SALT ON ELMIRA'S STREETS & SIDEWALKS

It's still early days for this winter but I've already noticed a peculiar trend. Two and three days after a snowfall and a large number of our backstreets are still snowcovered and slippery. What's going on? Secondly as I've been walking my dog a little more often recently in my subdivision (Bristow Creek) versus letting her run up at the Woolwich dam, I'm really noticing excessive quantities of salt on the sidewalks. Is this coming from the sidewalk plows that clean the sidewalks? The reason I notice it is because it's hard on a dog's feet, otherwise I might not notice, however certainly any excess salt is hard on our groundwater. Worst case scenario how about a little more on the roads and a little less on the sidewalks?