The political problem is that more than 50% of households in New York City own an automobile.

Edit: 45% of New York City households owned at least 1 automobile as late as 2015 [0]. Ownership per household was 22% in Manhattan.

[0] https://edc.nyc/article/new-yorkers-and-their-cars

NYC =/= Manhattan. People owning cars in the other boroughs is another ball game, but there's few reasons outside of disability for a Manhattanite to need a car.

While true, I wonder what fraction of those automobiles are used to get into the areas below Central Park on a regular basis. I've always had a romantic idea of making all the surface streets below 96th street between 2nd Ave and 10th Ave bus/taxi only, perhaps with special zones for residents to own cars, and repurposing large swaths as pedestrian/greenspace... But it's an unlikely dream.

Remember that it is impossible to enter or exit Long Island (including Brooklyn and Queens) by car without driving through either Manhattan or the Bronx, and most freight enters the city by semi truck.

No -- Staten Island (and the VZ Bridge) exists. The government is too incompetent to toll the Holland and Lincoln tunnels accordingly.

Mostly true, but there is also the option of coming via Staten Island on the Verrazzano-Narrows bridge.

NYC or Manhattan? It is very difficult to park in Manhattan

Ownership per household is 22% in Manhattan. The extreme density restricts the availability of parking spaces.

I believe the real political problem is that the city government all have cars and get unlimited free parking in the city, thanks to the placards they and other city workers give themselves (and their families/friends) and use completely unchecked[0].

If you are a cop/firefighter, or friends with one, you can drive around the city like a reckless asshole with almost complete immunity. If you are a cyclist that inconveniences a cop that has never traversed the city outside of a car (commutes from staten/long island to park on the sidewalk by the precinct and then hops in the squad car), you get a big fat ticket.

[0] https://twitter.com/placardabuse

People don't need to drive between destinations within the parts of the city served by rail. Many people do need to get from the their home to the freeway to go elsewhere, though.

You really need a road to every building for moving stuff to and from the building. Maybe one could put them all underground? Support the Boring company idea?