Author: admin

  • Berkeley Broccoli

    Byadmin

    UC Berkeley plans to use words instead of police power to remove about 50 Occupy members who started farming a plot of university land in Albany called the Gill Tract, a spokesman said Tuesday. There’s dialogue going on and discussion going on so we can bring it to a peaceful conclusion,” said UC Berkeley spokesman Dan Mogulof. “Discussion may lead to a better outcome.” The land near San Pablo Avenue and Buchanan Street currently is used for agricultural research, he said. A separate parcel of land just south of where the Occupy farmers set up Sunday is slated for commercial…

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    A Billion Where?

    Byadmin

    An earlier post noted the supposed quote of Everett Dirksen, GOP minority leader in the U.S. Senate in the 1960s (talking about the federal budget): “A billion here, a billion there, and pretty soon you’re talking about real money.”  (Presumably, real money was more than the 15 cents on the picture.) We noted in that blog post that as of that point shortly after income tax day April 17, income tax collections for the fiscal year were running a billion dollars ahead of last year.  Sadly, the fates have not been with us.  As of April 24, the billion dollar…

  • Peddling Westwood

    Byadmin

    According to the Daily Bruin, rent-a-bikes will be joining Zipcars in Westwood soon.   Bicycle rental kiosks will soon populate Westwood, once a city-wide bike-sharing program launches this fall. The private venture is being funded by Bike Nation, a bike-share service provider that plans to install 4,000 bicycles at 400 rental kiosks throughout communities in Los Angeles… Full story at: http://www.dailybruin.com/index.php/article/2012/04/bike_nation_to_bring_bicycle_rental_kiosks_to_westwood_in_the_fall [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GugsCdLHm-Q&w=320&h=195]

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    In the Balance

    Byadmin

    You may see headlines about a recent court decision related to last year’s budget conflict between the legislature and the state controller.  Voters passed an initiative lowering the requirement to pass a budget from two thirds to a simple majority but with the stipulation that if a balanced budget was not passed by June 15 (the constitutional deadline), legislators would lose a day of pay for each day beyond June 15. Last year the legislature hastily passed a budget to meet the deadline after it became clear that the governor’s negotiations with Republican legislators were going nowhere. The governor needed…

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    The Odd Brown/GOP Pension Initiative

    Byadmin

    Gov. Brown has proposed a pension revision affecting all state and local employees in California.  It would override UC’s changes in its pension system made by the Regents.  The governor’s plan is a hybrid of defined benefit and defined contribution with a pension cap of 75% of salary for new hires.  Brown wants the legislature to put his plan on the ballot but the legislature’s Democratic majority instead is studying alternatives. Legislative Republicans, however, have endorsed the governor’s plan and filed an initiative to put it on the ballot.  Unclear at this time is whether they will spend the $1-$2…

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    UC-Berkeley’s explosive call for more campus autonomy

    Byadmin

    You probably saw the article in today’s LA Times about a report from UC-Berkeley calling for more campus autonomy within UC.   The Times article is at: http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-0424-uc-20120424,0,4754981.story The Berkeley report is at: http://cshe.berkeley.edu/publications/docs/ROPS.Birgeneau%20et%20al.UC%20Gov.4.23.2012.pdf ABSTRACT The University of California (UC) needs to respond to the fundamental and ongoing changes that are occurring around it if it is to remain financially sustainable, accessible, and academically excellent. As the campuses that make up UC have matured in the past 50 years they have, rightly, developed unique strengths and challenges.  The uniqueness of individual campuses has been a natural response to the increasing…

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    Listen to Remaining Audio of Regents Meeting of March 29, 2012

    Byadmin

    A previous post on this blog noted that a defective file had been received for the third day session of the Regents after the Public Comments period.  Only part of that session was posted as a result, although it did include the decision officially to withdraw implementation of an exemption from the IRS pension cap.  The complete recording has now been received.  It includes the portion previous posted plus discussion of private budgetary support and fund raising, political advocacy including a request by students to support the governor’s tax initiative scheduled for the November ballot.  There was also discussion of…

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    LA Times is Yes and No on Legislation to Lower Tuition

    Byadmin

    The LA Times today is unhappy with proposed legislation that would change corporate taxes and raise money for lowering public higher ed tuition. (Excerpt) …SB 1500 and 1501, by Assembly Speaker John A. Pérez (D-Los Angeles) would …eliminat(e) a tax loophole for businesses and us(e) the resulting revenue to provide large scholarships to middle-class students in the state’s public colleges and universities, (and) reduc(e) their tuition costs by two-thirds… We can think of more pressing needs than tuition relief for families earning between $80,000 and $150,000, and no doubt so can Pérez. A properly funded welfare-to-work program, for example, or…

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    Westwood Problems and the Hotel: An Explainer

    Byadmin

    Westwood in the past seemed a more prosperous place than at present.  Above we see Bullocks-Westwood Department Store in the early 1950s (based on the cars depicted) and an ad featuring Bullocks-Westwood in the 1930s.  (The store was rebuilt between the two photos.)  Below we see the same location, now home of a Ralphs supermarket and a Best Buy.  There used to be a drug store also at that location but it closed.  Now it has been announced that the Best Buy will also close. If you walk up Westwood Boulevard from Wilshire towards UCLA, what is notable is the…

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    Not Our Scandal

    Byadmin

    You may have noticed the article in today’s LA Times that is circled in the accompanying picture.  There is a long background story involved, but essentially a commission that sets legislators’ salaries cut their pay during the current state budget crisis and eliminated the practice of providing them with a state-owned car.  The car elimination step was supposed to save money but at the state reimbursement rate of 53 cents per mile for use of a private car, apparently the savings have not materialized. The current university reimbursement is 55.5 cents per mile for use of a personal car on…