The Sunnyvale Sun

Letters & Opinions

Letters

Problem with
abandoned carts
still exists

The recent article regarding wayward shopping carts (Jan. 30) would have us believe that the problem of shopping cart theft and abandonment has been corrected or maybe doesn't even really exist at all. As a life long resident of Sunnyvale and frequent caller to the city's abandoned shopping cart hotline, I can assure you that the problem still exists and the resulting eyesore that plagues our city continues.

A May 2006 report, prepared by James Craig of the Sunnyvale Department of Public Works found that "...from the end of September, 2004 to date (May 2006) more than 1,300 abandoned carts have been reported, while many more are still abandoned on city streets in areas where nobody has taken the time to call." Since that time, the city has stopped tracking this data. As such, no metric is available to say with certainty whether the problem has lessened or as some suspect, become worse.

The claim that carts are picked up quickly or that call volumes to the abandoned shopping cart hotline are low ignores the fact that the people taking these carts from the store are breaking the law. Due to the city's lack of ability and/or desire to enforce the law, they lend tacit approval to shopping cart theft and the blight on our community. Let us regain our pride in the beauty of our city. We need to enforce the existing laws and prosecute those that steal these carts then abandon them on our streets. And we need to require merchants with shopping carts to actively prevent their theft through the use locking devices or other means.

At the very least, I urge my fellow Sunnyvale residents to show that they care and that the ruin of our community does matter. Call the city's abandoned shopping cart hotline at 408.730.7680. and report those carts that you see. Working together, we can fix this.

Don Cohn

Bryan Avenue