I wish op posted a current picture - I missed Central Park the last few times I visited nyc.

I don’t know if we really have similar opportunities here in the Boston areas, but we have a lot of places pedestrianizing downtowns. While we had some for many years, pandemic was a big trigger, but very few became permanent and too many were given back to cars.

I’m especially annoyed at my town. We have a classic “Main Street” with shops and restaurants, right near a train station, commons, museum, etc. they’ve been pushing it for decades as a walkable place …. Businesses got tons of extra traffic when it was pedestrianized. They kept it for summer weekends but just stopped doing that too.

Most residents wanted permanent, town council wanted it permanent …. But we have a strong mayor who didn’t

A few years ago? That looks like 2005

Running alongside traffic is the equivalent lung damage as smoking a pack of cigarettes.

Imagine breathing in all that exhaust while you're running 🤢 Did I mention cancer rates in gen x and millennials are expected to be drastically higher than prior generations? https://pressroom.cancer.org/higherriskGenXandMillennials

No clue what that's all about...

whats it like now?

2018 is when the ban happened

https://www.centralparknyc.org/press/car-free-park

What does it look like now?

That's actually amazing. Love old videos of life in motion.

Here in Kansas City there's a movement afoot to remove some sections of street pavement in our downtown area and replace it with a park. I'm fairly confident it'll happen too.

Luckily there's a ton of park space throughout the city here.

I appreciate this video and audio. It’s good to have this for archival footage so we can learn from these mistakes.

Now to get rid of the horse carriage industry that is working those poor horses to death.