An icy poor ambulation

It may have been snow or sleet when it came out of the sky, but by yesterday morning it was ice, a gleaming, rock-hard casing on sidewalks and walkways that made shoveling a joke and walking a treacherous adventure worthy of Edmund Hillary.

Across the city, crowds of work-bound pedestrians negotiated ice and ridges of frozen slush as though on polar expeditions instead of city sidewalks. They reeled and slipped and kicked at the ice for footing. Many didn't achieve it.

"I almost wiped out a couple of times already," said 26-year-old Jaeger Agraz, making her way up a Beacon Hill street after a perilous attempt to walk on the encrusted sidewalk. "The streets are the way to go."

City code enforcement police cited several businesses yesterday for failing to clear their sidewalks. Today, 18 code enforcement police officers are to canvass the city, targeting residents who haven't cleared their walks.

Several businesses in the South Bay Shopping Center were ticketed, as was a car dealership near Columbia Road that appeared to have some of the thickest accumulations of ice in the city.

"I've been in business for 35 years on this street, and I've never received one of these," said Luciano Volpe, owner of Autocredit Sales Inc., seconds after he was handed a $50 ticket by Chris Stockbridge, a city code enforcement officer. The sidewalk, covering about 40 yards, was covered in craggy ice filled with frozen shoe imprints and icy run-off from the sloped car lot. Many people opted to walk on the street, between parked cars and fast-moving traffic just several feet away.

"It's either fall and bust your butt or walk on the street," said Michelle Lainey, 19, of Dorchester, on her way to Boston Medical Center.

At City Hall Plaza, pedestrians picked their way across the sprawling brick pavilion to avoid the slippery spots. Katie Speights, of the North End, navigated around frozen patches as she looked for a clear path to the MBTA station.

"They could have put a little more salt down, so it's not a solid sheet of ice," Speights, 25, said as she tiptoed in heeled boots to Government Center. "It would have melted, and we wouldn't be ice skating around."

John Benson of Charlestown looked like a figure skater performing a combination of jumps as he slid down four steps outside the station. He kicked up his legs to maintain his balance, yet maintained a hurried pace toward City Hall. Benson, 61, said he can imagine the difficulties the city must have in clearing walkways after the storm.

Still, he said, "you 'd think they would have responded better."

In some areas of Columbus Avenue below the Massachusetts Turnpike, the sidewalks were spotless. "Around here is not bad," Tony DiBari, 63, said while smoking a cigar. "I almost thought that the sidewalk was heated."

But others were a different story. Shirley Williams, 79, said she was disgusted by the amount of snow that remained. "The streets look pretty good, but the sidewalks are icy," Williams said after crossing Columbus Avenue. "It's snow on the top and ice on the bottom."

At Codman Square in Dorchester, the sidewalk in front of a McDonald's restaurant and a red-brick office building housing A-Z Physical Therapy was a slippery slope. James Davis, a 61-year-old leg amputee who uses crutches, paused before stepping onto the sidewalk. "I can't afford to fall," he said.

The McDonald's manager, Lorna Mazow, said, "We had a maintenance man out earlier, and he tried to break the ice, but he couldn't. We'll get it taken care of later."

Michael Mackan, captain of the code enforcement police, said his office often hears from people who slip and fall. "We'll go out and issue violations when that happens."