City Yanks Benches From Under Undesirables : Downtown: Council adopts plan to replace grass with flowers, remove benches in an effort to rout criminals and drunks at Horton Plaza Park.

The San Diego City Council agreed Monday to remove benches and grass in Horton Plaza Park, the small but historic gathering spot that many complain has become a haven for drunks, rowdies and criminals.

The plan is to replace grass in the park, on Broadway between 3rd and 4th avenues, with drought-resistant flower beds similar to those found in Balboa Park’s Alcazar Gardens. Benches that line three sides of the park will be removed to deprive undesireables a place to sit.

Businesses in the area, which will pay costs of the project, have for years argued that the park has become overrun by criminals and drunks who harass passers-by, make drug deals and, by their numbers, scare law-abiding citizens away.

“I hope that these changes will allow the park to be used by everyone,” Council member Bob Filner said. He voted for the park modifications along with council members Ron Roberts, Bruce Henderson, John Hartley and Wes Pratt. Mayor Maureen O’Connor and council members Judy McCarty and Abbe Wolfsheimer voted against the changes.

Wolfsheimer and O’Connor decried the fact that the redesign comes just five years after the city spent $775,000 to revamp the park. That redesign was completed just after construction of the neighboring Horton Plaza shopping mall.

Wolfsheimer described the proposed changes as “another step toward asphalting all of downtown.” McCarty complained that, with the benches and grassy areas gone, “there’s no place to use” the park. . . . All the usable space is gone.”

O’Connor suggested that the council needed to adopt ordinances that police officers could use to keep undesirables from congregating at the park.

But Filner countered that the changes were necessary because “the testimony is clear . . . there is a high degree of criminal activity in Horton Plaza Park. . . . This is an attempt to save the park.”

Don Wood, president of Citizens Coordinate for Century 3, an environmental group, argued that nearby businesses have, for nearly 60 years, been trying to change the park’s character.

Wood, reading from a history of Horton Plaza Park, noted that, in 1924, business interests unsuccessfully pressed council to “take up the grass and plant flowers and to remove the seats . . . (in order to chase out) old gossips and cranks who were knockers of San Diego.”

Business groups made other unsuccessful attempts to close down or control park activities “in 1951, 1954, 1974, 1977 and 1984,” Wood said. “Each time the City Council had the brains to send them on their way.”

In a written report to the council, City Architect Mike Stepner said that the redesigned park represents “an attempt to return the space to full public usage by all segments of the community” and to “dilute the influence of the so-called undesirables.”

But Stepner on Monday acknowledged that “the reclaiming of the plaza is not expected to solve the city’s social problems.”

The council’s decision did not sit well with representatives of several historical organizations who attended the Monday council meeting.

“If little flowers don’t solve the problem, the next step will be fences,” complained a representative from the San Diego-based Save Our Heritage Organisation.

Kathryn Willetts, chairwoman of the San Diego Historical Sights Board, argued that “only full use by law-abiding citizens will do the job of discouraging the criminal element.” The board endorsed the changes only on a conditional basis, with the expectation that the park will revert to its present condition, Willetts said.

But Leo Sullivan, a co-owner of the nearby Reidy O’Neil’s bar and restaurant, said the redesigned park will replace a space that is “now a fearful place to be avoided.” One of Sullivan’s employees complained that she had been “followed and chased” by people hanging out in the park.

Under the redesign, Reidy O’Neil’s will open a kiosk in the park to sell food. Other vendors will sell merchandise from pushcarts, and the park will increasingly be used for musical performances, art shows and book sales intended to expand the population using it.

The agreement approved by the council Monday was the result of nearly two years of negotiations between the city and businesses near the park. Construction will begin within three months, and the entire project should be completed within six to nine months, a city spokesman said. The redesign is one of several attempts that the city has made to make the park more attractive to a wider variety of users.

Earlier, the city took out several benches that fronted on Robinson’s department store and increased foot patrols by police officers who “use many little-known sections (of the City Code) to write these people up,” according to a policeman who spoke at Monday’s council hearing.

Council will revisit the park issue in about a year when the city staff will determine if the removal of grass and benches has reduced complaints.