Mar. 8—The Astoria Metropolis Council is anticipated to approve an ordinance within the coming weeks to deal with stolen and deserted buying carts.
Police have obtained a rising variety of calls about deserted buying carts blocking sidewalks and left on personal property.
The ordinance would declare buying carts a public nuisance. The town’s two largest grocery shops — Safeway and the Astoria Co+op — can be required to choose them up inside just a few days. The companies may very well be topic to a $50 payment after the primary courtesy discover if the carts will not be picked up.
Police Chief Geoff Spalding mentioned police met with the administration at Safeway and the Astoria Co+op to craft the ordinance with the objective of lowering the variety of deserted buying carts and theft of the carts. He mentioned retailer managers have been supportive of the ordinance.
“One factor that we wished to emphasize is, this isn’t about punishing the shop homeowners,” Spalding mentioned throughout a Metropolis Council assembly Monday night time. “This isn’t a income generator. We’re not attempting to earn cash on this. We wish to work with them, and we’ll proceed to work with them.
“We’re simply attempting to achieve compliance and incentivize the return of those carts.”
The motion is one in all many the Metropolis Council is anticipated to take to answer high quality of life considerations tied to homelessness.
Metropolis councilors are anticipated to evaluation an ordinance protecting RVs within the coming weeks. The council can even talk about updating the town’s tenting ordinance and creating an expulsion zone ordinance, which might briefly expel repeat offenders from particular areas.
A neighborhood dialogue on homelessness and livability is scheduled for six:30 p.m. on March 23 on the Liberty Theatre, the place the town will present extra data and listen to from the general public.
The town will probably be joined by representatives from Clatsop Financial Growth Sources, the Astoria-Warrenton Space Chamber of Commerce and the Astoria Downtown Historic District Affiliation.
