Mayor Menino got off to a running start this year despite a bad knee. He promised in his State of the City speech to provide better education and access to health care and more jobs. Last week, he gathered Boston’s state legislators together to push for legislation that would allow Boston to reduce municipal employees’ health care costs, allow the construction of more hotels around the convention center and increase certain taxes.

Some citizens of Boston, however, imagine themselves in Mayor Menino’s position. If they were mayor, they’d address some personal piques and more universal themes.

Amy Branger of Charlestown is frustrated when parked cars along curbs leave spaces in between that are too small for another car. If cars were parked efficiently there would be exactly enough space for each car, but no more. If she were mayor, she’d paint lines on the streets to indicate where cars should park. “This will make room for as many cars as possible,” she said.

A person who didn’t want to be named imagined declaring the façades of most pre-1950 downtown buildings sacrosanct when a developer proposes a new building. An example is the Shreve’s building at the corner of Arlington and Boylston, a stalled Druker company project. “Shreve’s is an example of an earlier Boston, and it should be preserved,” this person said. “Maintain the height at the street level as it is now, and then set the tower back several feet from the skin of the original building.”

One Back Bay resident is tired of noise. “A commercial district abuts a residential district,” said Deirdre Rosenberg, whose flat backs up to the alley between Commonwealth and Newbury streets. “We should have quiet zones, where loud trucks would not be allowed to idle, and leaf and snow blowers couldn’t be used.”

Rosenberg said she would put signs up on the corner of Exeter and Newbury that said, “You are in a quiet zone. Please don’t shout and make a ruckus.”

Rosenberg would also save Boston City Hall by requiring “six imaginative architects” to go to a room where the mayor would lock the door and “order them to come up with a new design for the inhospitable plaza.” Rosenberg said she would give them food, comfortable cots and bathroom breaks, but not cell phones. Then, she said, “I, the mayor, would pick the winner. No committees allowed.”

Rosenberg also has had it with unsightly chewing gum stuck to the sidewalks. Her remedy is to increase employment. “Hire four people to start at the Massachusetts end of Boylston and Newbury streets and work down to the Public Garden, removing every last wad.” Then she would fine those who spit out gum.

Finally, Rosenberg would require that the “cheesy street level façades along Boylston Street” be restored to their original designs, and she would install speed bumps on Back Bay’s cross streets to improve safety.

Duane Lucia has been active in West End affairs for several years. If he were mayor, instead of encouraging passersby to give money to the homeless, he’d install meters—something like parking meters—that people could plug coins into that would fund effective programs for the homeless.

“Second, I would encourage communities to develop their own Neighborhood Master Plan, similar to the one developed by the Beacon Hill Civic Association,” he said. “The list would be different from neighborhood to neighborhood, but the bottom line is the quality of life for all.”

He believes such plans would put neighbors out front, rather than just reacting when the city or a developer comes along with a plan.

Next, he said, he would trim the size of city government and reallocate funds. “Is nightly street cleaning seven days a week really needed in the West End?” he asked. “Or would that money be better spent on a walking zone school?”

Naturally, I wanted to weigh in on what I’d do if I were mayor. I’d get rid of all the push buttons on traffic lights and allow pedestrians to walk concurrently with the traffic like they can in every other American city. But if you regularly read this column, you might have figured that’s what I’d say.

These suggestions address every day concerns, not such existential matters as should we change the constitution or will health care really work. My favorite is getting rid of chewing gum. Isn’t it interesting how little things drive us nuts?