Author: admin

  • |

    Just a Little Patience

    Byadmin

    If you are like me, you will have received the postcard above last week (despite the Sept. 27 date), inviting you to look at UCLA’s crime data. But if you took up the invitation on the card to visit the website, you got the message above: Under Maintenance: The site you are trying to reach is temporarily unavailable due to scheduled maintenance. The website will be accessible shortly. We apologize for the inconvenience and ask for your patience. So we patiently await: Update: The website is back up. You can go directly to the crime data at http://www.ucpd.ucla.edu/2011/2010%20Clery%20Statistics.pdf

  • | |

    Monday Afternoon Traffic Alert

    Byadmin

    An LAObserved report yesterday suggested that getting home from UCLA this coming Monday (Oct. 24) may be complicated by an “Obamajam.” (Excerpt) President Barack Obama is scheduled to arrive at LAX on board Air Force One between 4:30 and 5 p.m. on Monday, the White House just announced. This means that however he moves to the Hancock Park area for Democratic campaign fundraisers … his travel will fall during the peak time for cross-town traffic. Yeah, we’re talking Obamajam again… Full article at http://www.laobserved.com/archive/2011/10/obama_arrival_monday_will.php It’s hard to imagine that the President arriving around rush hour at LAX will not affect…

  • |

    How Big?

    Byadmin

    How big would a 282 room hotel be? That is the size of the old proposal for a hotel/conference center that was originally slated to replace the Faculty Center. To give you an idea of its size, a new hotel has just opened in Santa Monica with only 164 rooms. 164/282 = 58%. The picture above shows that the Santa Monica hotel is quite large despite the much smaller number of rooms. As prior posts have noted, none of the private hotels in the Westwood area are as big as 282 rooms. While awaiting the revised proposal for the hotel/conference…

  • | |

    Rising Employee Pension Contributions

    Byadmin

    A note from the Daily Bruin of 10/20/11: Faculty and staff could be paying more toward retirement within two years in a proposal to be discussed by the UC Board of Regents in November. Under the proposal, employee contributions to the University of California Retirement Plan would rise to 6.5 percent of covered salary starting July 1, 2013. The UC, meanwhile, would pay 12 percent. Right now, faculty and staff contribute 3.5 percent and the UC pays 7 percent. This is the second time in about a year that the regents will vote to raise employee and UC contributions. Last…

  • |

    There Goes the Baby: Fewer UC Undergrads in Late 2030s?

    Byadmin

    Given the chart above from today’s Sacramento Bee, will there be fewer UC undergrads in the late 2020s and beyond? The original chart is at http://www.sacbee.com/2011/10/20/3990370_a3990291/california-birthrate-lowest-since.html Accompanying article is at http://www.sacbee.com/2011/10/20/3990370/california-birthrate-lowest-since.html It’s an interesting question:

  • | |

    Bad News for UCLA Night Owls Next Week (Unless You Stay All Night)

    Byadmin

    Wilshire Boulevard Closure Postponed Until Monday As Part Of 405 Construction Work The contractor is anticipated to begin erecting bridge false-work at the Wilshire under-crossing on Monday, Oct. 24 through Thursday, Oct. 28, 2011 from 9 p.m. to 6 a.m. The 405 construction contractor has postponed the full closure of Wilshire Boulevard until Monday, Oct. 24, 2011. This activity will require the full closure of Wilshire Blvd., from Veteran to Federal. False-work is a temporary structure used to support structures in order to hold the component in place until construction is sufficiently advanced to support itself. Sepulveda Blvd. will be…

  • |

    So far, money from we-know-not-where has not appeared in state budget

    Byadmin

    As readers of this blog will know, UC’s budget is still threatened by a possible pulling of a budget “trigger” if forecast revenues do not arrive as anticipated. What the legislature did when it enacted this fiscal year’s budget was to assume incremental revenue – but not raise taxes (or prevent the end of temporary taxes) to generate that additional revenue. Having made the assumption, it could then pass the budget by simple majority vote, i.e., without the 2/3 vote that a tax increase or extension would have required which would have entailed Republican votes. All budgets are based on…

  • |

    Groundhog Hotel?

    Byadmin

    Are we about to repeat – and repeat? Supposedly, we are going to be receiving (soon?) a revised (?) plan for the hotel/conference center. Yet on the UCLA Newsroom website – screenshot taken today – we find an entry about the hotel/conference center which includes: Q: What is the UCLA residential conference center project? A: UCLA is planning a 295,000-square-foot residential conference center featuring 33,000 square feet of meeting and conference space, a 9,000-square-foot conference hall, a 250-seat dining room and at least 282 guest rooms. The plan also includes a new 22,500-square-foot faculty club with a separate entrance and…

  • | | | |

    Follow Up: GASB proposals could stir things up for UCRP via CalSTRS

    Byadmin

    Yesterday, we noted proposed changes in public pension accounting rules by GASB, the Governmental Accounting Standards Board. An observation from Academic Council Chair Robert Anderson, added to that blog note, indicated that the GASB proposal would not have a direct impact on UCRP. However, the problem facing UCRP is partly political. As prior blog posts have noted, the governor is planning some kind of pension proposals – apparently requiring a ballot proposition. Such a proposition, depending on how it is worded, could sweep UCRP into a statewide change, even though the Regents enacted their own pension modifications in December 2010….

  • | | | | |

    Buried Lede on Retiree Health?

    Byadmin

    From Wiktionary “bury the lede” (idiomatic, US, journalism) To begin a story with details of secondary importance to the reader while postponing more essential points or facts. http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/bury_the_lede ==== An article in today’s calpensions.com indicates that both CalPERS and CalSTRS have asked GASB – the Governental Accounting Standards Board – for a delay in its proposed new rules on public pension accounting. The rule would allow public pensions such as UCRP to continue with their projections of earnings on their assets (7.5% for UCRP) but would require a much lower discount rate for unfunded liabilities. The net effect of the…