On Saturday, Feb. 15, a powerful winter storm wreaked havoc on the town of Amherst, depositing nearly five inches of snow throughout the area. In the days that followed, a high wind warning was issued for the entirety of western Massachusetts, with regional wind gusts topping 50 miles per hour, plummeting temperatures to the single digits. That weekend blizzard came after a series of previous snowstorms in Amherst, leaving roads and walkways unsafe for travel and forcing the University of Massachusetts to close campus on Feb. 6 and issue a delayed opening on Feb. 13.

Feb. 15’s weather was a perfect storm for hazardous conditions, leaving most of the town covered in snow, sleet and, perhaps most notoriously, ice. For over a week after the storm had settled, major portions of our sidewalks, both on and off campus, remained covered in a thick layer of ice. The areas hit hardest by the storm, like low-lying sidewalks and bus stops, had multiple inches of ice built up for days on end, all while being traversed by hundreds of residents and commuting pedestrians each day.

If you ask around the UMass campus, just about everyone seems to have a story about someone slipping and falling on campus or in town. That, or they themselves have fallen while getting on the bus, walking home from the bars downtown or trying to get to their next class.

These icy sidewalks create incredibly dangerous environments that can lead to personal injury and embarrassment. Year-to-year, snow and ice are certainly not rare occurrences in Amherst, and if we are expected to carry on as usual as a campus community after these devastating snowstorms, UMass and the town of Amherst must implement systemic changes to do better in the future, making our sidewalks safer in the process.

According to the town of Amherst’s website, “Snow and/or ice removal from sidewalks is the responsibility of the property owner.” Essentially, if a property is adjacent to a public sidewalk, the homeowner or business owner must clear the section of sidewalk that directly abuts their property all the way down to the surface of the pavement. If a property owner cannot sufficiently remove ice to the sidewalk’s surface, they must apply salt or sand to make the conditions safe enough for pedestrians, including those with disabilities and mobility issues, to adequately travel.

To encourage the clearing of sidewalks, the town’s 2023 Snow and Ice Bylaw upholds a $50, non-criminal offense for every 24 hours that a property owner fails to clear the snow, ice, or any other weather-related obstruction from the sidewalks. And, if a sidewalk in Amherst is still covered by snow or ice, residents can file a complaint to Amherst’s Inspection Department. From there, the team will assess the area to determine whether or not the snow and ice is of concern to residents.

The enforcement of this fee is not what it should be. In my experience walking from the UMass campus to my apartment, major sections of the sidewalks were covered in thick sheets of solid ice and compacted snow for days on end after the major storm had passed.

Not only that, but the $50 fee only impacts the most financially vulnerable residents of town. Large businesses and wealthy individuals can afford to pay a week’s worth of fines in exchange for a little less manual labor, whereas those that are living from paycheck to paycheck cannot.

Even if a business or property owner is proactive in clearing the adjacent sidewalks, this doesn’t mean that everyone is. Given that in densely settled areas of town properties are tightly packed together, some residents and businesses might clear the sidewalks down to the surface, as outlined in the bylaw, but their neighbors might fail to shovel or salt, leaving unevenly spaced patches of clear and icy conditions. In addition, elderly residents and those with disabilities have a much more difficult time clearing heavy snow on their property and abutting sidewalks, on top of the risk of slipping on ice.

I believe that the best solution to mitigate this is to put more responsibility on the town of Amherst. For the crowded downtown areas, sidewalks should be cleared by hired crews in town to ensure safe conditions for pedestrians, especially those who are intoxicated at the local bars. Also, sidewalks that lie on larger roads leading downtown and to college campuses, such as North Pleasant St., should be cleared by the town.

As for UMass, similar wintery conditions practically turned the campus into an ice skating rink two weeks ago. But unlike the town of Amherst, sidewalks are cleared by the University’s Building and Grounds Services. According to Pamela Monn, the associate director of UMass’s buildings and grounds services, the University’s sidewalks, roads and stairs are pre-treated using a salt brine mixed with road salt. The Massachusetts Daily Collegian previously reported this salt brine technique has been applied on campus for five years, first being implemented in 2020.

To help distribute this salt, Monn said the campus implored the help of “… 225 people from Construction Services, Landscaping, Waste Management, Moving Services and custodial staff, both residential and academic.” According to Monn, 2,799 man hours were used to respond to the storm.

I will acknowledge that the conditions present on Feb. 15 were some of the toughest this campus has had to face in some time, and that some sections of campus were effectively salted, such as the main thoroughfare by the Student Union. I also acknowledge that each and every employee involved in salting and sanding our sidewalks is working hard and providing an invaluable service.

That being said, the UMass campus was just as icy and unsafe for walking during the smaller snowstorms in early February. This semester alone, I have heard complaints from friends about ice covering handicap parking spaces, stairways to dorm buildings and steep campus pathways leading to long slides down hills. UMass boasts a gargantuan campus, but with so many buildings and so many students, every sidewalk matters.

Nathan Legare can be reached at [email protected] and followed on X (formerly Twitter) @Legare_Nathan.