It's no secret that parking in the city is a bitch. So we've enlisted local parking guru and author of Finding the Sweet Spot, David LaBua, to dish out weekly tips on navigating the ins and outs of city parking.

Tell us your most harrowing, stressful, and funny parking story in the comments for a chance to win a copy of the parking bible, Finding The Sweet Spot!

I went to work last week on one of those super rainy days, I had my mojo working…plenty of good parking karma in the account…and just knew that I was going to find an empty parking spot right in front of my destination.  I turned the corner of the last block, looked up ahead, saw an empty space, pulled closer and saw…..one car hogging up two parking spots.  How disheartening.
With there being 379,898 cars registered in San Francisco 
and only 320,000 street parking spaces available, it would behoove us all to try to park with as much awareness and courtesy as we can. So this week, I thought it would be a good idea to help bring everyone up to speed on how to park smartly.

Many sections along un-metered streets can fit two or even three cars if the people who use the space do so consciously. If you leave an extraordinary amount of space between your bumper and the bumper of the car ahead or behind you, this is wasting precious space.

Some people think that taking up a lot of room will protect their car from being bumped – not true. Being a space hog usually results in someone eventually forcing and squeezing their way into a space that’s too small; resulting in your car being boxed in, and a few more battle scars on your bumper. And that car bashing its way in potentially screws up the spacing for days or possibly weeks.

If you are parking at one end or the other of a section of open curb-side parking, start at the beginning. Make sure that your front or rear bumper is up to the very end of the section, right up next to the sign or paint line, street, or driveway edge (remember, driveways begin where the curb starts to slope downward).

Not doing this, and leaving seven or eight feet of unusable parking space in front of or behind you, is a complete waste of a precious resource. I sometimes think that this should be a fineable and possibly towable offense.

Not being a space hog doesn't just give you high marks as a conscientious citizen, but also will result in a steady fattening of your parking karma account, which will undoubtedly come in handy some dark and stormy Saturday evening when you’re desperate for parking.