"You can't restrict development given the tax limitations created in Massachusetts," Healy says. "The only way cities can increase their budgets is through new development."

But Sullivan says he did not believe that development was needed to increase city revenues. "We ought to be moving away from the property tax anyway and get new revenues from the state," he says.

Sullivan also says public transportation is a solution. "I don't want to provide more parking, because more parking will cause more traffic," Sullivan says. "If people can't park, they won't drive into Cambridge, and I don't want more people driving into Cambridge. I want to encourage people to take public transit."

Steps have already been taken to make public transportation more attractive for commuters, Sullivan says. "The T will start running six-car trains on the Red Line this summer," Sullivan says. According to Sullivan, the T currently runs four-car trains on the Red Line.

Despite improved public transportation, most people say owning a car is worth the parking hassles.

"I drive to work at a lab at MIT, and there's plenty of parking there, but you have to get there at 7:30 a.m. if you want to park within half a mile," says Cabot House pre-med tutor Eugene H. Kaji '86. "If you wait until 9 [a.m.] you park a mile away. Yes, there is a problem, but having a car is still worth it," Kaji says.

And for some people, having a car fits their image. "My dad has this stereotypical image of Harvard guys, and he thinks I should be dating someone from Wellesley, and having a car is just fine with me," Panzer says. "If I did actually date someone from Wellesley, I'd definitely need the car."

Right now, however, Panzer says he only uses his car to go to his tutorial in the Medical School.