A Jamestown resident is calling on City Hall to “check out” ways to curb the abandonment of shopping carts around the city.

At least one councilman agrees that something needs to change.

Melissa Paterniti went before the council during a recent work session to highlight what she said has become an increasing nuisance and one that is leaving a black mark on Jamestown.

She provided council members with copies of an ordinance on lost and abandoned shopping carts from a municipality in the state of Washington as an example of what steps the city can take to curb the problem.

Paterniti said the city can level a fine to businesses if its carts crop up elsewhere. In the example she provided, businesses are issued a $100 fine per shopping cart that is recovered. After 12 carts are identified, fines go up to $200.

“Every single time I drive around the city, I see a shopping cart,” Paterniti told the City Council. “I get that people are using this as a mode of transportation to get things from Point A to Point B, but it’s also theft.”

She suggested that individuals who take shopping carts be fined as a way to deter theft.

“This has been bothering me for years and years,” Paterniti said. “And, probably in the last couple of years, it’s been really bad.”

Councilman Jeff Russell, R-At-Large, agreed with Paterniti regarding abandoned shopping carts.

“It kind of gets under my skin as well a little bit,” he said. “It’s become an epidemic in the city here over the last few years — carts all over the place. So, I would agree with you, that it’s a problem that needs to be solved.”

Russell, who chairs the council’s Public Safety Committee, said for individuals to be held accountable for stealing the carts, businesses need to press charges.

“I think this is definitely something that we should have discussions about going forward,” Russell said. “It seems to be a more prevalent problem here in the city. I agree, it gives a bad look to the city to see these carts all over the place.”