The police vehicles have unquestionably made Summer Streets worse. So instead of debating whether Summer Streets needs physical protection from vehicles, we should ask a different question: How can the city provide that protection without ruining the joy of Summer Streets? The NYPD already uses concrete barricades as part of its security toolkit and the city should use those barriers to replace patrol cars along the Summer Streets route. Currently, Manhattan Summer Streets operates for just eight hours, from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m., on three Saturdays in August. New security requirements do not have to mean worse Summer Streets.