The High Cost of Free Parking

I'm reading The Tome.  My favorite lines so far:

When planners set minimum parking requirements, they do not define demand and supply the way economists do.   For example, economists do not define the demand for food as the peak quantity of food consumed at free buffets where overweight diners eat until the last bite has zero utility.  Nor do economists, when asked for policy prescriptions, recommend that restaurants should be required to supply at least this quantity of free food no matter how much it costs.   Yet planners do define parking demand as the peak number of spaces occupied at sites with free parking, and cities do require developers to supply at least this number of parking spots, whatever the cost.

Cross-posted at Austin Contrarian.