Frank Mitts, 40, wakes up to find at least three abandoned shopping carts in or near his carport each week. It's an ugly sight in this Van Nuys neighborhood of modest, single-family homes and neat lawns.
"People dump them on our property," said his wife, Marisela Mitts, 30. "It's a mess."
Abandoned shopping carts, sometimes filled with trash, are a growing problem in Los Angeles. Residents and community activists say they are irked by the eyesore and nuisance.
"It seems like a small [issue], but it affects the quality of life," said Wendy Saunders, executive director of the Mid Valley Family YMCA near Vanowen Street and Van Nuys Boulevard. "It kind of makes you feel like you are in a neighborhood that's not cared about."
For some, abandoned carts are a safety issue. Valley resident Alfonso Miranda, 38, said wind often blows the carts onto streets. His wife's car has been damaged by a cart.
"They hit our cars and nobody pays for it," said Miranda as he motioned to a gray, plastic cart lying on the grass near his home.
City Councilman Tony Cardenas launched a six-month program this week in his district that promises to pick up abandoned carts within 48 hours of a complaint. If it's successful, the program could be implemented citywide, he said.
Residents of District 6 -- which covers Van Nuys, Arleta, Panorama City, Sun Valley and parts of Pacoima and North Hollywood -- can call Cardenas' office with the location of an abandoned cart. The information is e-mailed to the Bureau of Sanitation, and a bureau staff member picks up the cart and contacts the store owner. Store owners have 10 days to pick up their retrieved carts from a Sun Valley sanitation center. Immediately after the program was launched Monday morning, six complaint calls came in and 12 carts were collected. Each day since, 60 to 70 carts have been collected, bureau supervisors Robert Potter and Daniel McKay said.
Robert Garcia, 21, the sanitation bureau employee responsible for picking up the carts, has five target areas in the Valley that he scopes out after he responds to calls. At 6 a.m., he sets out in a truck that can hold 40 carts, and his travels extend from Balboa Boulevard in Van Nuys to Glenoaks Boulevard in Sun Valley.
"Any store you got out there," Garcia said, "more than likely I've got a cart from them."
Jackie David, a Bureau of Sanitation spokesperson, said abandoned shopping carts are a citywide problem that has grown over the last 10 years. Until now no system has tracked the number of carts abandoned or retrieved.
