News

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UCLA History: More on the 405 Closure and on UCLA Parking

Byuclafaculty

The 1960 freeway planning map shown below on the left depicts the section of the 405 currently closed and just north of UCLA as still under construction then. (If you click on the map, you will see a clearer image.) The two men shown in the other picture – taken in 1964 on campus – are screenwriter David Rayfiel (l) and director Sidney Pollack (r). The photo appeared in connection with the former’s obituary last month. However, of interest is the background showing a substantial open parking area behind Royce Hall. I believe there was by then a modest charge…

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UCLA History: 405 Closure Perspectives

Byuclafaculty

For those who feel deprived of easy passage to UCLA this weekend due to the closure of the 405 in the Sepulveda Pass area, here is some historical background. On the new Westwood campus, if you got there by car in 1929, parking was free and easy. There was no freeway on the Sepulveda Pass. But the road there, as shown in the 1930 photo was not very crowded. There were some public transit alternatives as this 1937 video suggests: By the way, the cheerful mayor of LA (Frank Shaw), who appears on the video, was recalled by voters the…

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Will There Be an Overflow from the CSU Executive Pay Issue to UC?

Byuclafaculty

The Sacramento Bee features a story today about legislative moves to cap executive pay at CSU. As noted in a prior blog posting, the CSU board raised pay of an incoming campus president by $100,000 while approving a tuition increase. UC is mentioned in the excerpt below. In principle, the Regents have constitutional autonomy although the legislature sometimes ignores it or writes bills that impose something on CSU and urges UC to follow. From kitchen tables to Capitol offices, two decisions California State University trustees made earlier this week have left Californians seething. …And now lawmakers are tapping into the…

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Dial H for Hotel? Part 2

Byuclafaculty

An earlier post indicated that someone is calling Westwood-area residents, ostensibly on behalf of UCLA, as a kind of push-poll favoring the hotel/conference center. A resident who got such a call today was told she was not eligible to answer because there were too many women in the study. When her husband was not available to respond, the caller declined to continue and terminated the call.And we thought that issue was settled some time ago!

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CalPERS Issues Report on Vested Rights of California Pension Recipients and Covered Current mployees

Byuclafaculty

Although the CalPERS report refers to its participants, most of the legal discussion is generally applicable to any public pension plan in California. Basically, the report indicates that both earned benefits AND benefit formulas cannot be altered, except in extraordinary circumstances, in ways that disadvantage covered employee. The report is available below from Issu and/or Scribd: Open publication – Free publishing – More calpers Vested Rights of CalPERS Members Bottom Line: No, they can’t take that away…

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The Usual

Byuclafaculty

It’s now routine. The legislature cuts the UC budget and the Regents raise tuition. From Capitol Alert, 7/14/11: University of California regents today voted to raise tuition by about $1,070, sending the total cost to $12,192 for the upcoming school year. After a recently approved $650 million cut in state funding, UC regents said they had no choice but to raise tuition to close about a quarter of the system’s $1 billion budget deficit. When combined with a previous hike, tuition will be 18 percent more — about $1,890 — in fall 2011 than it was in fall 2010. Each…

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Dial H for Hotel?

Byuclafaculty

Some reports have been received of a telephone poll of Westwood residents being taken – allegedly on behalf of UCLA – about the hotel/conference center proposal to replace the Faculty Center. Reportedly, it is something of a push-poll, i.e., framed to elicit a positive response to the project. It is unclear who is doing the polling or whether it is actually coming from – or on behalf of – UCLA. Inquiries are being made about its source. If you receive such a call, try to elicit whatever information you can as to its source. When and if more info becomes…

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Unseemly Picture? A Proposal to Tax State Public Pensions – But Not UCRP – Is Among Three Initiatives Submitted by a Santa Barbara Group

Byuclafaculty

A group called the California Center for Public Policy submitted three initiatives to the Attorney General Tuesday. One would ban collective bargaining in the public sector in California. Two others deal with public pensions. Notably, the two pension initiatives omit the UC pension and cover only CalPERS and CalSTRS. One initiative would tax pension benefits above $100,000 with progressive surcharges. The other raises the basic retirement age to 65. Scroll down to the bottom of this entry to read the three initiatives. (Reminder: Anyone can submit initiatives for $200. It takes $1-$2 million to pay signature-gathering firms to get things…

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Doom?

Byuclafaculty

Our previous post noted that State Treasurer Lockyer recently said he wouldn’t be surprised if the budget trigger – that gets pulled if sufficient tax revenues don’t appear – would in fact be pulled and would hit UC with another $100 million cut. For your continued enjoyment, here is some more good cheer from the Treasurer: Lockyer warns that spending cap could spell doom for higher ed Steven Harmon, Contra Costa Times, 7/14/11 State Treasurer Bill Lockyer warned that a spending cap that the Legislature qualified for the ballot will do untold harm to colleges and universities if approved by…

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State Treasurer Thinks the Budget Trigger Might Be Pulled, Costing UC Another $100 Million

Byuclafaculty

Revenues seem to be falling short of the optimistic estimates contained in the recently passed state budget. As prior posts have noted, if revenue falls short of the estimate, that could result in a budget “trigger” being pulled, leading to more cuts from UC’s budget. From today’s Capitol Alert: Asked about the optimistic projections that state leaders relied upon, Treasurer Bill Lockyer said Wednesday that “I’m a little more skeptical personally, but I don’t have any special knowledge that would try to give you a solid answer.” He said it was less likely the state would fall so far behind…