We are not surprised that Henry J. Stern resorts to name-calling while making his case that a car free Central Park is impossible ["The Central Park Car Test," Page 1, June 7, 2006].When he was parks commissioner, he liked to label those who favored a car-free park as "'zealots." (For the record, there are now 102,000 zealots in New York, signers of a petition for a car-free park.)But we are surprised that Mr. Stern is still trotting out the same shopworn predictions of "disastrous" traffic consequences.Thanks to the incremental increases in car-free hours over the years, the volume of traffic now using Central Park and Prospect Park is a fraction of what it once was. No fewer than three former commissioners of New York City's Department of Transportation now say that completely closing Central Park to traffic will have no discernible impact on the streets that surround the park.But reasonable minds can disagree, and only a real-world test will finally put to rest the dire predictions of Chicken Littles like Mr. Stern. That's why we propose a trial closing of the park to cars during the summer months.Far from being "anti-car," as Mr. Stern alleges, we are simply "pro-park." We are shocked that a former parks commissioner would not also be pro-park enough to put his fears to the test.KENNETH M. COUGHLINChairTransportation Alternatives' Car-Free Central Park Campaignwww.transalt.orgManhattan