LaBarbiera: Standing Behind the Blue Laws 100%

Mayor Rich LaBarbiera has been working hard to help local victims of Hurricane Sandy since the devastating storm hit last week. Now he's looking out for his constituents in another way - by doing whatever it takes to uphold the borough's Blue Laws, which restrict Sunday shopping and protect quality of life in Paramus.

Mayor LaBarbiera has directed the borough's attorneys to vigorously defend the Blue Laws against any court challenge by Bergen County Executive Kathleen Donovan. Donovan is seeking a ruling that would prevent Paramus from imposing any limitations on what can be sold and in addition to necessities like building materials, clothing and furniture on Sundays allow all retail stores to open and sell such things as books, jewelry, cars, accessories and other products that meet no urgent public need. 

"The Governor did the right thing issuing his executive order. We had actually allowed stores to sell necessities like building materials and generators and even allowed insurance companies performing inspections to open on Sundays before he took action to help residents dealing with the aftermath of this horrible storm," said Mayor LaBarbiera. "What we won't allow, however, is a cynical attempt to use this tragedy to chip away at our cherished Blue Laws, the one sacred thing that Paramus residents count on to give them some relief from the crush of shoppers at our stores."

Paramus has the strictest local Blue Laws in New Jersey, more restrictive than even Bergen County's version. The law is necessary to protect quality of life in the borough, which is home to some of the state's largest malls drawing thousands of additional cars to local streets every other day of the week. The Blue Laws have come under attack from outside groups several times before but Paramus has always rebuffed any attempt to weaken them. 

"Anyone who needs to buy something to help them make it through the storm will be able to under our interpretation of the Governor's order," said Mayor LaBarbiera. "What we don't need is thousands of additional, unnecessary shoppers taking up space on our streets and occupying our resources as we deal with this mess, which has hit Paramus very hard leaving many homes still without power. I will not sit back and let that happen to Paramus."