Deputy Mayor takes on Bergen Blue Laws
December 7th 2014
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, Deputy Mayor Albert Pucciarelli has scheduled another CBD Panel Discussions – January 21, 2015 at 7:30PM.
One of the topics the Deputy Mayor has decided to tackle are Bergen County’s blue laws .
Deputy Mayor Albert Pucciarelli has scheduled another CBD Panel Discussion for January 21, 2015 from 7:30PM to 9PM. It will be held in the Village Hall Court Room. The two topics for discussion will be – CBD Parking and Blue Laws.
County Executive Elect Tedesco on Blue Laws referendum
A: “I believe that everyone has the right to express themselves. Do I
want to see the Blue Laws go? Emphatically not.
“As a matter of fact, your paper and many news organizations published
stories back in 2010 when the Republican governor wanted to eliminate
the Blue Laws and came up with some fuzzy math that said we’re going
to make all this money.
“And I went on TV and did a press conference along with my partners in
Maywood and told them, ‘Over my dead body Governor.’
– See more at: https://blog.northjersey.com/bergenbeat/9247/verbatim-tedesco-on-blue-laws-referendum/#sthash.uRwIpoT3.dpuf
How do we stop this PUCCIARELL guy? He is out of control.
Tedesco will preside over the demise of the blue laws, denying the whole time that he wants to see them go. Money may be the mother’s milk of politics, but plausible deniability is baby’s first solid food.
This is out of the scope of his job. I do not need him to go after the county blue laws.
Focus on Ridgewood issues – like sidewalks on Clinton. Or leaf pickup.
Maybe he wants Sunday shopping in downtown Ridgewood.
I do not.
Hopefully the blue laws will stay in place, as for so called bigAl when is his term up? Maybe he and the mayor can leave town together.
Be careful- the Blue laws have been a blight on residents of Bergen County. I worked for Judge Presseler that issued a paper on this subject. It is on the edge of being illegal —
And should be repealed immediately.
The laws are not a blight on county residents if that were true the voters would have voted to eliminate them long ago.
Everything is a joke to big Al.
I love blue laws
Dom is just as bad as his buddies The three amigos. Dom Please!
Deputy Mayor Albert Pucciarelli is a NY boy did you expect anything less. Albert Pucciarelli is our joe Biden.
How would the small business owner benefit from a 7-day work week? Wouldn’t we end up with nothing but chain stores, losing completely the small-town businesses owned by locals who actually cared about the Village that once made Ridgewood’s downtown great? Is this part of Mr. P.’s determination to change our town to a city?
Send Albert Pucciarelli packing and he can take the Carpetbagger and dimwit with him. Civility my ass.
Guess he’s done ruining Ridgewood so now he wants to make the rest of the county miserable.
It is said that, as an institution, the U.S. Supreme Court did its dead-level best to avoid deciding any of the cases or controversies under its purview in a way that would have required them to formally condemn a state Blue Law statute as unconstitutional. And in Braunfeld v. Brown (1961), a case in which an Orthodox Jew challenged Pennsylvania’s blue laws, the court went so far as to declare them constitutional by a 6-3 vote, with Chief Justice Warren writing the majority opinion.
Satisfied (refreshingly) to take a hands-off approach to such disputes, they sat back to watch with the rest of us what would become of such laws over time if “We the People” were allowed to decide for ourselves what to do without the overhanging threat of abrupt and inherently undemocratic federal judicial action a ‘la Roe v. Wade (or, more recently, with respect to various Defense of Marriage statutes). This despite the fact that at least some justices over the years were personally convinced that such laws did, in fact, violate our founding national charter, as amended after the Civil War and subsequently found to apply to local, county and state governments. For you see, the original document in terms never did apply to the States, even as amended by the first ten amendments, traditionally referred to as the Bill of Rights, James Madison’s enduring gift to the country in his role as the first Speaker of the House.
So what happened? Well, as the story goes, the slow-grinding gears of democracy and self-government did what gears do and eventually chewed up and spit out most Blue Law statutes, leaving only a scattered few left in place.
But … not … everywhere! This is from Wikipedia (today):
In the United States, the U.S. Supreme Court have held blue laws as constitutional numerous times due to secular rationales, even though the origin of the blue laws were for religious purposes. Most blue laws have been repealed in the United States, although many states still ban the sale of alcoholic beverages or cars on Sundays. Bergen County in New Jersey is notable for their blue laws banning the sale of clothing, shoes, furniture, home supplies and appliances on Sundays kept through county-wide referendum. Paramus, New Jersey has its own blue laws even more strict than the county itself, banning any type of worldly employment on Sundays except necessity items such as food and gasoline.
Now think about it. The signal has now been been flashed at the highest levels of this country that the elites are ready to take centralization of power to the next level. Federal omelets being what they are, you can’t make them (or cause them to grow) without breaking a few eggs. Statist progressives (and you know who you are, some of you even sporting an (R) next to your name) have just been handed a sixty-year political drubbing. Even now we can see that this ravaging pack of jackals is casting about, looking for a light snack to drag back with them as they slink back to the nearest shade tree to lock their wounds. The Blue Laws of Paramus and Bergen County are so clearly vulnerable to being the next inattentive young gazelle to be taken down by this amoral band of outcasts, determined to keep the myth alive that the Constitution provides a so-called “wall of separation” between church and state (look it up, this was merely a quote from a Jefferson-penned letter circa 1819–he was just jealous that he was stuck in France when G.W., J.M. and A.H. had all their fun during 1787-1788), or that the Constitution gives citizens freedom FROM religion (as the ACLU would have it).
Yes, incoming County Executive Tedesco, aware of prior promises, will no doubt pay sincere lip service to the New Jersey tradition of Home Rule. But just as Governor Christie gave up independent thought and adopted the Lady Gaga theory of human sexuality (“Born This Way”) when asked to sign legislation banning therapy programs designed to retrieve New Jerseyans from the vice grip of one of the worst types of mortal sin, Mr. Tedesco, when the back-and-forth battle to retain our particular style of life reaches a near-term critical point, when a well-placed and persuasive voice, one way or the other, will be all that’s needed to turn the tide and win the day, can be relied upon to go AWOL.
Why, you ask, given his seemingly black-and-white public statements on this issue, would Tedesco be willing to engage in such a blatant flip-flop? Well, we could advert to the leopard-never-changes-its-spots analogy, but we’ve already established the canine, non-apex predator characteristics of the modern progressive. Moreso he will resemble the Scorpion who cruelly stings the Frog halfway through a good-faith ferry ride on the Frog’s back across a rushing river. When, in his last dying gasp, the Frog laments: “Why ever have you done such a thing? Surely we both shall now perish!”, the Scorpion replies:
“It’s in my nature.”
#16
suc·cinct (sk-sngkt)
adj. suc·cinct·er, suc·cinct·est
1. Characterized by clear, precise expression in few words; concise and terse: a succinct reply; a succinct style.
I say screw the old blue laws, it’s old world bull shit.