Village of Bronxville – Shopping Carts
§ 240-2. Legislative intent.
It is the intent of this chapter to eliminate danger and inconvenience to the public caused by the abandonment of shopping carts in public places, such as streets and sidewalks, within the Village of Bronxville, where the abandoned carts may become an obstacle and hazard to pedestrian and vehicular traffic.
§ 240-3. Definitions.
For the purpose of this chapter, the following definitions shall be included in the words or phrases used:
ABANDON — Includes leaving, discarding, dumping, throwing or placing of personal property in public places.
CART or SHOPPING CART — Includes any rolling or nonrolling basket or container, and any part or parts thereof, commonly used in supermarkets or self-service stores as a conveyer of goods, wares and merchandise.
OWNER — The merchant, purveyor of foods or other goods, establishment or corporation, who or which provides patrons or customers with shopping carts and, as a result thereof, has the responsibility under this chapter of placing the prescribed identification upon such carts.
PUBLIC PLACE — Includes any street, avenue, road, alley, lane, highway, boulevard, concourse, driveway, culvert, crosswalk, thoroughfare, off-street parking area, parking field, commercial parking lot, park, parking place, sidewalk, vacant lot, plot, parcel of land and other spaces or places available to or used by the general public.
§ 240-4. Cart identification of owner required.
It shall be unlawful for any person to provide carts for the use of patrons or in any store or business premises within the Village of Bronxville, unless the cart has permanently affixed to it a sign, metallic tag or other means for clearly identifying the owner of such a cart, and the specific store location at which said cart is used. In addition to the foregoing, the cart tag or other identification medium must bear a serial or other individual identification number sufficient to identify and distinguish it from other like carts belonging to the same owner.
§ 240-5. Owner’s responsibility for removal or abandonment of cart.
It shall be unlawful, and a violation of this chapter, for any owner to suffer or permit any person to take any cart from the owner’s premises or parking area and thereafter to abandon, discard, leave, place or suffer any cart to be left or placed in a public place.
§ 240-6. Responsibility of person for removing or abandoning cart.
It shall be also unlawful and a violation of this chapter for any person or customer to take any cart from an owner’s store, mercantile establishment or any place and thereafter to abandon, discard, leave, place or suffer or permit such cart to be left or placed on a public place as above defined.
§ 240-7. Penalties for offenses; enforcement.
A.Any person violating any of the provisions of this chapter shall, upon conviction thereof, be subject to a fine of not more than $250 or to imprisonment for not more than 15 days, or to both such fine and imprisonment. EN
B.The members of the Village of Bronxville Police Department shall be authorized and instructed to enforce compliance with this chapter by affixing summonses to any abandoned shopping carts found in any public places within the Village of Bronxville and in addition may issue a summons to any person seen abandoning a cart in violation of this chapter.
§ 240-8. Impoundment.
When any shopping cart is found abandoned in a public place, such shopping cart may be removed by the Police Department and stored in a suitable place at the expense of the owner, as specified below.
§ 240-9. Redemption. [Amended 3-13-1989 by L.L. No. 4-1989]
A. Any shopping carts removed from public places within the Village of Bronxville may be redeemed by the owner thereof any time prior to disposal by the village by tendering to the Village Clerk the fee as established by resolution of the Board of Trustees.
B. The Village Clerk shall require satisfactory proof of ownership or lawful right to possession of the property sought prior to release. Any return of property by the Village Clerk to an owner claiming the same, pursuant to this chapter, shall be an absolute defense to the village against any other person claiming same.
§ 240-10. Disposal.
In accordance with Article 13-A of the General Municipal Law and Article 7-B of the Personal Property Law, the Village Clerk may dispose of shopping carts held by the Village of Bronxville for a period of 15 days or more at a public auction held pursuant to notice.
A. Public notice. Public notice of the auction shall be given by publication once in the official newspaper or a newspaper designated by the Village Board for village notices, at least five days prior to the auction, and shall contain the time and place of the auction together with a brief description of the articles to be sold.
B. Proceeds. All proceeds received from the redemption of or sale of shopping carts at auction as herein provided shall be collected, applied and disbursed as damages to the Village of Bronxville for the costs of administration of this chapter; and any such sales or other dispositions shall be without liability on the part of the village to the owner of the carts or other persons having an interest therein.
