LABJ FORUM: Sun or Snow?

Southern Californians have always taken pleasure in the region’s mild winters, more so when they witness the Northeast muddling through blizzards and sub-freezing temperatures. This season has been particularly harsh back East, causing major travel delays, road closures, power outages and several deaths. Yet there are some former East Coasters who admit feeling a bit nostalgic for ice-covered ponds and snow days. So the Business Journal asks:

Do you miss the snow?

Victoria Lelash

Account Supervisor

Ogilvy Public Relations

I do miss the weather. Snow is way of life in Cleveland. It’s no surprise when it happens and you learn to prepare for it. The media makes it sound like it’s a complete shock and even a form of punishment. I’m not saying snow is easy to deal with if you have places to go, but it does make the perfect excuse for slowing down and prioritizing.

Drew Livingston

President

FreeCar Media

I’m from Manhattan and I’ve been out here for about three years now. The snow is nice for about a day, then it becomes a real hassle. New York is tough to get around anyway, so with all the piles of snow and then the melting snow and the rain it’s even more difficult. It’s fun when you don’t have to work and you can stay inside all day. Now that I’m out here I’m always rubbing it in to my friends over there. I love telling them that its 70 degrees and I’m driving down the PCH on my way to play golf.

Bob Wolff

Assistant Vice President

Corporate Communications

Bank of the West

I moved to Southern California from Connecticut about four years ago. It was February and I had my wife take a picture of me in the backyard wearing shorts and holding an orange from our orange tree. I sent it to all my buddies back East with a note reading, “Winter Stinks.” So I’ve been enjoying the winters out here ever since. I regularly speak to family and friends in New York who say this winter has been a real test of their mettle. You know it’s a bad situation when New Yorkers are saying “enough already.”

Timothy Haight

Dean, College of Business and Economics

California State University Los Angeles

I lived on the East Coast for 50 years, and I don’t miss the snow. There are some advantages to being snowed in. I’m writing two papers with some professors in Maryland, and up until this week neither of them had time to finish their duties. Both were snowed in, and because of that they completed their papers and e-mailed the final version to me.

Breton Bocchieri

Partner

Perkins Coie LLP

I was born and raised back East and went to law school there, and one of the main reasons I came out here, besides the technology boom, was that I had had enough of the weather. Snow is only good on that first morning, when it’s still pure and untouched. And then there’s the wind, which makes it almost impossible for people to walk down the street in cities like Chicago and New York because the skyscrapers create wind tunnels.

Jake Jundef

Account Executive

JMPR Public Relations Inc.

I lived on the East Coast for 10 years and I can’t stand the cold. It’s a novelty to see the snow for about a day, then its over. I’d rather suffer the earthquakes than the cold weather. The more palm trees, the better.