You might have a point in much of what you said, but my experience tells me that there's a lot of people who don't walk and/or take transit for lack of any incentives to do so, either positive (quality of ride, comfort and safety of sidewalks, interesting destinations, etc...) or negative (gas prices, lack of affordable parking, congested traffic, etc...).
I frankly think we should push, at least in the downtown core, for a mix on both kinds of incentives to get people out of their cars. To be honest, I believe we should be looking at Europe, for example, as a country, to become less car-centric.
It is proven that, overall, it's healthier for the people, the environment and makes up for better cities, with more of the economy in the hands of small business owners. It's undeniable that, despite the standard of living in North America being ridiculously high, Europe is light-years ahead in terms of quality of life, and that has A LOT to do with the way their cities are built.
The car-centric suburbia experiment failed, blatantly. 70 years of it and if you can't see how doomed it is, and how it's ruining our cities, you just need to look a little bit closer. That's not saying that we should all abandon our vehicles and live in some sort of dystopian transit/bike only world, I enjoy driving myself, and a few of my go-to shops in Edmonton require driving, for sure, but the car can't be the priority anymore, and that's the whole argument in favor of building walkable zones in the city and yes, penalizing car use in some of them.
And surprise surprise, if we managed to take half of the cars off the streets in the downtown, it would make it better for EVERYONE, even the people who will use their cars regardless of anything. Half the cars mean less congestion, even if we reduce lanes to widen sidewalks and create bike infrastructure, means more available on-street parking for the remaining drivers (but less private gravel parking lots in dense areas), so it's a win-win.
I'm sorry that you feel as if you're lifestyle choices are under attack here, I'm absolutely sure that it wasn't the intention of anyone in the forum. The goal of this comment, as a matter of fact, is just to point out that there's a place for you and your choices (or at least there should be) in a city planning that's not car centric, but that it just cannot be prioritized anymore, for the sake of the city's financial health, future development and its citizens well being, as a whole.
