There’s an old joke that ends with the punchline, “we’re from the government and we're here to help.” I fear that applies to the city’s new shopping cart ordinance.
I still don’t know who is the victim that this new law is trying to save. It certainly isn’t the store owners. They have just been handed a new, burdensome government mandate that they didn’t want or ask for.
This is now the second time the city has told store owners how to run their business. First they dictated what kind of bags could be used and what the store was required to charge for them. Now they’re dictating how shopping carts are managed.
The new law allows the municipal court to levy $500 fines against people who don’t have $5 to their name. Those who can’t pay the fine can be sent to jail. While I trust the current police and court to handle this new power responsibly, the potential for abuse in the future is obvious.
And for what purpose? If not to protect the stores, the only other answer is that this is being done to protect all of us from the discomfort some people feel when seeing a homeless person pushing a shopping cart down the sidewalk. It’s a bad look for our city. We wish they weren’t there.
The new law hasn’t even taken effect yet, and it has already produced negative consequences. The day after the ordinance was passed, two employees of a local Albertsons grocery store reclaimed one of their shopping carts from a homeless woman, leaving her belongings scattered along the ground.
Albertsons denied it, and supporters of the new ordinance accused the Community of Hope, which posted about the incident online, of fabricating the story. But surveillance video has since confirmed it, according to police.
I don’t know either man, and certainly can’t judge what was in their hearts. But that couldn’t have felt good. I can’t believe either one went home that evening happy about what they had done to keep their jobs.
Police Chief Jeremy Story said the ordinance is clear that stores should not try to retrieve their carts. But store owners aren’t lawyers and typically don’t spend their time sifting through the legal minutia of each new ordinance. It’s not surprising that one of them apparently thought they would be held responsible for every stray cart found by police.
Story assured us that he will have discussions with each business owner as part of the implementation plan for the new ordinance.
A fundraising effort was started to purchase carts for people who need them to gather and transport their belongings. Which is the most logical solution. Shopping carts are expensive, and those out in the community were stolen at some point along the line, even if not by the current owner.
This is just one example of the additional burden that has been placed on the Community of Hope to deal with the unintended adverse consequences of this new ordinance. The city is relying heavily on programs and services that are not yet fully in place. Even if everyone involved with the enforcement of this new ordinance has the best of intentions, it is still likely to cause harm. It has already caused harm.
All so that our delicate sensibilities won’t be offended by the sight of a homeless person carrying everything they own in a shopping cart.
Walter Rubel can be reached at waltrubel@gmail.com
