>My dream is that one day most streets in Manhattan will be closed to car traffic and replaced with green space full of trees, flowers, children playing, and usable public space.

This is the hypothetical that GP responded to by saying it's not realistic...so you're acting like he was the one who constructed a straw man argument when he was making a reasonable point directly relevant to what another poster said.

If there's any hysteria in this conversation it's from your unreasonable response.