Dallas Rounding Up Stray Shopping Carts

DALLAS (CBSDFW.COM) - Crews are hitting the streets this week in Dallas to round up some strays. They're not looking for stray animals, but stray shopping carts.

Abandoned shopping carts are common in some neighborhoods. In Vickery Meadow in north Dallas, they've been dealing with the problem for some time. "We are trying to make improvements in our neighborhood, and we believe that this is litter," said Angelina Avelos, Executive Director of the Vickery Meadow Improvement District. "Litter breeds more litter, and other things that come along the way. Many of our residents are concerned that it gives the impression that we don't care about our neighborhood, so we're trying to make a difference."

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That's why they've been running a program to pick up the abandoned carts. The neighborhood has several dozen apartment complexes and is within walking distance of several grocery and big-box retail stores, so the carts and add up quickly. While customers technically aren't supposed to take the carts off store property, it's not an offense that ranks as a high priority. "The offense is minor, and usually those people pushing the shopping carts are in poverty, so we're not seeing any enforcement there," Avelos said.

This week's shopping cart round-up is part of a broader effort by the city to address the problem. Avelos hopes the city will manage to work out something that's fair to the stores that own the carts, but also keeps neighborhoods looking good. "We certainly don't want our retailers to be penalized for their shopping carts," she said. "What we hope to do is to kind of hold our retailers a little bit responsible in helping us solve this issue."