Many retail establishments provide shopping carts for the convenience of customers while shopping on the premises of such businesses. However, shopping carts removed from the premises of such businesses and left abandoned on public or private property throughout the City constitute a public nuisance and a potential hazard to the health and safety of the public. The proliferation of lost, stolen or abandoned shopping carts on public and private property causes blighting conditions in the community, results in the obstruction of free access to public and private sidewalks, streets, parking lots and other ways, interferes with pedestrian and vehicular traffic on public and private streets, and impedes emergency services. For the aforesaid reasons, such lost, stolen or abandoned shopping carts are hereby declared to be a public nuisance which shall be subject to abatement in the manner set forth in this chapter or in any other manner provided by law. The purpose of this chapter is to set forth regulations to ensure that reasonable measures are taken by the owners and operators of businesses which provide shopping carts for the convenience of customers to either prevent the removal of shopping carts from business premises and parking lots, or provide for the prompt retrieval of lost, stolen or abandoned shopping carts, to complement and supplement provisions of state law, and to adopt local regulations to the extent not otherwise preempted by state statute. (Ord. 6013 § 1 (part); February 7, 2006.)