740 carts are off the streets

Deirdre Newman

Efforts to stop shopping cart theft and abandonment have yielded a

return of 740 carts in the first month.

In June, the City Council approved a moderate law to address the

problem, which has been plaguing the city for years. The law calls

for all stores that use shopping carts to demonstrate an effective

containment system to keep the carts on their properties.

The law was the culmination of city officials’ collaboration with

local businesses that use shopping carts. It imposes a $150 fine for

each cart the city retrieves after the fifth one in any 12-month

period.

The city hired Hernandez Cart Retrieval Services to patrol the

city eight hours a day, seven days a week and pick up the abandoned

carts, starting in September.

Stores can either participate in the city’s program or gain

certification from the city that they have an effective cart

retrieval program of their own.

While some taxpayers aren’t thrilled with the price tag -- the

city is paying $48,000 annually for Hernandez’ services -- they feel

the information gleaned is valuable.

“I think what [the city] is doing is the right thing and will give

them some information, so [it] can do something with it,” resident

Mike Berry said. “It’s pretty expensive to pick [the carts] up, but

maybe the information will lead to some real solutions down the

road.”

City Manager Allan Roeder said the city is pleased with the first

results of the retrieval process.

“I think in the best of all worlds, those numbers would drop

substantially over time as we gain greater cooperation from stores in

terms of keeping carts on their own property or picking up their own

carts or buying into our collection service,” Roeder said.

The first month’s numbers are significant because they illustrate

just who has an effective cart retrieval program and who doesn’t,

Roeder added.

At this time, Roeder said he wouldn’t divulge which stores had the

most abandoned shopping carts because the city was in negotiations

with the stores. As of yet, none have signed on for the city’s

retrieval service, Roeder added.

Roeder did say the areas where the most carts were picked up are

Harbor Boulevard and Baker Street.

Code enforcement has also joined the crackdown effort, giving

warnings and citations to those who are found in possess of shopping

carts off of store property, Roeder said.

Councilman Allan Mansoor, who supported a more severe law that

would have had zero tolerance of even one abandoned cart and would

not have hired a retrieval company, said two or three grocery stores

are the major offenders.

He still believes the onus should be on the stores, not the city.

“The large number of carts that were picked up shows how big the

problem is,” Mansoor said. “But I still think that the stores should

be more accountable and that the city should not have to spend money

to pick up the carts.”

* DEIRDRE NEWMAN covers Costa Mesa and may be reached at (949)

574-4221 or by e-mail at deirdre.newman@latimes.com.