East Coast differs from West Coast
As a UCLA alumnus living in New York City, I found Peach Indravudh’s insight to the subtleties of West vs. East Coast culture to be telling (“I got culture shock in D.C.,” News, July 16). Since moving to New York two years ago, I have pondered many times over what forms the attitudes and habits prevalent in the Northeast, and I truly believe the issue boils down to tact.
Within two weeks of moving to New York I was pulled off a subway by two NYPD officers for consuming a beer with my friend. When I motioned to dispose of the container, their immediate response was, “Whoa buddy! You just paid $30 for that beer!” Tact forms discretion, and in the end the officers left me with my beer, a $30 ticket payable online, two handshakes, and advice for the future: Wrap it up and you’ll be left alone.
More broadly, tact and discretion play a large role in most interpersonal relationships on the East Coast, and in this regard the prevalent New York bar adage of “no effort, no entry” applies. People are more conservatively ““ and certainly more classily ““ dressed because it is an indication of respect for the company around them, and friends of mine who gather for even the simplest of dinners almost always get dressed up because it is a polite and respectful thing to do. Jaywalking might not be informed by tact, but the indifference to it is. If you have better things to do than stand at a traffic light, you’re in luck because the police have better things to do than do flaccid police work.
Perhaps this explains why New Yorkers have a torrid love affair with their police department: They’re effective where necessary, and their relationship with city residents is informed by tact. While Californians are certainly more “chill” than their East Coast counterparts, it comes at the cost of tact and UCPD would do well to learn from this. Fining UCLA students over $100 for crossing a two-lane road is not only a tactless form of law-enforcement ““ it is an affront to effective and meaningful policing.
Nicholas M. Louw
Senior specialist,
Merrill Lynch & Co.
Class of 2005,
Mathematics/applied science