CITY HUMOR SEMINAR JUST ONE OF 140 `BRIGHT IDEAS'.

Byline: Patrick McGreevy Daily News Staff Writer

Responding to Mayor Richard Riordan's recent request for ideas to help turn the city around, Los Angeles residents have flooded City Hall with some creative, and in some cases unusual, proposals.

One man suggested shutting down the city for one day a year and having every resident go out and clean up his or her neighborhood.

A woman said the sour mood of many residents could be cured if the city offered Angelenos ``humor'' seminars to cheer them up.

The graffiti problem? One woman suggested that the city raise all street signs a foot higher so vandals can't reach them.

In all, the Mayor's Office received 140 letters, faxes and e-mail messages since Riordan and City Councilman Joel Wachs announced the ``Bright Ideas'' program in August.

``Overall the quality of the ideas was pretty good,'' said Caprice Young, the mayoral aide in charge of the program. ``People have some pretty creative ideas for improving their city.''

Mayor Richard Riordan said he was pleased with the response to his call for ideas.

``The ideas we received ranged from the obvious, to the innovative, to the ingenious, and prove that Angelenos are committed to being a part of our efforts to improve city services,'' Riordan said.

A similar program involving city workers produced ideas that could save the city $25 million annually.

None of the ideas detailed above made the cut for the top 24 ideas received by the mayor by the Sept. 30 deadline. The top ideas will be the subject of a public workshop scheduled for Saturday at USC, where experts in business, management and marketing will take the proposals and draft plans for putting them into operation.

For instance, a marketing expert from DreamWorks SKG Studios will be on hand to look at proposals including one by Van Nuys resident John McCormick, who suggested the city could make some money by selling city of Los Angeles merchandise including reproduction rights to prominent city artworks and murals.

The workshop also will consider a proposal by Sherman Oaks attorney Howard Ekerling to have the city charge people arrested for drunk driving to cover the cost of the arrest.

Of the ideas that did not make the cut, many are unconventional.

William Beaudine Jr. of Tarzana suggested that the city close a section of Hollywood Boulevard to car traffic, creating a pedestrian friendly tourist hub similar to the Third Street Promenade in Santa Monica.

Another resident suggested the city could better catch bank robbers if each bank had a switch that could turn all nearby traffic lights to red to prevent the robbers' escape.

It was Sylvia Anderhalt of Burbank who suggested that any street sign hit with graffiti should then be raised 12 inches higher.

``This would make the new signs more difficult to vandalize,'' she wrote.

Dick Lewis suggested another proactive approach to crime - a program to expose children to classical music on a regular basis.

``My thesis is that classical music can make a great contribution to deterring crime if youngsters are exposed to it regularly at an early age,'' he wrote.

Dwayne Hammond said building a casino near the Convention Center would turn downtown Los Angeles into a 24-hour-a-day attraction.

While ``humor consultant'' Nancy Leff offered to provide seminars to cheer up city residents, Gordon Hom said the city-owned Cabrillo Museum could be put in charge of program to breed abalone on effluent from the city's sewage treatment plant. He said the city could build a new reef for them by extending a runway at Los Angeles International Airport.

Gregorio Lumiqued suggested the city bill chewing-gum companies for the cost of removing gum from city sidewalks.

And then there were the angry letters that proposed cutting government waste.

Steve Morgan of Northridge suggested privatizing or eliminating 10 city departments, including the Cultural Affairs Department, which he said benefits wealthy art connoisseurs who want a place to donate unwanted paintings.

And then there was the letter to Councilman Wachs from Frances Keane.

Keane asked Wachs to stop sending her holiday greeting cards, which she said were a waste of money.

``It really irritates me that you continue to send holiday cards to me, even though you don't represent our district,'' Keane wrote. ``What a waste of time and money.''

Greg Nelson, an aide to Wachs, said Keane lives in an area that used to be in Wachs' district and that Wachs had helped Keane on an issue back in the 1970s.

Nelson said the 20,000 cards Wachs sends out every year to people he's come in contact with are paid for by his political officeholder account, not by taxpayer funds.

``If she wants us to remove her from the list, I suppose we would,'' Nelson said.