Originally Posted by Science Goy

Yep. I can rarely get a spot in front of my building; sometimes I'll have to park a block or two away, and my car will sit there for a week or more at a time. Similarly, I have no idea whose cars are parked by my house at any given time. Here street parking is a public resource and nobody has claim to any particular spot.

One exception, though: in neighborhoods with heavy concentrations of bars and nightclubs, residents have pushed to enact permit zones to ensure the streets aren't continually clogged with "foreign" cars. If it's a serious problem in areas near airports, those neighborhoods can work to enact such laws themselves.