It is unfortunate that one of the costs of owning a car in the city is that, in addition to paying rent, you have to also rent a home for your car. That’s a condition for urban living. Onstreet parking is meant to be temporary, because there are more cars coming into a city on a part-time basis than there are part-time parking spots. Fines are stiff to encourage you to pay for a monthly spot. The choices seem to be: 1) keep a car and pay for a monthly spot near your residence. 2) Park further away from where you live, get cheaper parking, and ride public transportation back and forth to your car 3) Don’t own a car 4) Move to the suburbs, where you really need a car 5) Park illegally and pay the fines. Most of the people that I know that live in east coast urban areas choose #2. Having a car can be a real pain in the city.