The Bergen County Blue Laws - Controversy and Opportunity

A multimedia essay expressing the controversy and opportunity that exists behind New Jersey's Bergen County blue laws.

Created for a COM-255 project at Marist College, in response to a NY Times op-ed piece titled "When Democracy Weakens," which voices concerns about America's unstable financial state, stating, "While millions of ordinary Americans are struggling with unemployment and declining standards of living, the levers of real power have been all but completely commandeered by the financial and corporate elite." http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/12/opinion/12herbert.html?_r=1&src=me&...

Bergen County, NJ is home to several malls including the well-known Westfield Garden State Plaza, and is overall one of the country's richest retail areas. Despite being one of the largest and most popular commercial shopping cores of the New York metropolitan area, Bergen County is also home to the blue laws.

The blue laws prohibit Sunday shopping--except for "essentials" like food, alcohol and movie theaters. You can't buy sneakers or blank CDs, but you can buy bananas and a case of beer. The blue laws were originally established as a religious observance, but remain in Bergen County due to local residents' desire to have one day a week then traffic is more tolerable in this suburban retail paradise. The other 20 counties in New Jersey have rejected the blue law enforcement by voter referendum, but Bergen County is one of the few places in the United States that still maintains the blue laws. Paramus, NJ--which generates over $5 billion in annual retail sales--has the strictest blue laws in the nation.

Meanwhile, New Jersey is struggling with major debt. Republican governor Chris Christie's proposed 2010 budget incorporated a lift of the blue laws in hopes to raise an estimated $65 million sales tax revenue for the state. However, his attempt failed. The blue laws are still a highly controversial topic among government, businesses and residents.

From Governor Christie's perspective, lifting the blue laws would serve as a way to help generate both money for the state and jobs for the people. It would avoid the last-resort option of raising taxes or heavily cutting into other areas, such as major budget cuts in NJ school districts.

From most Bergen County residents' view (particularly in Paramus), and therefore many government officials' view (particularly Democrats), maintaining the blue laws enforcement is important because it provides a day of reprieve from the heavy traffic experienced in this commercial area.

From Bergen County businesses' perspective, most desire the freedom to practice their businesses on Sundays. Palmer Brothers--a family-run small business in Bergen County--is an example of a local business that has particularly battled with the blue laws. They received support after a storm devastated Bergen County one weekend, leaving residents waiting until Monday to purchase the sump-pumps, generators and other clean-up tools from their store. Now, Palmer Brothers is open for a few hours on Sunday, but they are still restricted from selling particular items on the blue laws list.

From other residents' view, the blue laws have become obsolete in today's world and may even do more harm than good. Some think the lift of the blue laws would help support small businesses. Some comment that Paramus homeowners--who tend to be the most vocal defenders of the blue laws--were well-aware that they would be living in a commercial town loaded with malls, traffic and highways, hence their lower tax rates than other towns. Some think traffic wouldn't be as bad on Saturdays if Sundays could be a shopping day too. And some simply find the blue laws to be an unnecessary inconvenience, especially since the laws were established prior to the modern age of working mothers.

The op-ed article mentioned above expresses concerns over America's financial condition, and pinpoints politicians and the "corporate elite" at fault for "one state after another reporting that it cannot pay its bills" and "public employees across the country walking the plank by the tens of thousands." The article also quotes Howard Zinn, stating, "If there is going to be change--real change--it will have to work its way from the bottom up, from the people themselves." Well, here's an opportunity for the people of one community to make a change for the overall good. We can keep complaining about issues like state debt, unemployment and school budget cuts, or we can vote to make changes like lifting the blue laws to help start addressing and preventing those problems.

All content generated by myself except the music, public broadcast clips, and (obviously) primary source documents like meeting minutes.

Category:

Nonprofits & Activism

Tags:

• blue laws
• Bergen County
• NJ
• New Jersey
• opinion
• political
• government
• financial crisis
• unemployment
• debt
• America
• United States
• Paramus
• Palmer Brothers
• small business
• local business
• Garden State Plaza
• malls
• commercialism
• shopping
• traffic
• Chris Christie
• Governor Christie
• Republican
• residents
• citizens
• 2010 budget
• school budget cuts
• change
• stupid law
• dumb law
• multimedia essay
• photo essay
• montage
• documentary
• student
• project
• amateur
• Marist College

[MattiasAyd]

God Bless our Blue Laws!! Those who don't like them should move!

[spacepatrolman]

@fromwkfsmouth if you want to see what happens when there is no blue laws watch the movie riot on sunset strip

[spacepatrolman]

@spacepatrolman check spacepatrolmans website in youtube because he ran the mafia out of paramus when they had illegal pornagraphy in the video store and the police and the wops in the bergan county prosecutors office did nothing