NORTHAMPTON, Mass. (WGGB/WSHM) - We continue to deal with freezing temperatures, residents in that city are concerned about accessibility on sidewalks following last weekend’s snowstorm. Western Mass News spoke exclusively to one of those residents and has more on the changes she wants to see.

“I can’t move around well, and I cannot have a ninth abdominal wall surgery. I will not survive it,” Amanda Martinez has lived in Northampton for 14 years.

But for the last 6, she has had to navigate her way around with a wheelchair because of muscular skeletal issues. She has gone around the city multiple times since last weekend’s snowstorm and believes the DPW crews’ clean-up effort was “exponentially better” than in previous years.

From her perspective, the disability community is still overlooked when it comes to passable and accessible walkways, “with the disabled residents of Northampton being the minority, there’s not a plan in the background for the DPW to accommodate. There’s nobody to interact with about this, to express the experience as it’s happening.”

In multiple videos shared with Western Mass News, Martinez navigated around the city on Friday to see what the sidewalks and their entrances were like. in some videos, you can see slush and ice in front of vacant business spaces, while other walkways are too narrow because of snow on the side.

Additionally, there are icy and slushy spots on some curb cuts, forcing Martinez and others to go around and enter sidewalks from alternative spots.

As a result, she has had to drive her wheelchair on the streets most of the time, and fears for everyone’s safety as well as for mechanical issues with her wheelchair.

“Lots of the crosswalks have potholes in them. The curb cuts and the ice and the snow don’t mix. In the summertime, the potholes and the curb cuts are full of rainwater or they’re taking chunks out of the wheels. It takes six months to get a repair person out here to get a new wheel on the wheelchair,” Martinez said.

Now Martinez does not blame Northampton DPW or anyone in the city’s government for this issue.

However, she does want a change in protocol to make sure she and others in the mobility-challenged community are safer during the season, “There could be a data hotline that I would help people call (and say) ‘hey if you don’t know how to use a phone, if you’re uncomfortable leaving a message, I’ll call for you.’”

Her idea of a new data synthesis, she says, could allow someone to record complaints, which could then be forwarded to officials at the city and/or state level.

In a statement sent to Western Mass News, Northampton Mayor Gina-Louise Sciarra said, “As required by city ordinance, sidewalk clearing is a shared responsibility. Property owners are required to clear sidewalks and curb cuts after a storm, and during storms of this size, that often means doing it more than once. We know this is frustrating. Our focus right now is finishing the cleanup and restoring safe, passable conditions downtown as quickly as we can.”

For now, Martinez would love to have a certain mechanism in place for the public to assist, “there could be salt buckets tightened on the poles so that if we need to throw salt down on some slush or ice to get somewhere, or ask a pedestrian ‘hey, I can’t get up this. I don’t want to go around; there’s a car trying to turn. Could you throw a handful of salt down?’”

Martinez also says she would love the idea of having pedestrians become companions to help the mobility-challenged community get around as this brutal winter continues.

We were able to reach out to Northampton DPW about this. However, they were unable to speak with us today. Mayor Sciarra, though, said another round of snow removal in the downtown area will begin Sunday night.

There will also be a selective parking ban on several downtown streets beginning at 12:01 a.m. on Monday, February 2.

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