From the February - March 2001 Edition 

Sunday Blue Laws and Stores on Broadway   In response to articles in the Revitalizing Fair Lawn special section in the last issue, we received the following letters:    Sunday Blue Laws The Sunday Blue Laws should be repealed.  They are archaic and serve to inconvenience large segments of the population.  Bergen County stores lose money to retailers in other counties where they are open on Sunday.  Bergen County residents should be able to shop in Bergen County 7 days a week.  If a municipality wants to prohibit that, as Paramus has, that should be a local decision only for that municipality.  If the people in Fair Lawn want to shop in their own stores on Sunday, they should be allowed to.  Ditto other Bergen County towns.  This decision should not be made by the County.  It is a local decision for the people of Fair Lawn to make.  AOL User     More on Sunday Blue Laws I feel the Sunday shopping laws are outdated.  There is no reason I shouldn't be able to shop on Sunday, and I voted that way when the bill came up a few years back.  Sunday shopping is good for the community as a whole.  Shopping on Sunday in Bergen county will not only increase revenues by bringing back shoppers from Passaic and other counties.  I also feel it will lessen the demands on the roads, since now shoppers will have an extra day, Fridays and Saturdays won't be such of a “mad house”. JT   Sunday Shopping Laws There is www.dumblaws.com for such things.  Only Passaic county's stores get a profit of this law. Alex Zubovsky       Desired Stores For Broadway I would like to see a bath and beauty shop (a la The Body Shop or Aveda), a coffee bar/dessert place, a tea shop (I miss My Cup of Tea), a gift/antiques/collectibles shop, cheese/gourmet foods, Kids/Womens/Mens clothing store(s).  How about a pet supply store?  It really would be nice to have a bakery in my part of town, the Route 4 corridor.  We have no businesses to speak of other than pizzerias, many, many nail parlors, some delis, a Rite Aid and some banks.  We have many empty storefronts, and when a business wants to move into a larger location they are told they can't because of parking.  (I'm talking about X-treme.)  I feel that the area looks pretty bad, and I know that a committee is studying the issue.  Still, they can't act quickly enough for me. Jody   Starbucks on Broadway I would like to see a "Starbucks"  on Broadway.  Also gourmet food market in the old  Columbia Building on Broadway.  They have plenty of parking. AOL User   Proposed Storage Unit Several area residents, but certainly not all, refused to roll out a welcome mat for a proposed 80,000 square-foot self-storage facility on Broadway and Plaza Road. These residents feel that it's going to ruin the neighborhood because it's so big, and that the traffic will be awful. These few residents tried to voice their opposition when Safeguard Self Storage representatives sought permission to build from the Zoning Board of Adjustment at its last scheduled meeting, but because of time constraints they were not able to be heard. This subject will be on the agenda again on February 5th and 19th.  Safeguard would need a variance to build because portions of the property it wants to develop are in a residential zone. There are concerns over traffic and the size of the facility, and some people are worried about what materials that could be stored, as well as turning the neighborhood into an industrial zone and lowering property values. Jim Goonam of Safeguard, has met twice with neighbors to discuss all concerns. Safeguard says the company doesn't permit the storage of perishable foods, gasoline, or any legally controlled substances per State and Federal guidelines And it must be said as an example, when residents said they didn't want traffic on Ellington Road, a local street that serves the site, Goonan agreed to limit access to and from the building via only Plaza Road. I have always felt that this was going to be a hard, long battle for Safeguard to win, and it is my opinion that after attending the Zoning Board meeting and listening to the concerns of the board members, I'm not sure they are going to be able to address all concerns. Keith Brown See related article.   See proposal before the Zoning Board.         Express Your Opinion Send an e- mail to the Editor.   Also, let us know if you want to be notified when future editions are put online.