Lithograph of the State Normal School in downtown LA in the late 1800s. The School moved from this location – where the LA main library now stands – to Vermont Avenue (where LA City College is now located). It became the first campus of UCLA before the move to Westwood in the late 1920s. Note: Yours will be in transit for about a week. Blogging may be slow.
As readers of this blog will know, the state budget for the current fiscal year contains a “trigger” for additional cuts – including UC – if revenue falls short of forecast levels. – – – September 6, 2011, Capitol Alert California Democrats getting nervous about trigger cuts Lagging tax revenues are making California officials nervous about “trigger” budget cuts to schools and services that appear likely unless more money flows into state coffers or the economic outlook improves. A newly amended Democratic bill would require the Department of Finance to give at least 10 days notice if it determines the…
As previous entries on this blog have noted, the practice of “apron” parking around UCLA is now banned. Prof. Donald Shoup of Urban Planning – a national expert in parking issues – long campaigned for enforcement of the ban. Apron parking – parking in the driveway of a building so as to block the sidewalk – has always been illegal but cars so-parked were not ticketed in the past. A lawsuit noting that access for disabled persons to the sidewalks was obstructed was part of the reason for the new enforcement policy. It appears that the Westwood-area ban on apron…
We earlier posted the elaborate video from the Housing Empire on dorm-related construction said to be needed to turn UCLA from a commuter school to a residence school. See http://uclafacultyassociation.blogspot.com/2011/08/construction-and-demolition.html Some folks, after seeing the video, wondered where that goal came from and why it exists. But the answer is obvious. We wouldn’t want students to live in off-campus apartment buildings such as the one in Palms shown above – would we? For more on all of this, check out http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-luxury-student-housing-20110904,0,737126.story
CPEC – the California Postsecondary Education Commission – is in the process of going out of business, since it was zeroed out in the most recent state budget. As the webshot immediately above indicates, the CPEC website will go dark sometime this month. In the meantime, however, you can still find data on higher ed, such as the chart at the top comparing UC and U of Texas tuition. (You could probably have guessed – without the chart – which has become more expensive in recent years.) Since the website is soon to be toast, some info on CPEC’s closure…
Regent-designate David Crane – a late appointment by Gov. Schwarzenegger who has yet to be confirmed (or not) by the state senate – has pushed various versions of pension reform. In an op ed today in the Sacramento Bee, he seems to be appealing to the current governor. Whether that will carry any weight in the state senate is not clear. Basically, he wants a “Grand Bargain” on a corporate tax change – which Gov. Brown has pushed – in exchange for pension reform. Crane says nothing specifically about the UC pension, however. Is he just talking about CalPERS and…
The view from Wilshire and Westwood Boulevards looking north toward the campus in 1932.
A UCLA student who went to fight with rebel soldiers in Libya was apparently sent back to the U.S. … An Al Jazeera producer said his correspondents in Libya learned that rebels told Chris Jeon to leave the area… Jeon’s parents did not know their son had gone to Libya until journalists told them. Full story at http://abclocal.go.com/kabc/story?section=news/local/los_angeles&id=8341013 And from http://www.gadailynews.com/world/72656-ucla-math-major-chris-jeon-thought-it-would-be-cool-to-join-the-rebels-and-fight-khadafy-in-libya.html we learn: “I thought it would be cool to join the rebels,” he said. “I just thought I’d come check it out.” Jeon, 21, doesn’t speak any Arabic. He couldn’t work the AK-47 he was handed. ====== Video at:
The Westwood Observation Tower stood at Beverly Glen and Wilshire at a time – before the current UCLA campus opened – when there was little to observe.
The Legislative Analyst’s Office (LAO) released the following statement on its most recent projection of California state revenue. Translation: So far, it looks like the budget trigger will be pulled (which means more cuts for UC). Below is the text: Despite today’s weak national employment report for the month of August, preliminary reports from California’s tax agencies on personal and corporate income tax receipts for the month tell a “good news/bad news” story. On the one hand, the tax data indicates that the California economy is continuing to recover from the recession, albeit very sluggishly. This slow recovery is essentially…
