Alan Silber

PERTH AMBOY – There was an ordinance on the 3/26/14 Council Meeting Agenda to extend the hours of sale for alcoholic beverages.

Perth Amboy currently does not allow the sale of packaged goods (alcohol) until 12 noon on Sundays. To make the City competitive with surrounding towns, the ordinance was seeking to change the hour from 12 noon to 10 a.m.

Resident Ricky Aviles said “There seems to be a hypocrisy in this. Why would you want to extend the hours on a Sunday when you decided to close the bars an hour earlier during the week? Who did you ask to approve this change – the people in these neighborhoods where the liquor would be sold, the churches or the liquor store owners?

Councilman Kenneth Gonzalez said, “I am Catholic and in the Church, wine is a part of the Eucharist. The reason that we wanted the bars closing earlier at night is to prevent people who were coming in from other towns where they may have been drunk already.”

Stanley Sierakowski said, “This is a quality of life issue. What prevents a person from buying packaged goods at 10 a.m. and going right to their car to drink it there?”

Alan Silber said, “We should not be taking our lead from other towns (who start selling packaged goods on Sunday at 10 a.m.). There is no spirituality involved in this.”

Silber drew laughter from the crowd when he said, “Why would anyone want to buy liquor at 10 a.m. unless they run out of it at 9 a.m.?”

Former Councilman Fernando Gonzalez said, “I go to Costco and I can’t buy liquor there until 12 noon.”

When F. Gonzalez asked who sponsored this ordinance, Councilman Bill Petrick answered that he did.