Proposed
grocery cart rules could cost shoppers
Committee gives stores time to develop
plan
Feb.
19, 2007 -- Aldermen fed up with abandoned
shopping carts littering the city told a grocery industry
representative that his clients will have to fix the
problem or face new restrictions that will impose significant
costs on them -- and on their customers.
"I’m
seeing more and more shopping carts left out on street
corners, in alleys, abandoned in vacant lots,"
Ald. Robert Donovan told his colleagues on the Common
Council's Public Safety Committee. "I quite frankly
feel it affects the quality of life of our neighborhoods.
Iit makes some of our neighborhoods look like nobody
cares."
Donovan,
the committee chair, has proposed
an ordinance that would require stores with 20 or more
carts to find a way to keep them on their properties.
Potential methods include requiring deposits from customers
to use the carts, hiring someone to round them up, or
setting up electronic fence systems.
The
committee voted, 3-2, to to hold the matter. Donovan
and Ald. Tony Zielinski dissented..
Brandon Scholz, a lobbyist for the Wisconsin Grocers
Association, said an electronic system could cost tens
of thousands of dollars to install, and more in annual
fees.
“Clearly
you can make some assumptions those costs are going
to go back to our costumers,” he said.
Scholz
said he would like an opportunity to get more information
and to work with the committee to come up with a solution.
The carts cost as much as $250 each, and grocers have
a vested interest in getting them back, he said.
“My
personal opinion is that this individual has a point
of view that is starkly different than my experience,"
said Ald. Joe Dudzik. He said about 30 carts were collected
in a week from one area of his south side district.
“They’re
junk. I don’t believe his members really care
about it,” he said. “It’s abandoned
property and the city should treat it as such. Pick
it up and destroy it.”
“I
don’t understand why something wasn’t done
earlier," said Ald. Robert Puente, who added that
carts are a problem in his northwest side district.
Scholz
said he would pass the committee's message to his clients.
“It
would be my position to say, ‘You need to have
a plan; you need to get the stuff off the street."
Shopping
cart ordinance rolls back to committee
Oct.
9, 2006 -- A proposed city ordinance that
would require grocery stores and other retailers to
tag their shopping carts and find ways to keep them
on site was sent back to committee after aldermen realized
that no one had told retailers about it.
Ald.
Robert Donovan, sponsor of the measure, also said during
a Common Council meeting that the cost of implementing
the measure was not known.
The
new ordinance is needed, he said, because "these
carts are disappearing (from retailer lots), clogging
up our streets."
Donovan,
in response to questions from Ald. Michael Murphy, at
first said retailers had been informed of the proposed
requirements.
Later
in the meeting, however, Donovan double-checked and
learned that retailers had not been notified. He asked
that the measure be returned to committee.
Additional
information about the proposal is here.
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Crackdown
on renegade shopping carts sought by alderman
Sept.
11, 2006 -- An alderman is proposing that
the city require grocery stores and other retailers
to tag their shopping carts and find ways to keep them
on site.
Methods
stores could use to keep their carts include charging
shoppers deposits to use carts or hiring employees whose
only duties would be to manage or return the carts,
according to the proposal.
The
ordinance proposed by Ald. Robert Donovan also would
allow the Department of Public Works to impound any
errant shopping cart found outside the boundaries of
a business. Businesses would have to pay $20 to $40
to retrieve each cart, plus a $5 per day storage fee.
Evil roaming shopping carts would
be reined in under Ald. Donovan's proposal.
DPW,
which now does not have the resources to keep city-owned
lots mowed and free from litter, would be required to
notify businesses in writing that their carts have been
impounded.
The
proposed ordinance is scheduled to be discussed by the
Common Council's Public Safety Committee on Thursday.
Cruising
carts have not previously been identified as a major
problem in the city.
Under
the ordinance, businesses with 20 or more shopping carts
would be required to install permanent identity tags
on each one.
Requirements
for the tags are very specific, according to the proposed
ordinance:
