Well I live here and the simple answer is that, yes, there is plenty of free parking in the city; however, the bulk of the area where parking exists is residential and tends to be quite crowded. Additionally, a lot of this area requires residential parking stickers, but not all of it does. SO, while it's possible to find street parking somewhat near the hotel, the reality is that it's like counting on a great parking space at the mall - sometimes it happens, but it's usually NOT when you really need it.

There are other garages in the vicinity, but my recollection is that they're all essentially the same price, so there's no compelling reason not to just valet park your vehicle if you're going to park in a garage in the first place.