Wednesday, June 5, 2013
The members of Modernize Bergen County need 2,500 signatures by the end of September in order to get their initiative in front of voters.
A group seeking to repeal Bergen County's Blue Laws has collected about 1,200 signatures of the needed 2,500 to get a referendum on the ballot in November. Westwood resident Rosemary Shashoua, who founded the group, said their petition was aided by a particularly strong response at Teaneck's Memorial Day festival, where they collected about 400 signatures. "It was fishing in a stocked pond," Shashoua said. The group, called Modernize Bergen County, is setting their sights next on Fair Lawn's upcoming street fair and craft show. The event takes place on Fair Lawn Avenue and Plaza Road from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday. "I'm hoping we'll do as well as we did in Teaneck," Shashoua said. The group's efforts have sparked debate around the county. …
Monday, March 25, 2013
"Modernize Bergen County" is seeking 2,500 signatures to get a voter referendum aimed at repealing blue laws on the ballot in November.
A group of Bergen residents seeking to repeal the county's "blue laws" intend to get 2,500 signatures for a petition by the end of June so they can get their initiative on the ballot in November. The laws prohibit the sale of certain items — clothes, furniture, etc. — on Sundays. Westwood resident Rosemary Shashoua, the founder and chair of "Modernize Bergen County," previously told Patch she believed that permitting seven days of retail business each week would create more jobs and increase local tax revenue to counter economic troubles and ever-increasing property taxes. Members of the group also pointed to the difficulty of enforcing the laws because of online commerce on sites like eBay. The group has now just about completed their …
Monday, February 4, 2013
The president of the New Jersey Retail Merchants Association said he expects Bergen voters will repeal the county's "blue laws."
The leader of a retail group expects Bergen County will get rid of its "blue laws" prohibiting the sale of certain items on Sundays, according to a report on NJ.com. John Holub, the president of the New Jersey Retail Merchants Association, said he believes there is more support to repeal the blue laws now than there was the last time voters considered the issue in 1993, according to the report. "It's not a matter of if they'll repeal, it's just a matter of when," Holub said in the report. "We are light-years away in public sentiment than we were 20 years ago." The blue laws have been debated around the county since Gov. Chris Christie temporarily suspended the laws after Hurricane Sandy. Westwood resident Rosemary Shashoua is the leader of…
Tuesday, January 15, 2013
Rosemary Shashoua has started the group "Modernize Bergen County" to allow stores to open on Sundays.
One Westwood resident is fed up with Bergen County's "blue laws" and is working to have the "old fashioned" rules appealed. "All I want is more revenue for the state and more jobs," Rosemary Shashoua said. Shashoua has found some like-minded county residents and started a new group called "Modernize Bergen County" with the goal of repealing the blue laws, the rules which prohibit the sale of items like clothing, furniture and appliances on Sundays. Shashoua said she was inspired to start the group after Hurricane Sandy, when Gov. Chris Christie temporarily suspended county blue laws to aid recovery from the storm. "Nobody had any clothing and nobody had anything to fix up their houses," Shashoua said, referring to residents displaced by …
21st century concerned citizen
6:47 pm on Friday, June 7, 2013
As Jethro Tull sings Your are Living in the Past more ›