Select Board members are tired of abandoned shopping carts and overgrown vegetation on Route 6, and are demanding change from problem property owners.

At its August 14 meeting, board member Shawn McDonald specifically called out Walmart as the biggest supplier of abandoned shopping carts. He specified one such shopping cart, tilted on its side in the median in front of Connecticut Avenue.

"Once in awhile you see a Target one there, but a majority is Walmart, and it’s really coming from the people who are living in the motels,” McDonald said. “They have no transportation to go where they need to get either food or clothing or other items. The state brings them down here, leaves them, and basically they’re on their own.”

In Dartmouth, as in many other towns, motels built decades ago for vacationing families are now largely occupied by the otherwise homeless. In some cases, the state places people in motels as part of its effort to combat homelessness. In others, individuals find motels to be simple, inexpensive housing.

Board members decided to send another letter to the store about the issue – the third letter in two years. Town Administrator David Cressman noted that at one point, a store manager was in discussions with a regional manager to install a system to better control shopping carts on the property, but it is not clear if such a system was ever installed.

Board chair Frank Gracie suggested making it clear that it will be the final letter before the town takes action, which could include collecting the shopping carts and billing owners for cleanup costs.

McDonald also noted vegetation overtaking a sidewalk adjacent the Moby Dick Motel. Property owner John DeMello Jr. was asked two weeks ago to cut the grass, which has not yet been done, Cressman said. DeMello reported that he had contacted the state Department of Transportation about the issue.

“How about them just getting a lawnmower and going out there and cutting it themselves?” McDonald asked. “It’s their property. Everybody else on that highway cuts their lawn. These guys don’t seem to do it.”

McDonald said it has become a public safety issue, as pedestrians are forced to walk in the travel lane around the overgrown vegetation. He also pointed to a similar issue near the intersection of Slocum Road.

On a positive note, McDonald praised the Dartmouth Police for placing a message board by the Route 6-Reed Road intersection. The board alerts drivers that using the breakdown lane as a right-turn lane is unlawful. Town officials had complaints about drivers using the lane to bypass stopped traffic and turn right onto Reed Road.

“It has caused some decent conversation on Facebook, but I can see the drop-off in the use of the breakdown lane,” McDonald said. “It’s still going on, but there’s been a significant drop-off.”