All those hanging baskets: Do we really need that many flowers downtown?

Stop watering the grass when it's raining.

Photo radar! Bring it back.

Legalize pot. Then tax it.

Mayor Dan Sullivan put out a press release Tuesday morning asking for suggestions on where to cut the city's $400 million plus budget and fix a new $9 million deficit.

He's getting an earful.

By Friday morning, more than 600 ideas for trimming expenses had pumped into the city's computer systems through an electronic suggestion box on the municipality's main Web page.

Some are insider baseball. One city employee suggests dimming office lights and turning down the thermostat to 67 degrees in the winter. "We can wear sweaters."

Speaking of office lights, another writer observes, "I have seen several Muni Bldgs. with lights on at night. Turning these off, whether by deciding which ones DO NOT need to be on at night and putting motion sensors on the others could save thousands if not more."

Sullivan said he was expecting to get a pretty good response to the "Tax Savers" link, but not so many ideas so fast.

"I thought we'd get a few hundred suggestions, and gosh, we got that in the first few hours, it seemed like," he said. "So clearly there's some desire to express to city government how to do things better."

Sullivan said he's started scrolling through all the ideas, and expects to get through the ones that have arrived so far over the weekend.

People aren't just pointing out what they see as wasteful spending. Some offer advice on where to raise more money or spend it better. Potholes come up a lot.

"The city must focus on maintaining and repairing the streets it has, and spend less money and time building new ones," one writer said.

"My short street south of Providence has dozens of potholes ... Cars swerve to avoid them, endangering children. Asphalt chunks litter the roadside. Small lakes form every spring alongside the roads too, some up to 40 feet long. One pothole was so big this spring I could have slept in it."

Hire people who really need jobs.

"Instead of having full time employees that do much of the parks and rec work, street sweeping or general labor, pay people from the day labor line to do this work. It may help with our homeless problem, too."

Layoffs.

"Eliminate at lease (one) administrative position in every department," another submission says. "Every office has 'dead wood' and if positions are eliminated the slack will be picked up by the other employees."

Make all property owners pay taxes.

"The city needs to look at all the tax exempt properties like UAA, churches and non-profits and at least charge them Taxs at the same rate we do for sr's and vets."

Here's another money-making idea.

"Why not a Knik Arm Bridge with turbines that will harness the energy from the tidal swings? There would be a huge initial expenditure, but the long term ROI (return on investment) would far surpass any up front monies being spent."

But not everybody likes the bridge.

"Work with the feds to shut down KABATA for good and put any money left over from the 100 million they had towards fixing up Anchorage roads."

Some suggestions are short and to the point.

"Allow poker rooms. Charge a setup fee and tax the profits."

Others are hundreds of words long with details ranked in priority.

"Forth: Put a per-tire tax on studded tires effective immediately. They cost the city money by destroying the roads, yet the people who use them and contribute to the destruction pay no premium for the privilege to cost the city additional money. I have driven in Anchorage for the last 15 years all over town without studded tires without issue. Everyone else should learn to as well."

Get the priorities straight.

"Please remember that the first responsibility of government is to provide for the common defense. DO NOT cut the police and fire any more."

And then there's that marijuana money-maker. That's an idea that is getting some attention in cash-strapped California, where the state Board of Equalization estimates it could generate $1.4 billion a year, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.

There's probably not as many pot-smokers in Anchorage, but putting a sales tax on it could help out both the city and state governments, one person said.

"With state and city budget deficits I see only one way to bring us out of our whole," that suggestion goes.

"Legalize Marijuana and tax it. The state of Alaska has already decriminlized Marijuana and since there has never been a documented case of cancer, lung disease or death attributed to Marijuana it is time we take a hard look at our policies toward the plant."