During the recent freeze, Susan Yamada was driving her car from her apartment on Third Avenue to her job at the medical clinic at First Avenue, two blocks away.

Yamada would sooner walk, but the sidewalks were too icy, she said.

“It’s awful that right downtown it’s not shoveled or sanded,” Yamada said in an interview. “From a pedestrian standpoint, it’s pretty scary. Can you imagine little old ladies getting out of their cars?”

Little…