Quincy resident Alpha Diallo has been on the hunt for days. He pulled into Curry Ace Hardware in West Quincy today hoping to find rock salt for his driveway that remains a sheet of ice.
“I’ve been looking for three days now. I’ve been here, both the Home Depots. I’ve been to a couple places — and nothing,” Diallo told GBH News. He had no luck again at his stop at Curry. “I’m worried about someone getting hurt, and also trying to get our van out.”
Curry Ace Hardware manager Rick Manupelli said earlier this week the store received a shipment of 19 pallets of ice melt, amounting to nearly a thousand 50-pound bags. It was gone within six hours.
“It was all just homeowners with one and two bags,” he said. “So it’s not lasting very long at all.”
The store is expecting another shipment of ice melt and rock salt first thing Friday morning.
“I don’t think there’s enough ice melt in the pipeline, because over the last three years, we haven’t received any snow,” Manupelli said.
Cities and towns are also dealing with the concrete-like ice lingering on sidewalks.
Boston Public Works spokesperson Christopher Coakley said residents and business owners are responsible for clearing snow, slush and ice from their sidewalks and pedestrian ramps that abut their property within three hours of snowfall ending, or three hours after sunrise if it snows overnight. The sidewalks must be cleared to create at least a 42-inch-wide path to accommodate wheelchairs and strollers.
Property owners can be fined if they don’t comply.
From Feb. 16-19, Boston’s Public Works Code Enforcement Division issued 1,268 fines for failure to clear sidewalks. The fines range from $50 for a residential property to $200 for a commercial property.
Mayor Michelle Wu said while the city is responsible for clearing some areas, property owners need to do their part, too.
“It’s everyone’s everyone’s job to be part of taking care of our neighborhoods,” she said during an event Thursday. “We have seen many instances where the storm hits and then there is a freeze. The temperatures drop for the next several days, so that whatever ends up not being cleared right away turns into a very dangerous, slippery patch of ice.”
Cambridge Department of Public Works Community Relations Manager Kristen Kelleher said the city has received more than 11,000 complaints for icy or unshoveled sidewalks, including more than 300 complaints this week alone.
Kelleher told GBH News they have issued 444 violations so far this snow season. Cambridge’s fine for not clearing sidewalks of snow and ice is $50 for each day of non-compliance.
Back in Quincy, resident Diallo doesn’t have to worry about being fined even as he continues to strike out looking for ice melt. Unlike Boston and Cambridge, Quincy does not have a fine ordinance for snow and ice removal.
Quincy Public Works Superintendent Larry Prenderville said commercial properties are responsible for their sidewalks.
“We have sidewalk plows. We do go out and we have certain routes — the school routes, the routes to public transportation — those type of sidewalks are done by us,” he explained.
Public works officials are hoping incoming warmer temperatures will help relieve the issues.
