Fifteen years ago, this neighborhood fought a small civil war over one bike lane on Prospect Park West, and the lane won. Ride it on any weekday morning and you will see commuters, kids pedaling to school, and grandparents on step-through frames, all moving calmly past a line of parked cars that no longer makes any sense. It is time to finish the thought. Close Prospect Park West to private cars, from Grand Army Plaza to Bartel-Pritchard Square.

The case is not radical; it is arithmetic. Three lanes of that street move a fraction of the people that the sidewalk, bike lane, and park path beside it move every day. We reserve the majority of the space for the minority of the users, then congratulate ourselves for the compromise.

Look at what the park did during the summer street festivals, when the avenue closed for six Sundays: stoops became grandstands, restaurants set tables to the curb, and the park gained what amounted to a second Long Meadow. Merchants on Seventh Avenue, notably, reported their best Sundays of the season.

Buses, deliveries, and emergency vehicles keep access; this is a redesign, not a barricade. The cars will grumble their way to the avenues built to carry them. And Brooklyn's grandest front porch will finally face its park with nothing in between.