Where I am, the resident’s street will get a sign that says “resident only”.  If someone parks there the resident is then suppose to call the authority or towing company, whatever the case maybe.  The offender then gets towed.  This also solves the problem of visitors of the resident and the costs of issuing parking permits.  You still of course get people driving around the street looking for a spot without a sign.

This of course also creates a cash cow for the residents in some cases.  An example in my city, every year the local fair opens for the summer.  The nearby residents would then charge for parking at a much lower cost in comparison to parking at the fair.

I am a bit surprised at your misfortune.  Usually there would be sufficient complains and the city or hospital would resolve it in a few years.

Band your neighbours together and bug the city authority.

Also, if you follow me out of the store with expectations that you’re going to vulture yourself a good spot all I can say is “ha ha!” because I’m always parked in the back 40.  Mwah ha ha haaa.

In reply to csservant

The people who live on my tiny estate are either disabled or over 50. This means they are not young enough to be really militant, there are some pictures here.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/dollyknot/sets/72157612195364634/

And, where I worked, employee monthly parking permits were cheap enough that everybody got one.

If this is a social disease has it a name, and has it a surgeon qualified to cut out the cancer of people who think economics is only about money and not about resource management?

Even busses: it *blows my mind* that there is no regular bus service in the 10 miles between Round rock (pop 120k) and Austin (pop 700k). The roads are a freaking nightmare, downtown parking is a bitch, it seems like a slam-dunk for a regular coach service.

In comparison, in the UK, there are TWO competing coach services between London and Oxford, coaches leaving every 10 minutes for the 60 mile trip, 24 hours a day. I used this to commute each morning, 15 years back, when it was £1 for a return ticket.

There’s also British Rail which takes slightly less time at rush hour (1hr 15 instead of 2 hrs+) but costs slightly more (£22+ instead of £14).

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/7818975.stm

Recently I visited the hospital on a weekday and counted approx. 300 empty spaces within the hospital car park, whilst the roads surrounding the hospital were rammed with cars, maybe an example of the parking insanity mentioned.

Everyone who parked there went mad. People started parking at bizarre angles, parking in an imaginary “third space” that blocked the gas pumps, parking as far as a full car length back from the parking spaces. They re-painted the markings on the spaces to no effect. It was four months before I saw a car parked correctly in either of the marked parking places.

The effect finally pretty much died down during late fall.

I figure I must be a really nice person, because I never drive. Somehow my environment does mostly not agree :)