In civilized countries, head-in diagonal parking is rarer and bollards or guardrails protecting sidewalks are more common.

NYC knows how to block cars when the DOT really cares about it effectively. For example, the Manhattan Bridge bike path, or the Hudson Greenway, or Ground Zero.

But in Paris and Tokyo, for example, there are guardrails or bollards along many, many sidewalks, not just on huge boulevards or in tourist areas.

What this should tell us is that the DOT doesn't care as much as it should about protecting pedestrians. We have the most pedestrians per square mile in this hemisphere, and the city is barely even trying.