It's averaging $428 dollars a month, or ten dollars an hour in some private lots.  And the city can't write a law to lower the costs. 

"I think the privates would be all over it," says Ward 9 Alderman Joe Ceci, "in terms of saying wait a minute, this is a business, we're not doing anything illegal.  What are you doing?"

Putting up with it, apparently, which is what motorists are doing as well.

"It's too much money," says Brian Watson.  "It's crazy, so I take the bus for $2.50.  It's easier, and it's less aggravation."

Diana Brecka agrees, especially since parking rates here are almost as high as midtown New York City. 

"Wow," she says.  "That's really expensive."

The executive director of the Calgary Downtown Association, Maggie Schofield, says it's a simple matter of supply and demand.  "I don't see the parking rates changing any time in the near future," she says.  "We're a cosmopolitan city, we're coming of age, and we have a lot of demand on our spaces."