CITY HALL ROUNDUP : Former Lawndale mayor leans on the city to lure tourists with a tower.

PIECE O’ PISA: Calvin Ehinger says he has just the project to put little Lawndale on the big-time tourist map: Why not build a Leaning Tower of Lawndale?

A replica of Pisa’s famous tilting tower would attract thousands of tourists and millions of dollars to the Lawndale economy, Ehinger believes. Hundreds of people a day would pay $2 each, or maybe even $3, to climb the structure and admire the wonders of Lawndale spread out before them.

Ehinger, who twice has served as Lawndale’s mayor, estimates that he has spent from $10,000 to $15,000 of his own money on the plan. So far he has drawn up blueprints, contracted for construction estimates, and distributed T-shirts, brochures and bumper stickers emblazoned with his slogan for the project--”Thumbs Up for Lawndale”--and a hand with a leaning thumb shaped like the tower.

For a mere $7 million or $8 million, Ehinger says, the city could have its tower.

“They make a lot of money off (that) tower of theirs in Pisa,” he said. “How many cars go by Lawndale every day on that 405 Freeway headed for Disneyland or the Queen Mary? I think it would be a snap to get them to come to Lawndale to see our leaning tower.”

Ehinger, however, is a long way from getting his piece o’ Pisa: Lawndale City Council members keep turning down his proposal to put the project to a public vote.

MO’ MONEY: Easy come, easy go.

Candidates in the Torrance City Council election in March together spent at least $138,401--believed to be a record for the city. Attorney Burton Fletcher, who failed to win one of the three seats up for grabs, led the 10-candidate field with $61,008 in campaign expenses, according to reports filed with the city clerk’s office.

That works out to $18.45 per ballot cast for Fletcher. Couldn’t he have just bought his constituents a nice dinner?

Campaign contributions made up but a fraction of the money Fletcher spent. He instead relied on $57,000 in loans from the law firm he owns.

Incumbent George Nakano collected the most donations, adding $19,821 to an already substantial war chest for a successful $40,575 bid for reelection. He spent a mere $6.29 per vote cast for him--enough for a leisurely, if cost-conscious, lunch.

The top vote-getter, Maureen O’Donnell, spent only $10,658 to get elected--a frugal $1.56 per vote earned.

“The funny thing is, I told a friend two days before the election that ‘I wished we had raised more money--I think we could have won,’ ” O’Donnell recalled.

ACES IN THE HOLE: Hollywood Park strategists are lining up hired guns to persuade voters to approve a new tourist attraction: a first-ever card club for Inglewood.

Roger Smith, a political sidekick of Inglewood Mayor Edward Vincent, has already joined the campaign in favor of the fall ballot proposal, cultivating grass-roots groups including block clubs and ministerial organizations.

Rolling the dice for the campaign is its director, Orange County political consultant Harvey Englander. Evidently, Englander has had a change of heart about card clubs; twice in years gone by, he helped to defeat Inglewood gaming measures.

The rest of the campaign staff has yet to be hired, Englander says, but those in the know say he is talking to political operative Basil Kimbrew. The two worked together on state Sen. Diane Watson’s ongoing bid for Kenneth Hahn’s soon-to-be-vacant seat on the County Board of Supervisors.

Since then, Englander has shifted his supervisorial election duties. In addition to his card club campaign, he is also managing Supervisor Dean Dana’s reelection bid.

CEMENT-DALE: Hoping to alleviate the city’s parking shortage, the Lawndale City Council voted this week to allow residents to pave their front yards.

Over the years, opponents have argued against this approach, saying it would plague the city with residential eyesores.

But not everyone will qualify, city officials say. Only homes that lack the minimum amount of parking required by the city will be eligible. And residents will have to apply to the city’s Community Development Department for a permit and allow an inspection of their homes, said Gary Chicots, community service director.

They will also be required to prepare landscape plans to ensure that their front yards do not become unsightly. And homeowners with garages that have been converted to rooms will be asked to reconvert them to garage space before the city will grant them a paving permit.

LAKERS LOOTED: The Lakers found plenty of ways to lose last season, but Inglewood thugs are showing them another.

Last week, Lakers General Manager Jerry West was robbed at gunpoint as he arrived at the Forum for work. Two teen-agers relieved him of an undisclosed amount of cash and his 1985 NBA championship ring.

It wasn’t the first time robbers have targeted a Laker.

In January, two men accosted Lakers guard Sedale Threatt at a liquor store a couple of blocks from the Forum after he had stopped to make a telephone call. Threatt, who had become a father that day, was forced at gunpoint to turn over his car keys and watch as the robbers drove off in a $56,000 Mercedes-Benz SE he had bought just three days earlier.

And three years ago, Jeanie Buss, daughter of Lakers owner Jerry Buss, was robbed of $25,000 in jewelry--including a championship ring--in a Forum stairway.

A Laker spokesman dismissed the notion that the team is plagued by crime.

“I’d think you’d have more problems at the Sports Arena than here. That’s a worse neighborhood,” publicity director John Black said. “These are people who have money . . . and this could have happened to them anywhere.”

LAST WEEK’S HIGHLIGHTS

Inglewood: Councilman Garland Hardeman was named to represent Hawthorne and Lawndale, as well as his own city of Inglewood, on the newly organized Executive Committee of the Southern California Assn. of Governments.

Redondo Beach: The City Council has introduced an ordinance that would require property owners to keep their walls free of graffiti or force them to pay city workers to do the job. Council members will vote on the measure Aug. 18.

THIS WEEK’S HIGHLIGHTS

Inglewood: The Inglewood Fire Department will present an earthquake preparedness program 6 p.m. Monday in Community Room A at City Hall.

Rolling Hills Estates: With the fate of front yard pilasters over two feet high hanging in the balance, the City Council will decide whether Betty Poe is a legal resident of the city, as she claims. If not, her petition to place a measure on the November ballot that would allow the yard adornments would be invalid.

MEETINGS THIS WEEK

Gardena: 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 next two Sundays.

Hawthorne: 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.

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

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, (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.

Palos Verdes Estates: 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, 340 Palos Verdes Drive West, Palos Verdes Estates. (310) 378-0383. No cable telecast.

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.