Same. I entirely avoid Downtown Austin for this reason. I used to go when I could park for free at the state parking garages after-hours (was a state employee at the time), but now it's just expensive and/or tedious to park there.
I even passed on a job offer for a downtown office when I was informed they didn't have a parking lot/garage but would instead provide a monthly parking allowance. Wasn't interested at all in hunting for parking on-street or around various garages every morning.