Salem to add disabled parking downtown

SALEM -- Frances Migliarini had given up on the city's central business district. But her opinion's changing, thanks to a plan the city intends to implement this spring to benefit disabled people.
Migliarini, of South Lincoln Avenue, uses a walker and has a handicapped-parking placard that allows her to park in reserved spots.
The problem is that there are no curbside spaces for disabled people along East State Street, the main downtown thoroughfare.
That's expected to change in the next few weeks when the city designates two parking spaces near East State Street and Lundy Avenue for disabled people.
Each side of street: There will be a space on each side of the street, said Joe Julian, service director.
"That's the best thing that could happen," Migliarini said. She said she doesn't go downtown because there isn't a place to park that's close to the stores in the central business district.