I have always thought we should do away with free street parking. It is a valuable resource that should be used for the city to make money or turn into something everyone enjoys. This is a direct impact for the poor (like tolling a road) and will be met with serious resistance. What the OP talks about is what happened in the LA suburbs I lived in (SFV). People even got non-working cars that they pushed around to save spots (you can space the cars out so no one can park and tighten them up so you can park).