Stumblin' Along 1/5 '25
Law & Order Theme Song
Law & Order Theme Song
- NYC Congestion Pricing
- Bergen County Blue Laws
- YouTube Rabbithole
Alright @YouTheReader,
This evening’s tune is Law & Order’s Theme Song because it’s getting late on Sunday and I can’t think of a song that works with today’s column. The dramatic intro was written by the composer Mike Post. He’s also responsible for The White Shadow, The A-Team, NYPD Blue, LA Law, and Magnum PI theme songs. Sounds like Mike Post was a big cop show guy.
On to some Law & Order…
NYC Congestion Pricing
Effective today, New York City and the MTA proudly enact their Congestion Pricing Law. Under the new pricing laws, regular upstanding citizens must pay $9 to travel within the Congestion Zone, which stretches from the southern tip of the Financial District to 60th Street. It’ll also cost the Taxi Cab driver $0.75, a badass on a motorcycle $4.50, Uber drivers $1.50, large truckers $21.60, and small truckers $14.40. The new set prices run from 5 AM to 9 PM on the weekdays and 9 AM to 9 PM on the weekends. Don’t worry, on off-peak hours there is a 75% discount.
As you may have guessed, many New Yorkers are none too pleased. Ivan D., a decades-long New York City construction worker commuter told sources close to me, “It’s a fookin’ money grab.”
The MTA has predicted 10% fewer cars and trucks after the new toll begins. MTA Executives also expect upwards of $15 billion in revenue, so they’ll all be getting raises soon. One of the pros to the congestion Congestion Pricing laws is that New Yorkers will have “improved air quality.” I’m sure that’s true. With a 10% reduction of cars on the road in Manhattan, that means 10% more 2nd hand marijuana smoke.
Before any nerds have some “Well actually” comment about how this is good for the environment and not something that Uber/Lyft Lobbyists pushed millions to get legislated, I already commute via public transit so this has no direct impact on me. I’m also glad that somewhere out there Gretta Thunberg is lighting up a fat victory cigar with some fine eco-friendly organic champagne in hand that’ll now cost everybody a few more extra bucks to get imported into New York. Now tack on tariffs, we might be cooked. Happy for her though.
Bergen County Blue Laws
The 2nd part of this Sunday’s Law & Order Stumblin’ Along is on the Bergen County Blue Laws for 2 reasons….
1) Earlier today my mother asked me to do some research on them.
2) She’s going to be pissed I made the Gretta Thunberg reference.
For starters, Blue Laws prohibit the sale of certain items on Sundays. These said items include clothing, furniture, building & lumber supplies, and household appliances. Certain hardware stores (Cough, Cough Harbor Freight on Route 17) can sell products like tape, batteries, and steel wool, but you’ll get rejected for trying to purchase industrial masks…unless it’s for COVID then I’m sure you can get a 2-for-1 deal.
Bergen County, New Jersey was established back in 1683. These Blue Laws came about in 1677 when the General Assembly of East New Jersey banned the “singing of songs or tunes on Sabbath.”
Sidenote: Thankfully the General Assembly of East New Jersey is no longer around today because Week to Week Notes would be ostracized.
The idea of having one day per week aside for leisure predates a bunch of guys in wigs in Bergan County in the 1600s as Roman Emperor Constantine implemented such precedents under his rule in 321 AD. The English started enacting these blue laws in the 1200s and they eventually made their way to North America once the colonies were founded.
Some say the term “blue law” likely comes from the fact that business-related rules originally were written on blue paper or in books that had blue covers. More serious historians believe it’s based on the 18th-century custom of the word “blue” being used to describe moral code restrictions and whatnot. I believe I side somewhere in the middle of both factions.
During the 1900s, there was a movement within New Jersey to get rid of the Blue Laws of the 1600s. In 1959, 21 individual New Jersey counties decided it would be up to the county itself rather than the state to decide the blue laws. In 1985, Hudson County became the 20th of the 21 counties to repeal the state’s blue laws. In 1980 and 1993, Bergen County voters had their chances to repeal the blue laws but it was narrowly defeated. By 2013, another bid to vote on the blue laws in Bergen County failed to get enough required signatures.
Some towns within Bergen County have anti-blue laws. In 1993, 4 out of the 70 municipalities voted to repeal. The towns full of rebels were Edgewater, Alpine, Lyndhurst, and North Arlington. The people of Paramus were very adamant that the blue laws stay status quo, as they voted by a 12 to 1 margin rejecting the repeal.
Located in East Rutherford, Bergen County, The American Dream Mall had people up in arms about whether their stores would be open on Sundays. According to Reddit user Antonio9201…
“From what I know Secaucus claimed American Dream mall to be on their side of the county so the Blue Laws wouldn't apply, but East Rutherford had that location bought and had American Dream mall built so it argued back that since they own it and it is within Bergen County, Blue laws will apply. Right now it belongs to East Rutherford but I believe the stores in American Dream have the choice to either open on Sundays or not.”
In 2010, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie tried to run on repealing blue laws throughout the state citing that it would generate $65 million in sales taxes from shopping centers on Sundays. He quickly was told to knock it off by other members of the Republican Party after getting some pushback from voters. During Hurricane Sandy in 2012, New Jersey, in a state of emergency, lifted blue laws for retailers but funny enough Christie quickly reinstated the blue laws as soon as possible.
