In the 1970s, the University recognized that the costs of a new building do not end with the final nail or the last tile and began imposing a construction tax. For example, the Ralph Landau Center for Economics and Policy Research was built three years ago on a parking lot just east of MemAud. The tax helps Stanford fund the free Marguerite shuttle, improve its roads and build new parking lots at the periphery of the campus. But it doesn't make parking any easier to find. As the thicket of buildings near the center of campus has grown thicker and thicker, parking has moved farther and farther away from where people work, study and play.
People have bigger concerns.
Parking touches on issues of safety, convenience, fairness, the environment and finances. It also touches on the odd, inextricable relationship between California drivers and their automobiles. I take the free 20 minutes and don't even bother with the quarters. It's summertime and the living is easy. Finally, at Stanford, there is also the problem caused by the collision of perception and reality.