A proliferation of abandoned shopping carts creates a visual blight in the city and causes a number of other issues. It reduces property values, interferes with pedestrian and vehicular traffic, impedes emergency services and is generally a public nuisance. In 2016, the City Council adopted regulations to ensure that owners and operators of retail businesses who provide shopping carts take reasonable measures to provide prompt retrieval of abandoned carts. The City’s Shopping Cart Retrieval Program is based on input received from the community. Conversely, to assist business owners in reducing the number of lost shopping carts, the ordinance follows the provisions of state law by stipulating that removal of a cart without permission of a business constitutes a criminal misdemeanor.
A summary of the ordinance can be accessed at PDF Document Link. The complete ordinance, Cathedral City Municipal Code Chapter 13.160, can be accessed at Municipal Code Link.
For additional information, contact Patrick Milos, Community Development Director, at (760) 770-0319.
