Shopping Carts

Vandals have been dropping shopping carts from an overpass onto vehicles 17 feet below. No one was seriously hurt in the three attacks. No arrests have been made, but some teenage boys and young men are under investigation, officials said Wednesday.

Saying that shopping carts abandoned along streets are an eyesore, the City Council this week asked the city attorney to draw up an ordinance that would require businesses to install devices to prevent shopping cart theft. Councilman Ted R. Moreno suggested that metal strips with sensors be placed in parking lots. As shopping carts pass over the strip, the wheels lock up, making the carts useless, he said. Officials said such devices have been used successfully in other cities.

Taking a cue from nearby cities, Tustin is also investigating ways to deal with abandoned shopping carts. City Council members debated the issue this week, saying they might be willing to challenge a recent state law that restricts how shopping carts can be collected. "We have to crack down," Mayor Tracy Wills Worley said. "We're not going to put up with this blight."

Just when they thought they licked the problem of abandoned shopping carts littering the streets, city officials are having to rethink their strategy. A new state statute in effect outlaws Costa Mesa's shopping cart retrieval policy. In September, the city began collecting abandoned carts as soon as they were reported by residents and returning them to local markets for a fee. But the new law requires that carts be left on the street for 72 hours before the city can intervene.

Saying they are tired of seeing shopping carts abandoned across town, City Council members agreed Tuesday to require retailers either to hire cart retrieval services or pay fines. "It's metal graffiti all over the city," said Mayor Bruce A. Broadwater. Under the new ordinance, retailers who do not have an acceptable cart retrieval policy, either on their own or by hiring an outside contractor, must pay the city $11 for each shopping cart that city workers round up and return to them.

Abandoned shopping carts are no longer just unsightly; they are now illegal. City Council members overrode the objections of grocers and gave preliminary approval to an ordinance that would allow the city to seize free-floating carts from public and private property and to fine business owners who want them back. "Our shopping cart problem is second only to our graffiti problem," Mayor Joanne Coontz said. Police Chief John R.

Southern California's battle for control of the wayward shopping cart is entering a new phase in a grocery store parking lot in Costa Mesa. That's where Lucky Store No. 604 is testing a device to keep the carts on store premises and out of streets, alleys and sight of aggravated residents, who have been trying for years to halt the carts' travels around the area. The metal carts, residents and public officials agree, are a hazard and a telltale sign of urban blight.

Southern California's battle for control of the wayward shopping cart is entering a new phase in a grocery store parking lot on Harbor Boulevard. That's where Lucky store No. 604 is testing a device to keep the carts on store premises and out of streets, alleys and sight of aggravated residents, who have been trying for years to halt the carts' travels around the area. The metal carts, residents and city officials agree, are a hazard and a telltale sign of urban blight.

The mere mention of abandoned shopping carts can ruin a resident's day and send even the most mild-mannered city official into a blistering tirade. The issue has long been a point of contention in cities across Orange County as residents demand that officials act more quickly to corral the carts, which they say signal urban blight in the form of "metal graffiti." Now a new state law that restricts how cities can rid streets of stray carts has officials up in arms.

Keeping the city free of shopping carts has proved too costly for Costa Mesa, at least with the company it originally hired to do the job. The City Council recently canceled its agreement with Unlimited Contracting Service, hired last year to collect carts and return them to the markets from which they strayed. The council said it will save money by going with another company: Shopping Cart Retrieval Corp. City Manager Allan L.