As I said, reading the comments (I do love the haters!) of this article about Philadelphia center city retail highlights the belief that many suburbanites have that the city is a poorly run mall and theme park with not enough parking, a poorly functioning monorail ride, and too many undesirable types running around. The premise - right or wrong - is that center city has sufficient local demand for more high end retailers, yet commenters complain about lack of parking.
Obviously it benefits the city to attract outsiders, but it isn't all about them, and providing sufficient parking isn't really the city's only purpose.
