City wants shopping carts corraled

Dan Kulin

Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2002 | 9:25 a.m.

North Las Vegas may join Clark County and Las Vegas in the fight against abandoned shopping carts.

A proposed law that would require North Las Vegas businesses to either keep their shopping carts inside their parking lots or retrieve wayward carts is scheduled to be discussed tonight at the North Las Vegas City Council meeting.

Councilwoman Stephanie Smith said the mayor and council support the proposed law.

"We want to make sure we get these shopping carts where they belong, not on the streets," she said. "It's a public nuisance. We've had lots of complaints."

Smith said abandoned shopping carts have been a problem in North Las Vegas and the surrounding area. Earlier this year the Clark County Commission and Las Vegas City Council passed similar laws holding stores responsible for abandoned carts.

"We're not reinventing the wheel," Smith said.

City Code Enforcement Manager Sheldon Klain said the proposed law would require stores to either hire a shopping cart recovery service to pick up carts found off their property, or have a way to stop carts from leaving their property.

For example, Wal-Mart stores have an electronic device on their carts that lock the wheels if the cart is taken off of store property, said Klain, who would oversee enforcement of the law.

Richard Martinez, manager of the Albertson's on East Lake Mead Boulevard in North Las Vegas, said he already employs a cart retrieval service.

"Most of the chain (stores) have a service," he said. "Without the baskets I can't do business."

Stores without a plan to keep shopping carts off public property could be fined up to $25 a day under the law, he said.

The ordinance is expected to be voted on by the city council Oct. 2, Klain said. As proposed, the law would go into effect immediately after that vote, he said.

If approved, the city would contract with a company to pick up carts around the city, and the city would pass on the cost of retrieving the carts to the businesses, Klain said. He said that cost would be $3 per cart.

In February, the council reviewed a version of an abandoned-shopping-cart law under which stores could have been fined $50 per abandoned cart if city officials cited a store more than three times within six months.

Klain said since February he has met with business representatives to discuss changes to the law, including eliminating the $50 fine.

"We're not trying to penalize them; we're trying to fix a problem," he said.

Mary Lau, executive director of the Retail Association of Nevada, a trade association representing major grocery chains, said the group supports the ordinance.

"It looks like (the ordinance) has been improved," Lau said.