Author: admin

audio | State Budget | UC budget crisis | UC Regents

Listen to the Full Morning Session of the Regents’ Retreat of 9-12-12
Byadmin September 13, 2012

The Regents had a retreat on September 12, 2012 following a public comment period. Below is an audio link to the morning sessions. Public comments dealt with various issues including concerns about the search for a new chancellor at UC-Berkeley. The retreat discussion after the public comments was budget-centered as was most of the morning and afternoon segments. The first items dealt with various financial options for improving UC cash flow and cutting certain costs related to finance. Some of the proposals involved shifting repayment of principal on debt further into the future. There was also some shifting of very…

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audio | parking | transportation | UC budget crisis | UC Regents

Listen to Parking to Pension at the Regents Retreat
Byadmin September 13, 2012

At the Regents retreat today, everything connected to the budget was “on the table.” One unusual option presented by UCOP’s financial staff was a proposal to raise campus parking fees (thus making the parking services more valuable) and then give the UC parking system to the pension fund as a portfolio asset. Doing so would reduce the need for pension employer and employee pension contributions. The idea is a variant of a plan some cities have implemented or considered to sell their parking meters and parking lots to a private firm for an upfront payment. It was pointed out that…

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audio | health care | new hotel-conference center | UC Regents | UCLA

Listen to Regents Meeting of Sept. 11, 2012 in Two Parts
Byadmin September 12, 2012

We have previously posted audio excerpts from the Sept. 11, 2012 session of the Regents dealing with the UCLA hotel and the UCLA teaching center. The web source on which we park audio from the Regents is again operational so here is the full meeting, divided into two parts as per the agenda below. Tuesday, September 11, 2012 Meeting Agenda, University of California Regents Part 1 1:00 pm Committee on Compliance and Audit (Regents only session) 1:10 pm Committee of the Whole – Public Comment (open session) – includes public testimony on UCLA hotel project 1:30 pm Committee on Compliance…

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audio | health care | new hotel-conference center | UC Regents | UCLA

Listen to Hotel Echoes in Regents Reluctant Go-Ahead for UCLA Medical Facility
Byadmin September 12, 2012

We noted yesterday that the website where we usually park audio for Regents meetings, archives.org, is having a tech heart attack. Recovery is promised, maybe by the end of today. In the meanwhile, we will continue to post excerpts. After the Regents Building and Grounds Committee rubber stamped the hotel (except for bathrooms and loading docks!), it went on to consider a proposal for a new Teaching and Learning Center for the Health Sciences. The presentation was by Steve Olsen and Dean Eugene Washington of the Med School. In this case, we came close to a repeat of the March…

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audio | new hotel-conference center | UC Regents | UCLA

Listen to Regents Committee Approval of UCLA Hotel: 9-11-12
Byadmin September 12, 2012

Normally, we would post the full audio of the Regents and then provide excerpts if helpful. However, our audio posting site, archive.org, seems to be having technical problems. So here (below) is just the audio component of today’s Regents session dealing with the proposed UCLA hotel/conference center. If archive.org continues to have problems, we will find some other work-around. As was expected, the proposal was rubber stamped by the Building and Grounds Committee after a presentation by Steve Olsen and campus architect Jeffrey Averill. There was testimony from the Save Westwood Village group during the public comment period raising 1)…

Read More Listen to Regents Committee Approval of UCLA Hotel: 9-11-12
ballot propositions | controller | governor | State Budget

What’s Happening on the State Budget and Prop 30 to Date?
Byadmin September 11, 2012

The state controller reports that tax revenue for July and August (first two months of the fiscal year) is about on target relative to the June budget estimates (although the amount collected on particular taxes from various targets deviates from the estimates, plus and minus). Disbursements, however, are up relative to budget estimates by roughly $3 billion which shows up as more borrowing by the general fund from other state funds. (Why that overage occurred is not explained.) However, the big uncertainty about the budget this year is whether the governor’s tax initiative passes in November. So far, the media…

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miscellaneous

More Compare and Contrast
Byadmin September 11, 2012

Readers of this blog will know that public vs. private pay has been in controversy over the last few years. There is a large literature on the subject which points out that differences between the public and private sector need to be adjusted for factors such as occupational composition and size of employer. I would characterize the literature as indicating rough adjusted comparability; some studies say public pay is somewhat more; some say the reverse. Benefit valuation – particularly pensions – is the trickiest part. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics puts out quarterly unadjusted data on private sector pay…

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private universities | privatization | UCLA | USC

Compare and Contrast
Byadmin September 11, 2012

The LA Business Journal regularly runs lists of top firms in LA County by various criteria and sectors. It also has a listing in this week’s issue of colleges and universities ranked by enrollment. UCLA is the largest campus in the County with over 40,000 students; USC is the second largest. With the talk around about privatization, it might be of interest to contrast UCLA (public) with USC (private), using the data from the Journal. The biggest contrast is that USC has more faculty, full time and part time, than UCLA, although fewer students. On the other hand, UCLA has…

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new hotel-conference center | UCLA

More for the Regents to Consider Before They Rubber Stamp the UCLA Hotel
Byadmin September 10, 2012

Yesterday we posted a note suggesting that big projects largely dependent on future revenue streams can lead to big losses. For those Regents who need a reminder from past history, the two excerpts below might be instructive: UCLA Buys Land in Westchester for 90 Faculty Homes July 20, 1989 | SPENCER S. HSU | Los Angeles Times UCLA has bought a controversial, 57-acre site on the Westchester Bluffs for $15.25 million to build subsidized faculty housing. The 90-home development will be UCLA’s fourth and largest housing project. Since 1986, in an effort to help its faculty members cope with the…

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new hotel-conference center | UC Berkeley | UC Regents | UCLA

Maybe the Regents Need to Consult With This Former Regent
Byadmin September 9, 2012

Former speaker of the state assembly (and thus former Regent) and former mayor of San Francisco Willie Brown writes a weekly column for the San Francisco Chronicle. The column is never on a single issue but jumps around from topic to topic. Today’s column has a paragraph related to a grand construction project at UC-Berkeley: Cal’s newly redone Memorial Stadium makes no sense to me. Why spend all those millions fixing up a stadium that is in one of the least-accessible spots in the Bay Area? Don’t get me wrong – the stadium is beautiful. But now, Cal is trying…

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