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I think this is a very US perspective. In the town where I grew up in Germany they created a pedestrian zone downtown when I was a teenager. There was a lot of

I think this is a very US perspective. In the town where I grew up in Germany they created a pedestrian zone downtown when I was a teenager. There was a lot of protests from businesses saying that people would drive to malls in the outskirts because they can't drive to the shops anymore. The exact opposite happened, if you look at the city centre it's busy every day and absolutely jam packed on nice days (except for covid restrictions). It's also an absolute tourist magnet. The funny thing is, the city government is talking about expanding the zones and make the whole town centre pedestrian only and the businesses are protesting with the same arguments as 20 years ago.

lazerpants 6y ago
To be fair, there's probably an efficient frontier problem in pedestrianizing neighborhoods. If you closed off the entirety of Manhattan to cars, it would probably destroy Manhattan, but if you closed off specific areas such that people could still move themselves and goods around the city, it would be much improved.
- bobthepanda 6y ago
  Most of Manhattan’s daytime population don’t get in by cars, so making it less car friendly is in the realm of possibility. Really, south of Central Park, the parking rates alone are so expensive I wouldn’t bother driving in. Monthly rates in a garage are easily $300-500.
  - lazerpants 6y ago
    That's pretty reasonable! I'm in Brooklyn and the garage by me is $500/month. Which is part of why I don't own a car.