White Rock Hills residents asked to call Wal-Mart to complain about abandoned cart

Mike Orren, says:

Walmart got the cart this afternoon.

Teresa Gubbins, says:

am just speechless at the degree of self-absorption and entitlement. how far away is the frickin walmart? how about a nice walk on a sunday afternoon?

it takes a lot for me to want to feel pity for walmart -- but by golly, WRH Neighborhood Association #1177 has done it

Mike Orren, says:

I fear this one is my fault for re-posting quickly without context:

This neighborhood association (which includes my home) isn't some uppity HOA dictating paint colors on mailboxes -- It's been fighting a war in one of the highest-crime areas of the city. And one of the tactics that has brought crime down over the past year is zero-tolerance for trash, graffiti, junk, etc. It's been proven in studies, as well as in practice here that things like discarded shopping carts around increase crime by sending a message that no one gives a damn.

Second, there is a regular foot-traffic thoroughfare through this area of single-family houses, as folks who live in low-income apartments on the other side of the neighborhood travel back and forth to the Wal-Mart. Less likely a prank than a customer who didn't want to return a cart.

I am not certain, and will endeavor to check this afternoon, but it is my recollection that this Wal-Mart uses those secured shopping carts with wheels that lock down when you get a certain distance away from the mothership -- which would complicate a return of the cart. (And I, for one, don't have access to a vehicle that would carry such a cart.)

I was not involved in the creation of the email (which I'm sure only took our e-savvy neighborhood association president seconds to send), but from where I sit, the Wal-Mart has not been a particularly good neighbor. I've been threatened several times in the parking lot by loiterers; the store is always dirty, in disarray and understaffed. And, despite one of the most active Weed n' Seed's in the country, I've never personally seen Wal-Mart involved in any of the myriad events geared towards improving the neighborhoods surrounding it. (They're conspicuously absent from the <a href="http://www.fergusonroad.org/partners.html">partners list</a> on the FRI website.)

So really, the thing that was really over-the-top here was my posting it as a news story, even at the "neighborhood/niche" level. I did so because I know we've got a high density of readers in my hood and it was relevant to them.

Billusa, not sure which WalMart you're talking about, but the one mentioned here is still open: http://www.walmart.com/storeLocator/c...

Teresa Gubbins, says:

bummer. i liked this better when it was arrogant SUV-driving jerks who couldn't be bothered to wheel a grocery cart two blocks down the road. sigh. now who can we make fun of

Mike Orren, says:

Aha-- I drive past that store every day on the way to PNWHQ. Was surprised to see it close.