Ah yes, the sidewalks. What exactly is the deal with shoveling my sidewalk?

By law (which means they can fine you $35 a day if you don’t comply), the city of Cambridge requires property owners to clear sidewalks next to their home or business from snow

• Within 12 hours after the snow stops falling during the day
• Before 1 p.m. if the snow has fallen overnight
• and clear all ice within 6 hours

If you’re away, you're still responsible so you'll need to find a friend, neighbor, or some willing gnomes to clear your sidewalks.

If you rent, then technically you’re off the hook; it’s up to your landlord to clear the sidewalks, unless you want to offer a helping hand.

So unless you own a can of “Snow-B-Gone”, you need to shovel,
wovel (see photo at right), or snowblow the white stuff from your sidewalks.

Some guidelines:

• Clear a path wide enough for a wheelchair (between 3 and 4 feet wide.)
• If you're on a corner, please remember to clear sidewalks on both streets
• Clear crosswalk ramps.
• Clear street drains.

To de-ice:

• Use an ice melter with calcium chloride (CaCl2) or Potassium chloride (KCl), (environmentally friendlier and more efficient).
• Try not to use rock salt (NaCl) or sodium chloride which is death to plants and trees.
• Sand = Bad. It makes ice even more slippery, clogs street drains, and is a pain to clean up come spring.

Low-income, elderly and/ or disabled homeowners text
If you're elderly, disabled, or low-income ($22,947 or less for a one-person household in 2007) you might be eligible for the Snow Exemption Program. This means the City will shovel your sidewalk for you. For more information call the Cambridge Council on Aging, 617-349-6220 or 617-349-6050 (TTY).

If you don’t qualify, the Council can provide you with a list of private snow removal options, but if you want to hire my gnomes, sorry, you're outta luck! You'll have to find your own gnomes.

Even though plants, lawns, trees, and gnomes prefer you don't de-ice with salt, you can get salt at the following Cambridge locations:

Fire Departments
Engine 1 Headquarters on Broadway
Engine 2 Lafayette Street
Engine 3 Cambridge Street
Engine 4 Mass Avenue @ Blake Street
Engine 5 Inman Square
Engine 6 River Street
Engine 8 Smith Place & Fawcett Street (Temporary)
and Taylor Square at Garden & Sherman Streets
Engine 9 Lexington Avenue

Libraries
Concord Avenue 245 Concord Avenue
Mt. Auburn 64 Aberdeen Avenue
Heritage Branch 48 Sixth Street
North Cambridge 70 Rindge Avenue
Central Square 45 Pearl Street
East Cambridge 826 Cambridge Street
CRLS High School 449 Broadway

Other Locations
Windsor Health Clinic 105 Windsor Street
Area IV Youth Center 243 Harvard Street
Banneker School Sargent Street (Driveway)
Immaculate Conception Church Alewife Brook Parkway (Driveway)
Police Department 5 Western Avenue
Sleeper Park Cedar & Norris Streets
Cambridge Hospital 1493 Cambridge Street
Cambridge Cemetery 76 Coolidge Avenue
Public Works Department 147 Hampshire Street
Danehy Park Parking Lot Sherman Street
Lenny Russell Bridge Huron Avenue at Aberdeen Avenue
East End House 109 Spring Street

Salt barrels are also located in all municipal parking lots in the City.

To report unshoveled or icy sidewalks, call the Snow Hotline, 617-349-4903 or email snow@cambridgema.gov.