Author: admin

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    (Direct) Democracy is a Wonderful Thing

    Byadmin

    Anyone can (try to) write a law in California using the ballot initiative process.  It only costs $200 to start the process rolling.  For that modest sum, you get a ballot title and summary from the state attorney general and a fiscal analysis from the Legislative Analyst’s Office.  Of course, you then have to go out and get the signatures. The latest direct democracy to rising tuition at UC, CSU, and the community colleges is a ballot initiative submitted March 26 that would freeze tuition at the 2010 level, adjusted for inflation. However, the initiative fails to mention what index…

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    Regental Lament (and maybe action)

    Byadmin

    Scroll down on today’s blog posts and you will find an odd item slated for the Regents Committee on Finance scheduled for March 28.  On March 29, in contrast, there will be a discussion at that Committee on the budget and on tax initiatives on the November ballot.  The background report laments the current situation and notes: For UC to remain true to President Daniel Coit Gilman’s promise in the 1800s to be the “University of this State” – to help fuel its economy and provide opportunities for its continually changing population and its needs – the University must strengthen…

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    Pension Cap at Regents

    Byadmin

    Those who follow this blog will know that a brouhaha developed when certain highly compensated administrators in the UC system pushed for a lifting of a cap on the level of pay considered for pension calculations under IRS rules. In 1999, the Regents applied for an exemption that would have lifted the cap.  It was approved by IRS in 2007.  But the Regents never implemented the exemption, have indicated they will not do so, and are now threatened with litigation. Apparently as a result, the Regents have a recommendation on their upcoming agenda to rescind their 1999 action.  The item…

  • Finance?

    Byadmin

    One oddity of the upcoming Regents meeting is the placement of the report and agenda item described below on the docket of the Committee on Finance.  The connection of the topic of the item with “finance” is a bit difficult to comprehend: Office of the General Counsel  TO MEMBERS OF THE  COMMITTEE ON FINANCE:  DISCUSSION ITEM  For Meeting of March 28, 2012 REPORT ON REVIEW OF POLICIES AND BEST PRACTICES IN RESPONSE TO CAMPUS PROTESTS Following the incidents at the Berkeley and Davis campuses in November, the President directed Vice President and General Counsel Robinson and Dean Christopher Edley of…

  • Grand Plans for Westwood

    Byadmin

    With the subway supposed to arrive in Westwood (someday), apparently some planners and architects have been imagining the area with not many cars. The story is athttp://la.curbed.com/archives/2012/03/2_radical_plans_for_turning_westwood_village_around.php As for the subway, below is a sketch from the MTA of the proposed Westwood station: Source: http://www.metro.net/projects_studies/westside/images/final_eir-eis/49.%20Station%20Entrance%20Location%20Report%20and%20Recommendations.pdf

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    Can We Have a Room With an (Alternative) View at the Hotel Dispute?

    Byadmin

    An article by Erica Perez appears today in the online California Watch news service on the proposed UCLA hotel/conference center that is up for consideration by the Regents next week.  Excerpts: The Luskin Center relies in the first year on a cushion of surplus revenue from the UCLA Lake Arrowhead Conference Center and the UCLA Guest House – both of which run healthy surpluses. … …”It’s disingenuous in the sense that this is a project that’s supposed to take care of itself,” said Daniel J.B. Mitchell, professor emeritus at the UCLA Anderson School of Management and School of Public Affairs,…

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    The UC-Davis Pepper Spray Incident and the UCLA Hotel Seem to Raise the Same Question

    Byadmin

    The pepper spray incident at UC-Davis and the proposed UCLA hotel/conference center matter seem to raise a common question: Do we have a problem – systemwide and on campus – about responding to Public Records Act requests?   An earlier post noted the long delay in providing the UCLA Faculty Association with the business plan for the proposed hotel/conference center.  The Faculty Association still has not received the consulting report that was supposed to be the back-up support for the plan.  Presumably, that report was available well before the Feb. 9, 2012 date the plan itself was approved. And we did…