"Probably the biggest problem is the plow drifts at the ends of the blocks you sometimes have to climb over to get to the intersection," said Dave Andrews, who lives in Stillwater but commutes to downtown St. Paul.

Many who live and commute in downtown St. Paul voiced their concerns in front of city and transportation leaders, hoping something changes soon.

"I've noticed and I've seen people out there with walkers struggling to get across," said Russ Stark, St. Paul's chief resilience officer.

Stark stresses it's up to each business to clear off their own sidewalk. But, he says they are exploring the idea of a new downtown improvement district that might help clear these areas faster, similar to what Minneapolis has.

Petition circulating to change St. Paul's snow plow policy

"That may be one of the things that is necessary to better coordinate a thorough job of cleaning all the sidewalks downtown," Stark said.

In addition, Metro Transit is working with the city on a pilot program to do a higher level of snow clearance at 15 different transit stops during winter events. They plan to evaluate the program after this winter to see which stops benefited from it and which didn't.

Winter isn't going away so quickly, and many say they just have to be patient.

"I probably walk a little slower when it is like this," Andrews said. "I think on the whole they do a pretty good job, but it isn't perfect and sometimes they get behind if we have a big snow"

While winter's days this season are numbered, many hope this input is given some thought for improvement in the future.

"I hope that they'll take it seriously," McKnight said.

Digging out after Saturday's snowfall

St. Paul Mayor Melvin Carter released a statement saying:

"This winter's historic snowfall has created unique challenges across Saint Paul. We continue to work with residents, and our partners in Ramsey County and at the Metropolitan Council to identify and address snow-related issues to ensure we can keep our city safe and accessible."

Metro Transit also released the following statement:

"We were glad to be at tonight's meeting to hear the concerns regarding snow removal efforts. We appreciate those concerns and were at the meeting to explore ways in which we can work with our partners to keep areas clear.

"While our crews work around the clock following a weather event to clear areas at our train stations and bus stops, more than 1,500 in all, there are times when snowfall simply is too persistent to keep areas as clear as we'd like. This was certainly true last month, widely publicized as the snowiest February on record.

"We are always open to realistic ideas on how we can improve our efforts for the communities we serve."