The blue laws are stupid. They need to go.

@ Tommy P -- very well articulated point with sound reasoning. Oo-oo-oo-oo-oo!...... GXR

Blue Laws are completely useless. Only in New Jersey can they create laws like those. If Paramus didn't want all of that traffic, they should have taken that up with the planning board when they were building all of those malls. We'd rake in tons of money from New Yorkers that don't want to pay sales tax.

"whine"... "abolish Bergen County blue laws," is a whine, not a wine, even if it is in a bottle or not!

Not really, I feel like I'm going to go insane. Theres nothing to do on Sundays, and I like to go do recreational activities on Saturday, and shop on Sunday. So how about we stop giving business to New York and Connecticut and rake in the cash for ourselves.

@ Michael -- agreed. There's more to life than consuming, shopping and collecting sales tax receipts. GXR

I agree with Michael and Gary.

Billy, Bergen's not that big a county. You can shop in Passaic easily.

Agreed, we do not need to be a 24/7 society for everything, all the time.

Mr. Mays,
I do not believe that your mindset is so limited that you can find nothing to do on a Sunday: there are movies, restaurants, museums, parks, etc., etc.—if you really can do nothing but shop on a Sunday, then I feel sorry for you.
Yes, I am content to send the tax revenue elsewhere to protect MY sanity, the quality of life of owners of small businesses in the county and employees of the large mall stores. Nobody moving into the county should have been unaware of the bule laws; researching a potential new home should be more complete by that, in my opinion.

I have a job, I'm tired after I get home from work. If you don't like traffic, move to Ohio or some other hillbilly backwoods craphole.

The same can be said to you Billy Mays, want to shop on Sundays? Move out of Bergen or go sit in traffic in another county. Let's leave the name calling out.

Some people actually "work" and come home late and cant find the time to go shopping. Fridays and Saturdays are the only two days us people with real jobs have to shop. What are you a truck driver?

I agree, I have a 9-5 job, sometimes 9-9, so by the time I get home, I'm either too tired to go shopping or the stores are closed. I don't have a housewife either, so she works pretty late too.

Tom, Mr. Mays is a known provocateur on these pages. No need to respond seriously.

The point is, Bergen County isn't exactly a regular suburban county. These towns should have thought about traffic before they approved all of those plans. It's their problem now. If you moved to Bergen expecting a nice quiet lifestyle, then you made the wrong choice. I will be moving out of Bergen County and into Manhattan as soon as my kids are in college. Central Park West is a bit nicer than Fort Lee.

THe "towns" should think about the traffic, but never should the residents think about the towns, its customs or its laws. Me, me, me....wahhhh!!!!....I have to this, I have to that.....wahhhhh!!!! Please "Billy Mays," why wait to move to Manhattan, it's waiting for you, now. And when you get there, the laws will change and conform to what you want, or is Manhattan the only place that does it right?....

Sorry for being bored on Sundays. Not everyone goes to church or synagogue, so the rest of us really have nothing to do. I'm gonna to start going to Vegas on weekends.

http://www.bergen.com/
http://www.mybergen.com/

Billy- no matter where you live in Bergen there are probably local forms of entertainment available to you on Sundays. Parks, libraries, etc. (Mind you here in Bergen you'd better not venture into a park paid for by another township's taxes or face harangues of complaints!) Or, as I said, you can shop down on 46 etc.

Where do you work? your parents house

Mr. Mays, I really should not engage, but the malls were first built in the late 1950s, they were told that they would be able to open 6 days a week. They were assessed their portion of property taxes. Yes, there have been malls built since; yes, the original two malls—the Garden State Plaza and the Bergen Mall, now the Town Centre—have expanded since, but my family is among the residents who lived here all through. I am not sure what you mean by a “regular suburban county”; when my parents moved in, they had to go to Hackensack to shop 7 days a week. We just recently waited through a huge construction project on the Route 4/Route 17 intersection to accommodate all the new residents, commuters, shoppers, etc., who travel through an intersection at a rate of >100,000 per day. It is not that we do not want to change with the times, it is that we want the change to be directed by residents and neighbors, not dictated to us by outsiders who move in knowing the rules of the area. I am glad that you are looking forward to living in Manhattan; why wait? (sorry if that seemed flip, but since you are planning to move, I see your weighing in on this issue as rather presumptuous—the effects of any decisions will last longer than your tenure.)

