times since 1989. In the history of the association, in fact, no one has drawn crowds like Gates, said Jo Ann Wysocki, president of the group.

“He has always been our biggest draw. No one has approached him,” Wysocki said.

Wilmington’s homeowners, she said, are so supportive of Gates that during last year’s tumult over the Rodney King beating, the community rallied behind the LAPD and raised the third-largest number of signatures citywide seeking a recall election of Mayor Tom Bradley--a longtime Gates nemesis.

One homeowner did brave the crowd and criticized Gates at the meeting. But the chief took the homeowner’s criticism in stride.

“You can’t come down to Wilmington--it’s a pretty diverse (community)--and not get some of that,” Gates said. “I anticipate it and always appreciate it.”

Appreciate it? No wonder they keep inviting him back.

BATTLE OF THE STATES: Texas Gov. Ann Richards toured the South Bay last week but local officials were more anxious than excited by her visit.

Richard’s aides called the trip an economic development tour of the West. One stop was a Hughes Aircraft Co. facility in Manhattan Beach, where the governor met Tuesday with Ralph Shapiro, president of Hughes’ Training and Support Systems Group.

Nervous Manhattan Beach officials speculated that Richards and her entourage were attempting to lure the aerospace giant, which has a plant in Texas, to move more of its California operations to the Lone Star state.

Representatives of the company and the governor denied, however, that that was the case.

“She may have that as an ulterior motive,” said Hughes spokesman Dave LeFort, “but there is no plan to shut down an outfit and move it out there.”

WOULD YOU LIKE THAT IN WRITING?: Now here’s a person who knows how to play politics. Carson City Councilwoman Juanita McDonald, who is running for the state Assembly, said she supports lots of people running for the City Council. But the only ones who seem to count are those who have received her formal endorsement.

Indeed, McDonald maintains she has endorsed only the campaign of incumbent Kay A. Calas in next month’s election. But in a videotape of a fund-raiser four weeks ago for council candidate Pete Fajardo, McDonald gave a speech in which she urged those in attendance to vote for controversial Mayor Michael I. Mitoma in the April 14 election.

McDonald not only praised Fajardo and Mitoma, she was downright gushy.

“(Mitoma) and I had a dynamic team going in this city and we wish to continue that team throughout the year,” McDonald said on the videotape. “I cannot think of being on your City Council without Mike Mitoma. . . . I do know that you join me in the support to get him back there.”

Keith McDonald, the councilwoman’s son and campaign manager, said that the mayor would be provided a written formal endorsement if he asks for it. As for Fajardo, who took her words of praise as an endorsement, McDonald denied endorsing Fajardo.

But council candidate James H. Peoples said McDonald is playing “a semantics game. I think she’s talking out both sides of her mouth. To me, that’s not being honest.”

NOT JUST ANOTHER ROADSIDE ATTRACTION: So what if it’s basically only a tiny fruit and flower stand. In Los Angeles, anything over 40 years old is considered historic.

Last week, the county Board of Supervisors voted to ask the State Office of Historic Preservation to recognize a former 60-acre farm on the Palos Verdes Peninsula as a point of historic interest. (Part of the land is still used for farming.)

Built in 1907 by Kumekichi Ishibashi, the farm was used to grow crops until World War II when Ishibashi’s family was moved to an internment camp in Arizona.

The local historical society wants to place a statue on the original site in Rancho Palos Verdes of a man and woman holding tools and drying fish on the ground to commemorate the importance of Japanese-American influence on local agriculture.

Wouldn’t it be more fitting to just grow some food there?

LAST WEEK’S HIGHLIGHTS

Hermosa Beach: Attempting to revive a longstanding debate, citizen activist Parker Herriott submitted a petition Wednesday seeking to force a special election on whether to create a public park on the site of the former Biltmore Hotel. A similar initiative proposed by Herriott was rejected in last November’s election. Voters instead backed a city plan to develop the beachfront site with a combination of businesses and residences.

Redondo Beach: State Librarian Gary Strong said none of the charges raised by Redondo Beach resident Sal Princiotta Jr. affect a $10-million state grant awarded to the city in January to construct a library. Princiotta sent an inch-thick report to Strong questioning the grant in an effort to force the city to preserve the oceanfront library at Veteran’s Park. Princiotta, who had spent hundreds of hours on the project, last week called Strong’s review “a farce,” saying the state failed to respond to his more than 50 points of contention. In other news, the city notified news rack vendors Wednesday that they must get city permission if they want their racks to remain on city property. The crackdown is aimed at eliminating unlicensed racks and reducing the number of sexually explicit publications sold on city streets.

Torrance: Racing against the onset of the mosquito season, the City Council on Tuesday approved an interim contract for mosquito control with the Los Angeles County West Mosquito Abatement District. The agreement, which ends years of city resistance to joining the district, was prompted by doubts about the effectiveness of the city’s mosquito-fighting program. The city is expected to join the regional district by mid-summer, but the $5,415-a-month contract was needed to assure proper controls during the spring mosquito season starting next month, officials said.

Palos Verdes Estates: The City Council on Tuesday adopted a resolution that will require a special runoff election to be held in the event of a tie vote at a municipal election.

Think it can’t happen? Well, it did in 1988 and the city had to resort to getting a judge’s approval to count absentee ballots that arrived at City Hall after the polls closed. While counting late ballots worked then, the city attorney advised the council to set forth a policy. Should a special runoff election ever be required, it will cost the city about $18,000.

THIS WEEK’S HIGHLIGHTS

Lawndale: Candidates for mayor and City Council will meet at 7 p.m. Tuesday at Lawndale City Hall. The event, sponsored by the Lawndale Rotary Club, will be broadcast live on Lawndale Cable Channel 60.

Manhattan Beach: The eight candidates for City Council in next month’s election will discuss the issues at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday at the Pacific School auditorium (at Manhattan Beach Boulevard and Pacific Avenue). The event is sponsored by the League of Women Voters and the South Bay Education Legislative Committee.

Westchester: A public hearing is scheduled for 2 p.m. Monday at the Westchester Municipal Building on Loyola Marymount University’s application for a conditional-use permit to expand its campus onto the Westchester bluffs.

OTHER MEETINGS THIS WEEK

Inglewood: 7 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, 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.