"The Cost of free Parking"

This was the title of a seminal paper in the eighties that shed a light on the fact that ample "free" parking had indeed a cost which had to be born by the community at large. 

Some thirty years later the debate goes on. Parking is still a favorite topic all across America. The understanding that increased supply creates induced demand (just like on highways) and that paving our landscapes over for more and ever bigger cars which get actually only used about 5% of the time bears a huge cost, environmentally, economically and socially, that understanding is still rare. 

Sun article about Hampden managed parking.

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/politics/blog/bal-rawlingsblake-to-veto-bill-limiting-parking-in-hampden-20150306-story.html

Hampden Parking. Photo: Baltimore Sun.