I feel like zoning away industrial pollution is a bit of a band-aid. "That factory is generating a lot of pollution. Let's ... put it somewhere we won't see it."

Zoning a required minimum number of parking spots is indeed a terrible thing. Back where I went to college, that was a major headache for every business around campus. A bar was blocked from expanding because it couldn't acquire enough parking spots (and you want people driving to a bar why?), and the public library was required to put in a three story car park across the street when it renovated, demolishing a half a block of shops and apartments. This despite being a block and a half from a seven story car park which was never fully filled.

New York, on the other hand, doesn't seem to give a flying fig about parking. You drive, it's your own problem.