The carts now in Sunnyvale's corporate yard were picked up in the past few months from neighborhoods all over the city after shoppers abandoned them.

While there are recovery services at work in Sunnyvale, neighbors and city officials are concerned about the buildup of carts on city streets and the impact on the beauty of the area. In May, the city is set to study the subject in depth, to decide on a course of action to clean up streets while still allowing Sunnyvale residents the convenience of the carts.

According to John Pilger, Sunnyvale's communications officer, the Department of Public Works' graffiti and cart hotline receives at least 200 calls each month about stray carts.

"What we find is that shopping carts tend to cluster around places like bus stops and train stations," Pilger said. "People use them to carry their groceries, but they obviously don't take the carts with them."

Because of its proximity to a number of major retail stores, including the Target store downtown, the Heritage District Neighborhood Association has trouble with carts in its area.

The neighborhood lies east of Mathilda Avenue, between Maude Avenue and El Camino Real.

"It says something about the neighborhood because a lot of people when they see shopping carts laying around, will perceive the neighborhood negatively," said Taafe Street resident Megan Dyer.

To deal with the problem, Dyer said her neighbors make frequent--even daily--calls to the city's shopping cart and graffiti hotline.

In addition, a city employee attended the neighborhood association's meeting Feb. 3 to discuss the city's concerns and alert residents to the study issue set for May 9.

Although the city does not have an ordinance regarding carts, there are a number of practices already in place to deal with the problem.

Target manager Andrea Caporale said stores such as hers have contracts with private cart-recovery services to collect stray carts. Each of Target's more than 600 shopping carts costs $125, so the chain tries to recover as many as possible.

Caporale said that 100 carts are returned to the store each month by a recovery service that works every day.

The city of Sunnyvale also has a list of all the recovery services in the area and which stores they contract with.

If carts are not picked up by recovery services and the city gets repeated calls--or if the cart is a hazard to pedestrians or driving--the Department of Public Works will pick up the carts and leave them in the corporate yard.

Once the pile of carts reaches "critical mass," the city takes an inventory of all the carts and contacts individual stores to pick them up.

Few Sunnyvale stores install electronic wheel locks to prevent carts from moving once they reach the parking lot's perimeter.

When the Town Center Mall was open, Target had locks that prevented the carts from rolling once they crossed the boundary between the store and the rest of the mall, but the locks did not stop carts from entering the parking lots outside.

The locks are activated by a low-power radio signal that stops one or more of the cart's wheels from turning when they cross the boundary.

Caporale said the locks aren't a failsafe security measure because they can easily be subverted.

"If someone wants a cart, they'll find a way to get it out," she said.

Caporale said that in addition to cost, the wheel locks are unpopular because they prevent residents who need the carts from using them.

Dyer said that most people she sees using the carts appear to be low-income or senior residents who use the carts because they live within walking distance or don't own a car.

"I worry about punishing the people who are doing this," Dyer said. "I don't think that's the way to handle this."

Caporale said that the cart recovery services seem to be working for local stores and the community, but she looks forward to working with the city to look into other solutions.

To report shopping carts in your area, call the Sunnyvale cart and graffiti hotline at 408.730.7680.