Nearly half of all vehicular traffic along Seventh Avenue in Park Slope is circling the block looking for parking, according to a recent Transportation Alternatives study.At the same time, 94 percent of the area's metered parking spaces are occupied, with nearly 100 percent occupied at peak periods, the study found."It [study] confirms exactly what you always suspected when you live here. You feel like you spend a good chunk of your life driving around looking for parking, and there's got to be a better way," said Park Slope Civic Council President Lidia Denworth.The study, entitled "No Vacancy: Park Slope's Parking Problem," also found nearly 1 in 6 vehicles were parked illegally and that non-metered spaces have even lower vacancy rates.To improve the situation, the study had three recommendations including the implementation of residential parking permits.Currently the city has no neighborhoods with residential parking permits, but several other cities including Boston, Chicago and Los Angeles have instituted the measure with some success, according to Transportation Alternatives Executive Director Paul Steely White.White said rather than opening a Pandora's Box where other neighborhoods would clamor for residential parking permits, instituting the measure would help traffic conditions citywide.A good place to start the program is with Park Slope and Downtown Brooklyn, said White, adding that fees for the permits would also add money to city coffers.The study also recommended the installation of Muni-Meters, where the cost of metered parking would go up to maintain pre-determined target vacancy rates.The present meter rate along Seventh Avenue is 25 cents per half hour, while the largest parking garage in the vicinity charges $3.62 per half-hour, according to the study.White argues raising the metered rates closer to the garage rates encourages drivers to park in a garage while also boosting turnover at the curb itself.The study also recommends the implementation of a pilot Parking Improvement District (PID), which would act something like a Business Improvement District (BID), and would manage the residential parking permits and Muni-Meter costs.Councilmember David Yassky, who was at the press conference announcing the results of the 21-page study, also advocated for residential parking permits, calling their implementation "common sense.""The government in this city has acted like traffic is like the weather -- it's something people complain about, but you can't do anything about it," said Yassky.Also agreeing with the study's findings was Giovanni Tafuri, who was double-parked momentarily outside his Sette Restaurant at 207 Seventh Avenue."It really hurts the business. Regular street parking is totally impossible to find. It takes about 20 minutes to a half-hour to even get a meter and then when you do you have to keep on top of it because they ticket you so quickly and it just hurts business," said Tafuri.Tafuri said residential parking is not as big a problem in Bensonhurst, where he grew up, because many residents in that neighborhood have driveways.A spokesperson for the city Department of Transportation said the study would be reviewed, but indicated residential permit parking would be a tough sell."We believe that a residential parking program would be problematic because many neighborhoods are very dense and there are many more cars than there is available curb space," said DOT spokesperson Kay Sarlin.