Tax dollars used to round up rogue shopping carts

Whose job is it to pick up shopping carts abandoned around the city?

Yours, apparently.

Through your tax dollars.

If you call 705-759-5201, the City of Sault Ste. Marie's public works and transportation department will answer 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and will arrange to haul away any shopping carts you report, at taxpayers’ expense.

Ward 5 Councillor Frank Fata has taken an ongoing interest in the large number of errant shopping carts he notices in local ditches and ravines, and on street corners.

Fata and Ward 2 Councillor Susan Myers recently asked the city’s administrative staff to look into the problem, arguing that the carts create dangerous situations and are an eyesore that detracts from the city's "Naturally Gifted" reputation.

Susan Hamilton Beach, the Sault's deputy commissioner of public works and transportation, got back to the councillors, indicating that her department has historically picked up shopping carts found on city property or roadways.

"A worker will pick up the cart as soon as is possible," Beach said, adding that the carts are returned to their originating stores if at all possible.

Councillor Fata isn’t satisfied with that response.

“It didn't get resolved the way I hoped it would get resolved,” Fata told SooToday.com.

“They shouldn’t be in the business of picking up shopping carts. I want to find a way to bring this to a stop. It has to start with the owners of the stores. Nobody's taking ownership of this problem.”

When Walmart opened at Station Mall, the store started using shopping carts with wheels that locked when removed from the property, Fata said.

How many shopping carts go missing in Sault Ste. Marie?

A lot.

Fata says Walmart alone lost 300 carts in its first few months of operation at Station Mall.

He says he knows one resident in the Fort Creek area who’s paid by local food stores, two or three dollars for each returned shopping cart.

The man earned $23,000 in one year, Fata told SooToday.com.

“There's a lot of carts being lost by these stores. It has to be addressed in some shape or form. When it leaves the property, it’s stolen. It seems to be accepted as normal when someone pushes a cart down Queen Street West.

When carts are abandoned at busy intersections, they pose a definite safety hazard, Fata says.

Councillor Fata intends to follow up with local police and food stores to try to find a solution.

“I believe that should be their role: It should be the responsibility of the store owners.”