Teaneck, NJ - Township Drops Blue Laws Effort

Teaneck, NJ - Legal concerns have sunk the Township Council's plan to ask voters whether the town should be exempted from the Sunday blue laws.

Township Attorney Stanley Turitz said ballot questions can reference only issues that the township can take action upon. The town does not have the authority to repeal the blue laws. It can only lobby the state Legislature to do so. "By placing this question on the ballot, it would not sustain a legal challenge," Turitz told the council, moments before it decided to abandon a vote on whether to pose a November ballot question on the issue.

The laws, which date to Colonial times, prohibit certain items, including clothes, furniture and appliances, from being sold on Sundays.
Those who support the restrictions say they provide a day of peace that would otherwise be shattered by motorists heading to shopping malls and downtowns.
Opponents say the laws are antiquated and rob merchants and towns of revenue.

Bergen is the only one of New Jersey's 21 counties that has not abolished the blue laws.
The blue laws, combined with the fact that the town has a large Orthodox Jewish population that does not shop on Saturdays, has hindered Teaneck from attracting national chains that would help its business districts, township officials and some residents have said.