Convenience stores catch heat at City Hall
Mayor concerned that some spots are generating too much litter
WOONSOCKET – Candy, soda and snacks are among the common denominators of the convenience store business, but if you’re looking for a spot outside to dispose of the packaging they’re sold in – well, it might not be so easy.
That’s because not all stores in the city have outdoor trash bins.
Fed up with littered lots at binfree locales, Mayor Lisa Baldelli-Hunt told members of the City Council Monday she’s considering legislation to make parking lot trash receptacles mandatory at convenience stores, but that plan is on hold – for now, anyway.
Instead, convenience store owners will first be getting a polite request to voluntarily do what might otherwise be demanded of them in the form of a new law: get a trash receptacle for their parking lots, and make sure they’re properly maintained.
“What’s happening is people are going into convenience stores and they’re buying the item, they’re walking out, they’re opening whatever they’re buying...it goes on the ground,” Baldelli-Hunt explained during a work session in City Hall.
The mayor didn’t identify any stores in particular, but she said
there are specific offenders where the problem is chronic. Highway crews are called to the same locations over and over again to pick up litter that is either openly discarded or allowed to become windblown from stores that do have bins, but fail to maintain them properly.
“Highway is out there picking up litter and the city is, I think, very clean,” the mayor said. “But there is always room for improvement and there’s always these areas where there seems to be a lot of trash.”
The discussion turned to voluntary compliance as a solution of first resort when Baldelli-Hunt suggested the council give convenience store owners a heads-up before acting on any possible legislation. At that point, Council Vice President Jon Brien suggested legislation might not be necessary at all.
Baldelli-Hunt indicated she was trying to avert the kind of reaction from business owners that occurred a few years ago, after the council, responding to a request for legislation from the Woonsocket Prevention Coalition, passed a measure giving store owners more responsibility for policing the sale of flavored tobacco products to minors. Many store owners complained they were caught by surprise and that the legislation would hurt their business.
“I’d like to see if we can get them to do it without telling them they have to do it,” said Brien. “They might say, ‘We’ll do it – you don’t have to make us.’”
Brien agreed to take on the lead role of reaching out to an individual who represents a loose collection of convenience store owners who sometimes band together to advocate for common interests. He said he’s had a friendly relationship with that individual for over a decade.
Brien said later he wants a chance to reach out to the advocate before divulging his identity in the newspaper.
During the meeting, councilors made it clear that legislation isn’t necessarily off the table to get a lid on the trash problem. If the do-it-yourself approach falls short, Council President Daniel Gendron indicated that the council could consider an ordinance requiring merchants to keep and maintain an outdoor trash receptacle.
After all, Gendron said, once the request for voluntary compliance goes out to the proprietors of the city’s convenience stores, it won’t take long to see if there’s been a change in behavior.
“You’ll see instantly if it’s working,” he said.
Councilman David Soucy said keeping an outdoor trash receptacle seems like a reasonable requirement for convenience stores.
“It makes sense,” he said. “I’m surprised it’s not already something that’s required.”
Baldelli-Hunt said she’d been contemplating asking the council to consider legislation for some time, after viewing a number of problem spots on a regular basis. But the mayor quickly embraced the voluntary option as a more business-friendly approach.
“The less regulation for small business, the better for me, too,” she told councilors.
There are currently no plans of going after the big fast-food chains whose litter is often part of the potpourri of common roadside detritus, but City Clerk Christina Duarte says several dozen convenience merchants in the city could be asked to clean up if Vice President Brien manages to reach them all.
Those affected fit into a category of vendors who hold what are known as “holiday” sales licenses, according to Duarte. They used to be known as “Sunday sales” licenses because convenience stores were once the only places where a jug of milk or a loaf of bread could be purchased on that day, but eventually the name changed to reflect greater relaxation of permissible retailing hours in the marketplace.
Holders of holiday sales licenses in the city include not just convenience stores, but a number of small neighborhood supermarkets and mom-and-pop corner stores.
Reached by phone after the meeting, Brien said he fully expects that all licensed convenience stores will hear of the city’s request to add a trash receptacle if they don’t already have one. They’ll also be advised to take precautions to prevent bins from overflowing.
“There are stores that have trash cans outside and yet they’re some of the worst offenders at not cleaning up their lots,” he said. “I just wish people would have a little more civic pride in keeping their businesses and surrounding property clean. Some do and some don’t.”