Same for me. I typically find a street metered spot within a block or two of my desired DT destination. Much closer to the front door or vendor than parking at your local Walmart or mall.
I drive and park on the streets of downtown daily. I have NEVER not found an on street metered spot to park within 2 blocks of my destination. The perception of the lack of parking downtown needs to stop. It simply is not true.
You find parking "easily" Downtown because the only major reason to park there during the WEEKDAY's is to visit government operations and that can be hit or miss. Even with government, in better times and before some functions were relocated to the Ed Ball building, by 9 AM. the riverfront public lot serving the Courthouse and City Annex (old City Hall) was usually full. So bad was parking, the courts had to come up with a special arrangement for jurors. Now, if you visit a bank or professional in an office building, or even the River Club, they usually provide parking in a garage for you so you wouldn't be as likely to notice.
My main point is if we had anything approaching the vibrant Downtown everyone says we are looking for, and that we once had, with with department and specialty stores, corporate offices, a major post office, newsstands, service providers, dentists and doctors, residential, more hotels, eateries, and nightlife, etc., I think it's obvious the existing metered parking couldn't begin to support such higher levels of activity. And, the shortage would be greatly magnified by the reduction in spaces I perceive to have taken place over the last few decades.
If you want to get a "simulation" of how "fragile" metered parking is, see how quickly it fills up when the Florida Theater or T-U Center has a full house. Now imagine those events, shopping, and a bevy of restaurants and night spots ongoing simultaneously, and a major group of corporate offices bringing in vendors, prospective customers and potential employees for interviews. Add a few "visitors" for the hoped for Downtown residents. Suddenly, you will realize how many curb spots are unavailable.
I'm telling you, over the last 2 or 3 decades, street parking has been substantially reduced. I remember how hard it was to find spaces when Downtown had department stores AND a lot more parking. We could drive around the block multiple times before finding a spot.
As originally stated, the only reason the reduction may not be more obvious is because there is so little reason for "visits" to today's Downtown.
Let's see if my perception is on target. Maybe Lake you could ask the City to give you a history of the number of meters in an apples to apples core Downtown area. Let's see what the raw and the "per capita" numbers are today versus in the past. 
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