If New York can do it, surely we can too!!
‘The campaign for a car-free park has lasted more than half century and involved thousands of people. Today’s historic announcement by Mayor de Blasio belongs to all of them.
Central Park will go car-free forever on June 27, Mayor de Blasio announced today, the culmination of a campaign that has spanned seven mayoralties and more than 50 years.
“This park was not built for automobiles. It was built for people,” de Blasio said this morning. “People walking, people biking — that’s what this park will now be about.”
Central Park predates the automotive era, but as cars proliferated in the city, the oasis of the park became a shortcut for motor vehicle traffic. Motorists had unfettered access to the park’s loop roads until the 1960s, when activists first prevailed on City Hall to begin limiting the presence of automobiles. . . .
The campaign for a car-free Central Park has taken generations to reach this point. No one has worked harder for it than Ken Coughlin, the leading advocate for more than two decades.
“I’m at a loss for words because I’ve been looking forward to this day for 26 years,” he said. “None of the incremental closings, car restrictions, resulted in any additional traffic on surrounding streets, and DOT had data to support that. It was just a matter of them believing their own statistics.”
Clarence Eckerson has been documenting the car-free Central Park campaign for as long as he’s been making Streetfilms. Here’s his video [https://player.vimeo.com/video/265780708“>Case for Car-Free Central Park] to mark this milestone.’
golden gate park: views from the thicket 
Wow, I hadn’t heard about that! It would indeed be welcome here. I’ve seen a significant traffic increase in Golden Gate Park during my two decades in the city, particularly where the inner road parallels Lincoln.