As he walked into the restaurant, he spied several cars parked in the permitted valet spots outside. Several hours later, sated with Morton's Texas-sized portions, he exited.

The same automobiles were still parked in the valet area.

"How come these cars are parked here?", he wanted to know.

"Oh," came the response, "these are the big tippers".

He inquired further. "But how about the other cars that come to valet park? What do you do with them?"

"We just double park them. Leave the flashers on."

"Is that legal?"

"The cops never hassle us."

Well, the white-haired gentleman said, pulling a badge from his pocket. "My name's John Magee. I'm the Commissioner of Transportation. And I'm hassling you now. If these cars aren't out of here in five minutes, I'm shutting you down."

The cars were moved.

The antics of valet parking in the Back Bay and Beacon Hill are well known. They range from hard parking in valet areas to double parking to illegal parking in residential spaces and alleys. Rather than helping traffic move more smoothly, valet parking, particularly on Newbury, Boylston and Charles Streets, clogs the roads and eats up other parking available to those unwilling to spring for the luxury of a valet. On Newbury Street alone there are 17 (?) valet spaces which eat up a total of 55 (?) parking spaces (Jim Mansfield has these numbers).

Last year, in the wake of a front-page Boston Globe story where reporters watched valet parkers illegally parking cars, the City vowed to take action. The Transportation Department issued new regulations that require a public hearing for any new valet parking permit and promised tougher enforcement of existing licenses.

These are of some help, but they haven't solved the problem. Indeed, there is increasing pressure for new permits, not only from restaurateurs, but also from other businesses such as hairdressers. It seems unfair to allow a valet area for one business but not another, yet it is not hard to envision a day when all of our commercial streets are just one interconnected series of reserved valet spots.

The number of permits issued themselves cause their own problems. Each license serves one retailer or restaurant. Valet companies will assign one or two parkers per location, but when there is a rush, it's impossible to keep up with demand. The result: cars are double parked and traffic slows to a crawl.

The solution is simple. Do away with the existing valet system on the busiest commercial streets and create valet zones — say one per block — that would serve all of the nearby businesses. The number of parking spaces given over to valet parking would be cut. The system would be fair, since all businesses would be served. And it would be easier to manage and enforce. Valet companies could assign more staff since more businesses would be served from one zone. City parking enforcement personnel would be able to focus their attentions on a few, not many.

Valet zones will help resolve problems on commercial streets. But noncommercial streets have their own valet problems as well. Most notorious is the Algonquin Club. The club's valet parkers treat Commonwealth Avenue as their own private parking lot and believe the club's elite membership shields them from enforcement.

The Transportation Department knows the problems — first hand — and is rethinking its enforcement strategies and the whole notion of valet zones.

Who knows? Maybe the next time the Commissioner of Transportation has a hankering for a steak, the cars he sees on the way in will not be the ones he sees on the way out.