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BOSTON (WBZ NewsRadio) — Two Boston City Councilors are trying to stop young people from recklessly using shopping carts in South Boston.
The neighborhood has recently experienced a string of incidents in which local youth steal Stop & Shop shopping carts, take them on joyrides through the streets, and crash them into each other and residents' vehicles.
"It’s a quality of life issue. It’s also a public safety issue," City Council President Ed Flynn told WBZ NewsRadio. "Kids putting another kid inside a cart and letting him go down the hill at fast speed. You know, we have a lot of seniors walking the sidewalks and persons with disabilities."
Flynn and Councilor Michael Flaherty sent a letter to the Stop & Shop at 713 E Broadway in South Boston about the multiple complaints they have received from residents about the issue, and asked the supermarket to do its part in preventing young people from stealing the carts.
The letter wrote, "In the interest of public safety, personal property and quality of life issues, I would like to respectfully request that Stop & Shop work to address this matter by looking to maintain their shopping carts on-site, perhaps via technological upgrades and an electronic system, and prevent them from being taken off premise. This is an issue that requires multiple partners to work together. We ask that Stop & Shop, as a critical part of the South Boston community, to please step up as a good neighbor and be part of the solution."
"They're cooperating, they know this is an important issue," Flynn told WBZ. "There’s actually a city ordinance in place requiring supermarkets to have a program where they’re focused on maintaining their shopping carts in and around their property, and there’s a small fine if they don’t comply with it."
WBZ's Kim Tunnicliffe (@KimWBZ) reports.
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