They do well because first off, the malls are nice, except Paramus Park, which sucks. And there is a huge amount of shops in a small area. I'm not saying that they don't do well. However, Paramus' blue laws are causing the state to lose quite a lot of money in taxes.

@ Billy Mays - >"Paramus' blue laws are causing the state to lose quite a lot of money in taxes".......As are NJ's alcohol prohibition on adults 18-20, prohibition on pot, meth, cocaine, heroin, etc, limitations on casino gambling to AC, prohibitions on stores opening 24 hrs.....the point is, limitations on commerce to maintain a quality of life. I believe the last referendum on this found a statistical landslide (60% +) IN FAVOR of blue laws. There are some reasonable arguments for overturning them, but on balance, the rationale for keeping them intact are more compelling. There is not much more to say on this -- it's been well discussed, over & over. My original point is there is a cadre of interests (especially commercial RE) constantly seeks to try, try, try again to get blue laws overturned, even though this issue has been decided "democratically." Once the anti-blue law side wins, it will in all likelihood be forever. A perverse reality with democracy these days (eg, EU). Let's stay vigilant -- and for this tourism group, please state, unequivocally, that overturning blue laws is NOT one of your goals. Based on my experience in commercial RE on wall st, I can tell you that Paramus/Bergen retail is some of the best and most profitable in the world -- on account of population density and affluence. The affluent choose to live here in this relatively crowded area because we are keeping (barely, I'd argue) a reasonable quality of life. Let's keep & improve it. Cheers, GXR

I'm sorry Gary, but Paramus isn't a very affluent area, in terms of housing at least. Sure theres a few million dollar houses. Where the real money is at, Alpine, Englewood, etc, I'm sure they'd love for the stores on their streets to be open. Do you know why? Because only some people can afford to shop there. I work on Wall Street, Gary. I have for the last 10 years. I'm going to disagree with you on that stores don't want to be open on Sundays. If they could divert customers from other areas, they would be very happy. I'm sick of going to Westchester on Sundays because I want to get my car waxed or serviced.

@ Billy May: to be clear, I am talking about the area around Paramus (Bergen County) -- not the town itself necessarily -- that is what is affluent. As you know, Routes 208, 4 & 17 are like conveyor belts from the malls/retail establishments to / from some of the richest towns in the country. I'm not sure what "stores" prefer -- I've heard mixed opinions from folks who own/operate retail business in Bergen -- so I won't venture a guess. But really, I don't care what the "stores" say or think. Retailers know (or should know) all about blue laws in Bergen County. They can take it, or leave it. Blue laws are a quality of life issue which should remain in effect. On a practical level, why would you ever go to Westchester for your car or to go shopping? Last I checked ,they do have stores, auto repair shops and car washes in Hawthorne, Wayne, Passaic & Rockland Counties. This thread has run its course, good day Billy Mays. CHeers GXR

Yeah, they do, but I'm not gonna trust my baby with anybody and if I can't use Paul Miller BMW, then Ray Catena in Westchester is the next best thing.

Not even shopping, just a place to hang out that isn't deserted.

...and where you can show off your hot BMW. We know you worked hard for it. :)

This has nothing to do with my car, the point is, other counties are getting business because of cranky old morons that are hell-bent on keeping all of those "city people" out of our "affluent" county for at least one day. Not to mention the religious idiots who want everyone to go to temple on Sundays to get their weekly brainwashing.

I'd rather drive my BMW around and look cool for the less-than-well-off-people in town.

That wasn't me, sorry.

Gary, Mr. Mays is a known provocateur. He will insist on the last word, and will bait endlessly. Most of us are with you.

I meant in general religious activities.

Joe, once again your talking through your hat.

Joe, I apologize, the previous commentator is not me. It's a mentally sick person that has been stealing my and many other people's names.

There all boring things to do. I'd rather just drive around in my BMW.

Not me

Get a life Milly.

Umm, I have a life, you've been trying to annoy me, but it isn't really working.

I only wish I could get up enough courage to leave my Mom's basement.