Charge, Baby, Charge for Parking
I think non-residential street parking, paid or not, should probably be illegal. Or at least eye-wateringly expensive and limited to a few minutes at a time (e.g. food pickups). I say this as someone who drives regularly. The lack of visibility street parking creates in densely developed areas is a major safety hazard for all. Cyclists can get doored, drivers have diminished environmental awareness of things such as pedestrians emerging unexpectedly between two cars (perhaps to get to their own car, or just jaywalking), parked cars blocking visibility of oncoming traffic for motorists trying to turn,  etc. None of it good.<p>For residential street parking, I guess it should be up to those communities to decide what they want. The town where I live has outlawed overnight street parking which prevents people turning single-family homes into overcrowded communal living situations like you see in many parts of California. It makes the streets very safe and pleasant for walkers and kids on bikes, but also works against housing density which I recognize as problematic. I support density, but not density with cars; we need a lot of investment in transportation alternatives.