You're not doing your argument any favors by comparing to European cities, which have great public transportation for the most part, and heavily discourage car

You're not doing your argument any favors by comparing to European cities, which have great public transportation for the most part, and heavily discourage car use. The entire point of a downtown is to have everything accessible for humans. If it was meant for cars, downtown would look like a highway with service stations and drive-thrus. I moved to Berlin a few years ago and aside from unplanned vacations into car-accessible destinations and heavy furniture pickup, don't miss having a car. > Having minimal parking works ok when the population density is high and public transportation is good, but in a car-centric country like the US it just wouldn't work. The US's design is not handed down from the Gods. It can and should change, for the livability of future generations if not the boomers who will cling to their coal-rolling machines as long as they can.