Armchair planner has designs on San Pedro

If Dick Pawlowski did not live in a country that values free speech, this column is pretty certain that he would be in the stockade, ruing the day he decided to become an armchair urban planner.

His big goal in life: He thinks Los Angeles should tear up 21 blocks of a major roadway in San Pedro -- Pacific Avenue -- and replace it with a 1.3-mile-long park and man-made creek.

In other words, he’s attacking the underlying premise behind the city: Do everything possible to accommodate more cars.

“You’re a heretic,” we told Pawlowski on a pleasant morning last week in San Pedro, and he completely agreed.

So let’s begin ...

Who is this guy and what’s his deal?

At 65, Pawlowski is a lifelong San Pedran and semiretired architect who has raised three kids, all of whom fled San Pedro long ago. He says he wants to revive his hometown from its three-decade funk, and is tired of waiting for the next big plan -- so he created his own.

“People are saying, ‘My God, you are proposing to get rid of the street?’ and I’m saying, ‘That’s the best thing we can do, is get rid of some of these streets,’ ” Pawlowski said. “We need the park space.”

As for traffic, Pawlowski believes that two other main arteries -- Gaffey Street and Harbor Boulevard -- can carry the load. The cost, he said, should be the burden of the Port of Los Angeles as compensation for the pollution it causes.

The funny thing is that downtown San Pedro is coming around, but too slowly in Pawlowski’s view. Sixth Street is nice, with some galleries and restaurants (and, of course, a tattoo parlor) and the old Warner Grand Theater. New condo projects are rising.

Still, it’s a far cry from the likes of Manhattan Beach or Santa Monica, and Pawlowski thinks San Pedro will never match those cities until it makes a dramatic investment in its infrastructure.

It’s probably fair to say we’ll all be riding kangaroos to work before his plan gets serious consideration. Pawlowski doesn’t care, saying he plans to keep driving around town and showing the renderings of his project to anyone who will listen.

“It’s blasphemous -- I know it,” Pawlowski said. “But the city has been trying to revive this area for 25 years, and nothing they’ve done in the past works.”

As proof, Pawlowski points to a promenade along the perimeter of the port with dozens of nice park benches.

And what do the benches face? A chain-link fence and a parking lot.

The latest in Metergate?

Here’s a fun little story that began in December, when Hollywood resident Jim Fox went for a haircut and parked his car at a meter on Melrose Avenue.

The meter’s display panel read “failed,” and the meter wouldn’t accept his coins. Fox decided to park there anyway.

Go ahead and groan: The meter reset while Fox was getting barbered and he was ticketed for parking at an expired meter.

Fox subsequently called the city’s hotline to report a broken meter -- (877) 215-3958 -- and wrote the parking violations bureau to explain what had happened. “I don’t know if the meter was fixed while I was getting my hair cut, but it definitely wasn’t working when I parked,” he wrote.

And the city’s response?

“The investigation has concluded that the signs were sufficiently clear and visible and, therefore the citation must be considered valid,” states a March 3 letter, which says nothing about resetting meters.

Hmmm.

After a certain reporter intervened, city transportation officials canceled the ticket Friday “in the interests of justice.”

And the city wants to raise parking rates?

The L.A. Department of Transportation does, saying meter rates are too low. And it is not alone in believing that.

As it happens, one of the world’s foremost experts on parking is working in Los Angeles -- UCLA economics professor Donald Shoup. His 2004 book, “The High Cost of Free Parking,” is the bible of parking theory, and it’s fair to say that, in less freedom-loving nations, Shoup probably would be sharing a cell with our friend, Mr. Pawlowski.

Shoup believes that too many motorists spend way too much time driving around looking for cheap curb parking. For example, one of his studies estimated that motorists drive 945,000 miles each year while looking for curbside parking in Westwood Village. That’s a lot of extra traffic and pollution.

His solution is to raise meter rates and the hours people are charged to park to promote more turnover, so there will be more vacant spots.

OK, but how do you sell that one to an angry, car-loving mob?

“People become car-huggers very quickly when you begin to talk about parking, so you need to create a counterforce -- people who would benefit from added revenue,” Shoup said.

In other words, don’t dump parking meter revenue into the city’s general fund but use it to improve the neighborhood. Old Town in Pasadena has been doing this for several years.

Such a policy doesn’t seem imminent in Los Angeles, as no politician is talking about it. But there are signs that the days of free or cheap parking are drawing to a close elsewhere -- the Long Beach City Council last week extended parking meter hours to Sundays.

More on parking theory soon. And start saving those coins.

Is there any way to fix low turnout in city elections?

Turnout in Los Angeles’ recent elections was a piddling 7.7%, and surrounding cities also reported low numbers. In Los Angeles, the City Charter says that city elections will be held in the first half of odd-numbered years. That means that city elections are always four months after the preceding November’s state and federal elections.

So why not consolidate them to avoid election fatigue?

“There’s no doubt in my mind you would have a higher turnout, but you’d have a very long ballot for people to wade through,” City Clerk Frank Martinez said.

He said there would be logistical challenges -- namely the city would have to consider doing away with separate primary and general elections and perhaps go to instant runoff voting.

At this point it’s all conjecture. The council isn’t likely to have such a discussion soon, as low turnout benefits -- guess who? -- incumbents.

What has happened to Denise Zine?

Attentive readers may recall that when Councilman Dennis Zine needs a few chuckles, he will dress as his alter ego, Denise Zine. If you are thinking along the lines of Bruce Wayne-Batman, think otherwise.

Zine raised eyebrows when he showed up at last week’s big charity roast of Police Chief William J. Bratton wearing man clothes -- i.e., a suit. Zine donned a dress, wig and fake -- never mind -- for last year’s mayoral roast.

Is Denise dead?

“They wanted me out of drag for a change,” Zine said Friday. “So Denise is on sabbatical.”

Don’t mourn yet. She may return, Zine said, adding, “I’ve had a lot of comments from people who miss her.”

Oh dear.

Despite a lack of cross-dressing at the roast, Bratton made a little news when he chided Councilman Bernard C. Parks -- who wasn’t in attendance -- for calling around town to try to block his request to get another five years as chief.

Stay tuned on that one.

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Programming note: No column next Monday, but we’re back April 2.

steve.hymon@latimes.com