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The city of Las Cruces announced a meeting aimed at helping businesses comply with the controversial shopping cart ordinance passed in early August.
The ordinance hopes to force businesses to take better care of shopping carts by requiring them to submit plans to the city. These plans must include what steps the business is taking to ensure carts stay on the property.
The same ordinance also criminalizes using the cart outside of the business’s property, an activity often associated with the activities of Las Cruces’ unhoused residents.
The ordinance passed on a 4-3 vote of the Las Cruces council on Aug. 5. Proponents said it was a key step in improving public safety outcomes, while opponents said it was ineffective and unjustly targeted unhoused Las Crucens.
After it was passed, police said two Albertsons employees roved Las Cruces collecting shopping carts with the national chain’s branding, leading them to reclaim a cart from an unhoused woman and leave her belongings strewn across a parking lot. No criminal charges were filed against the two employees.
The ordinance does not require businesses to collect their property; they are just required to inform Las Cruces how they plan to protect their carts. Now, the city is looking to curtail that sort of behavior.
The meeting, scheduled for Sept. 10 at city hall, 700 N. Main Street, from 6 to 8 p.m., is meant to educate business owners and operators on their responsibility. It will also be live streamed on the city’s YouTube page.
