This is the way.

How hard would it have been for us to post a patrol car and 1 officer at either end of the only street we closed? :\

Kids are allowed to drive on the sidewalk until the age of 16, are they any less endangering pedestrians? No. Am I more danger to a pedestrian than a car is to me? Certainly not. Would I rather just have protected bike lanes so I didn't have to choose, certainly, but that is not the city I live in.

And drive on sidewalks.