More miles of cars than roadway, more than 20,000 people per square mile, accelerating development--is it Los Angeles in the year 2050? No, it's Cambridge today, and as a result, parking is becoming a major concern.

Politicians, residents and businessmen have all identified the major problem with parking in Cambridge--there just isn't enough room.

"We just don't have enough available parking space no matter where you go," says Cambridge City Councillor William H. Walsh. "Kendall Square, Harvard Square, Porter Square--there just aren't enough spaces."

The basic problem, according to City Manager Robert W. Healy, is Cambridge's high auto density. "Well, you're looking at a city with more linear miles of automobiles than street," Healy says. "There is no simple solution."

"There are only six and one half square miles of land in Cambridge," Healy says. "Fresh Pond takes up about half a mile, and after you subtract Harvard and MIT's property that leaves about five miles of usable property for 100,000 people. With commuters it's maybe 150,000 to 200,000 on any given day."

The city attempts to control its parking problems by issuing permits to local residents, and people who do not hold permits are not allowed to park their cars anywhere in Cambridge for longer than 24 hours, Sunday excluded, says Cambridge Director of Traffic and Parking George Teso.

"The bulk of our tickets are issued in residential parking," Teso said. "If we didn't control parking we'd have one big parking lot like we used to. Everyone used to park in Cambridge and go into Boston."

While the permit system solves some of the parking problems, it makes life difficult for Harvard car owners, because most of them are not entitled to parking permits and do not heed Cambridge's elaborate parking rules.

"It was really a problem. I got to school in September, and there was no place to put my car. In three days, I got three tickets and towed once for a total of $75," says Cabot House resident Amy L. Sandler '90. "My car went home."

The University alleviates the parking problem somewhat for students by allowing students to park--for an annual fee--in Harvard-owned lots at the Business School, in covered parking in Peabody Terrace or on Soldiers Field Road.

In addition, the Harvard Parking Office allots use tutors parking permits for themselves and for students with special needs. "Each tutor is given three spaces which he designates for students with medical problems or who work late in the evening," says Robert K. Burns, manager of the Harvard Parking Office.

Sandler says she now has a permit allowing her to park in the lot next to Cabot because she has to bring herself and several others back from water polo practices across the Charles River late at night. And now that she has a permit, she says everyone should share the privilege. "All the streets around the Quad are [open to parking] by Cambridge permit only," Sandler says. "A good way to make the Quad more desirable would be to provide more parking."

But for students who do not have these special permits, parking on Harvard grounds is just as difficult as finding a spot in the rest of Cambridge. Although the City of Cambridge does not ticket on University property, the Harvard Police do. And owners of improperly parked cars are likely to find that their vehicles have been towed away.

Parking at Harvard, therefore, is always an adventure. Says Brad A. Guth '90, "I have a permit for the Business School lot, but sometimes I just get lazy and park on Dewolfe St."

And both Cambridge and Harvard are on the watch for slip-ups, Guth says. "I just paid off $120 to the City of Cambridge for mostly meter violations," he says. "They always snag you somehow."