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Sunday Blue Laws – Lift 'Em or Leave 'Em ?

Sunday Blue Laws – Lift 'Em or Leave 'Em ?

Johnny Meatballs DeCarlo (September 21, 2013)

Exploring Both Sides of the Issue

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This afternoon, I drove back from Ridgewood where my wife works and I had to endure awful bumper-to-bumper traffic the whole way home. A 12-mile ride took me 45 minutes.


Tomorrow, I will make the same drive to visit the downtown Ridgewood Street Fair and I guarantee it will take half the time. Why? Because on Sundays here in Bergen County, the malls are closed along with many other establishments. There has been some recent talk about lifting the blue laws or at least having a public vote on it.

 

I'm a lifelong Bergen County resident, and the blue laws were always a positive thing for me and my family for several reasons. First off, I enjoy exploring all regions of the Garden State and I think many folks are so conditioned to go shopping that statewide tourism would suffer as less families would go visit our farms, parks and outdoor festivals and instead will opt to just go get that latest trendy pair of jeans. Especially in the summer when it's hot out and stores have AC.

 

Secondly, as an outdoor street food vendor, I benefit from these festivals when I do work on Sundays which always have great turnouts and are all filled with mom & pop crafters and businesses. We are street vendors, without a “brick and mortar” storefront. We need all the customers we can get, but if they go elsewhere, it would reduce our opportunity to earn while simultaneously clogging Route 17 with horrendous traffic and turning what should be a pleasant family day into a hectic regular day just like all the rest. Or maybe I am wrong. Maybe it will have no effect on Route 17. Hmm...let's look into that...

 

See those who oppose blue laws in Bergen County could not be farther from the truth with some of their commentary, and this discussion usually gets very heated because of all the false rumors out there. It is important for one to understand all sides of all issues, weigh pros and cons, and not take a stand based on misinformation or knee-jerk reactions. I was a VERY staunch supporter of blue laws until having multiple conversations with a friend on facebook who is on the other side of the issue in that he supports a public vote on the subject, not an immediate lift. He wants the people to decide.

 

What I learned in our conversations is that if the laws are lifted, each individual town would get to decide for itself whether it wants to allow unrestricted business on Sundays, or if it wants to enact its own local-ordinance restrictions. Paramus has such an ordinance, so any lifting of the laws would not automatically mean that the malls would open. He explained to me how people seem to inextricably connect the doing-away of the blue laws with Paramus, and Routes 4 & 17 but the removal of the county-wide blue laws will have no impact whatsoever upon Paramus. They have an ordinance on their books that's even stricter, which would continue in effect untouched.

 

All of that being said, still, most of the time, those who argue for the lifting of the laws are doing so because they simply want one more day to go to the Garden State Plaza and the other Paramus malls. They protest their inability to do so out of laziness, not out of stimulating independent economic growth. What I mean by laziness is, people don't want to be inconvenienced by driving a few miles west to the Wayne malls which are all open. Now here's a fact about stores in Bergen County towns. They make more money than any other towns in the entire nation. In SIX days. That is a statistical fact, although these figures are not broken down into independently owned businesses and corporate chains which I would love to see.

 

The thing is, blue laws have been in effect since the 1950s, and if they weren't working, they probably would not have been in place for so many years. I for one am a traditionalist. And though they may have originated (at least in part) with God in mind, another misconception is that the current reason for the laws are that they are religious based. Religion truly has nothing to do with it, the purpose is to keep a certain quality of life in the busiest region of the state—noise, congestion, traffic, pollution—all get eliminated for one day, and it gives residents of the area peace and quiet for a change to leisurely enjoy one day to travel and shop as they please. Yes, shop.

 

Grocery stores, restaurants, pharmacies, entertainment venues and MANY stores are STILL OPEN on Sunday. It is only clothing stores and certain electronics and furniture stores that cannot be, and it should not be an inconvenience for one to drive to Wayne or upstate to Rockland County. Or anywhere south of Paramus.

 

Still, despite the fact that lifting the laws would not immediately mean the malls would open, I believe in the slippery slope theory, that they eventually would. It would be truly sad if the only ones who benefit from a lifting of blue laws end up being these malls who are filled with out-of-state big corporations and franchises, not the “little guy” who has to compete with such corporations and franchises for the other 6 days a week.

 

Overall, I am kind of on the fence with this whole thing. I once felt that the detrimental result of turning the lives of us Bergen County folks completely upside down would be the only thing that would occur by lifting the laws. But now I am not so sure. If we can do it on a “trial basis,” I think that would be a step in the right direction to collect some data. Or, what I would prefer would be the vote. However, unlike a straight public vote, I think there should be a forum consisting of Bergen County business owners, where everything can be discussed first and then the vote takes place. I would be glad to participate in a “mock study” of such an idea, if, for no other reason, market research purposes.

 

Whatever the outcome, that is the democratic way... And nobody should be blue about it!

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Have you ever gone to

Have you ever gone to Willowbrook mall or the Palisades mall on Saturday? Then go again on a Sunday. You will see a huge decline in traffic. Rt 3 and rt 46 in Wayne and Clifton have alot less traffic on Sundays even though their stores are open. Chances are you will see the same reduction occur in Bergen county. For the most part, small businesses have wanted to repeal the blue laws.

I see your point about a small percentage of mom and pop businesses that benefit from blue laws but what about those families that could use an extra 4 or 8 hours of pay. Maybe that extra pay a high school student might get will be spent on a friday night at a carnival or festival.

Every small business owner wants the blue laws repealed

Every small business owner wants to see the county blue laws repealed, myself included.

It should be county-wide and

It should be county-wide and NOT town by town. Traffic will most likely still pass thru those towns with blue laws and it will be unfair competition.

Business owners like the blue laws. They need a day of rest!

It's been already on vote

It's been already on vote numerous times, and both times it's been NO by large margin. How many referendums do we really need? People want the blue laws, period.

Yey!! I love the laws and

Yey!! I love the laws and should be nation-wide

You made many good and valid

You made many good and valid points. I left Bergen County eight years ago for Huntersville NC just north of Charlotte. Let me tell you about shopping in our area that has few Blue Laws, except for alcohol. First thing you should know is the stores are less busy on Sundays. Saturday is still the busy day for shopping. One exception is that Lowes and Home Depot outdoor sections are slammed all weekend in the spring, because people are blinging up their yards for summer. Our area has many festivals year round and they are well attended. The main difference between here and Bergen is you can shop any day you want. Chick Filla and Hobby Lobby are closed on Sunday for religious reasons and no mall would think of forcing them to open. I like the idea of a referendum and allowing local towns to choose what they will allow. After all I am still a big believer of Jersey's Home Rule. Because most of the Rts. 4 and 17 corridor is built up there's not much chance of other areas siphoning off stores. If you have shopped much in Rockland County you know that they have bad traffic up there. So same goes for them stealing business. I never could feel bad for Paramus residents because although they have to deal with the traffic they also enjoy lower property taxes. Not to mention High re-sale values. So really I don't disagree or agree with either side. But I do agree that it should be up to the towns to make their choices.

Blue Law

Keep the Sunday Blue Law!

Sunday is the day of rest... No shopping. Paramus Hwy's are crazy during the week. Let the people have some peace n less traffic