While I understand the sentiment, this makes cities even more unfriendly to families with kids. How can grandparents or relatives visit for a weekend?
Why can grandparents only visit by car? Why are there no (better) alternatives?
I think a lot of people forget how sparse much of the country really is.
Trains would allow kids, elderly, people without a driver's license or the financial means to afford a car to participate in society as well.
That meant while I could take the train to downtown, it wasn't practical (at least for a night of bar hopping) unless I wanted to spend a hefty sum on a return Uber at the end of the night.
Is it better to construct and maintain 75 miles of roads (and all the other infrastructure) for a couple of hundred folks?
I highly recommend this video on the finances around urban sprawl and their long term consequences:
He really cherry picked the least flattering angle on modern Front Street. Here's a better angle - https://goo.gl/maps/CBnqs6i9YLG1mSEG6
It's a very strange town to pick to make an argument about sprawl with - Brainard is a pretty densely packed small town as far as towns in Minnesota go.
Speaking as someone who moved the family to the city and had a fair number of (free) on and (paid) off street parking options nearby, for about 50% of the people we knew, it was like we moved to the moon. Even though we only moved about 5 miles, but that "parking" thing was a massive disincentive for people to come to visit.
On the other side of the coin, my small town mom loved that she didn't have to drive at all and could take a 90 minute bus ride to come visit.
For the other set of grandparents, who were uncomfortable with driving in and parking, we'd simply drive out to pick them up.
EDIT: I'm also reasonably confident that the 4th floor walkup was just as intimidating as the parking situation