City: Changes coming to shopping cart ordinance
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The city Department of Development is in the midst of working on a proposed ordinance that will look to regulate things such as abandoned shopping carts in the city.
There is still much work to be done on the ordinance, and Director of Development Crystal Surdyk shared with the City Council's Housing Committee on Monday the reasoning behind the ordinance.
Specifically, the ordinance is looking to help with the city's growing urban mining problem, though Surdyk acknowledged that there are some concerns about the possibility that the ordinance could have a negative impact on the city's homeless population, something they are still looking to address before the ordinance's final draft.
"There's already some things that we've seen that we want to change," Surdyk said. "I want to be really, really clear on where this is coming from, because I think there's been some concern and I want to address that concern that it is going to negatively affect our homeless population, and we acknowledge that that's a possibility and there are some solutions that we've got to come up with to not add another barrier or obstacle to those individuals."
Surdyk emphasized that the ordinance is to address the city's rampant urban mining issues, saying that there are a lot of people throughout the community that help themselves into what is seen as an abandoned property and will strip them of anything they see as able to be scrapped, such as wire or plumbing. This then turns a property that could potentially be rehabilitated, and may already be in that rehabilitation process, and turning it into something no longer salvageable.
"It is out of control and we are really unsure what to do about it," Surdyk said. "There are few things that we can do. Addressing the cart issue, because there are carts everywhere, and we see them a lot of times full of scrap and our department doesn't have the ability to stop somebody pushing a cart full of scrap. But, we know where it comes from and we probably know the house that they took it out of. We know that it is stolen, and we've been working with JPD on this, but unless it is witnessed or there is proof that they took it from a house that doesn't belong to them, there's not a whole lot that they can do either."
Some headway has been made with Weitsman's, Surdyk added, letting them know it is a growing concern, and there are regulations in place, and Weitsman's is also working with the police department to help get a handle on it on their end as well. Carts, Surdyk said, seem to be the vehicle of choice when it comes to urban mining in the city, adding that it is illegal to steal a cart, but there has to be proof that they were stolen as well.
"So, that's really where this came from," Surdyk said. "This is not an attack on people who are unhoused; I just want to make that clear. We've already looked at the cart code and are trying to make some adjustments to just some of the way the language reads so we are being considerate of that. Some individuals, everything they own might be in these carts or buggies or whatever it is they are using, so we want to make sure that's taken into consideration."
Logistics for that have not been fully worked out yet, which is why this ordinance is only currently up for council discussion and not to vote. The intent is to try to get a handle on the criminal activity, which Surdyk said, carts seem to be the vehicle of choice for. A question was asked if the Development Department has contacted any stores about this yet, and Surdyk said while they have not gotten in contact with stores yet, they will need to be involved, especially ones who own the carts being found abandoned. It was also noted that locally owned stores will be easier to get in contact with than the bigger corporate stores that will need to be contacted at the corporate level. Tops on Washington Street also has anti-theft mechanisms in place, which may be something seen at more stores as they go.
Surdyk said the logistics will continue to be worked through to make sure people will not be losing all of their possessions with this ordinance along with other things like where carts will be stored.
"I just want to be open and honest about that," Surdyk said. "It's something we will have to work out before any ordinance is approved. But, we are trying to work on those logistics."
The ordinance also addresses things like wagons and strollers, which is part of the language that will need to be changed, though Surdyk added the ordinance also addresses these types of vehicles not being used for their intended use. She said they need to take subjectivity out of it and make it as easy for law enforcement to enforce as possible.
"There's constitutional rights that people have and we want to make sure it's worded in a way that is actually enforceable by the police department and by the courts, because if someone is ticketed for this it has to be enforceable in court as well," Surdyk said.
The issue of being able to prove where things like the carts and scrap came from will also be indirectly addressed by the ordinance, Surdyk said, as the goal is for it to prevent people from stealing the carts as much. Surdyk reemphasized that things still need to be changed in it before the ordinance becomes official, and that it may still even need to be tweaked once it is official if some things come up after.
"It's hard to get it perfect the first time, but we will continue to work through it and do the best we can to make sure it is enforceable and is using the law to address the intent of what it is we are actually trying to address," Surdyk said.
It was also noted that while other issues related to the problem such as abandoned homes with absentee owners may contribute to urban mining and the cart issue, each issue is separate and addressed on their own in different ways.