faculty center

We now have confirmation that the telephone poll on the hotel/conference center was in fact sponsored by the capital projects folks at UCLA. (See our earlier post of a recording of the poll.) Apparently, the goal is to have 400 completed interviews. Whether we will get info on the details of the polling methodology – how many call recipients refused to participate, etc. – is unclear. Reports have come in from people at some distance from campus that they have received poll calls. Obviously, the neighborhood opposition – presumably that is the subject of the poll – will be concentrated…

A resident of the area around UCLA received a call from the pollster who has been posing questions about the proposed campus hotel/conference center to replace the Faculty Center. He made a recording of the call WITH PERMISSION OF THE POLLSTER. At the outset of the recording, the pollster acknowledges that the recipient has set up recording equipment to record the call. You can click on the option below and hear the call. The final questions which were for personal information have been omitted at the request of the call recipient. None of the omitted questions deal with the hotel/conference…

An earlier posting noted that the caller for the poll on the hotel/conference center, ostensibly being conducted on behalf of UCLA, refused to talk to a female neighborhood resident because there were too many women in the sample. Apparently, women are now being allowed to answer. Another recipient of a call (a woman) took notes on the questions and reported that it included the questions in italics below. She reported that the pollster was reading from a script and seemed to know nothing about the hotel/conference center other than what was on the script. In the script, the hotel/conference center…

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!

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…

The LA Business Journal reports that the developer of the hotel proposed for the old Hollywood video store site on Wilshire & Gayley will do the building as condos-only if UCLA goes ahead with the plan to replace the Faculty Center with a large hotel/conference center. See below. Scroll down to boldface type. No Vacancy? Jacquelyn Ryan Los Angeles Business Journal July 4th, 2011 It seems the biggest battles these days in Westwood aren’t on the basketball court but over luxury suites – and not the ones in arenas. Just months after a controversial plan to build an upscale hotel…

Yours truly received a phone call yesterday from a reporter about a 29-story hotel project on the site of the old Hollywood video store, long closed, on the northwest corner of Wilshire and Gayley (adjacent to the UCLA parking lot). This project has been in the works for some time. For example, you can read a description of it in a 2009 filing with the City of LA at http://cityplanning.lacity.org/eir/WilshireGayleyProject/DEIR/issues/I._Executive_Summary.pdf At that time, i.e., in 2009, the developer was describing it as either a mixed condo/hotel project or just a condo project. A more recent news article, however, terms it…

The Faculty Center just emailed the results of its recent election. If you did not receive the email, the results are listed below, along with the campaign statements of the winning candidates. These are the individuals that will have to deal with the UCLA administration with regard to the hotel/conference center issue. The Election Committee has completed the task of counting the ballots and the following candidates have been elected to served on the 2011-12 Faculty Center Board of Governors President-elect: Joseph NagyTreasurer: Lawrence Kruger Members-at-large: Charles Berst, Laura Lake, R. Michael Rich Candidate Statements:President-electJoseph Nagy, Professor of English I’ve…

Seems like – despite the supposed “pause” while the 280 room hotel/conference center is being restudied – someone at UCLA is determined to pursue the plan “as is.” Recently, the LA airport authorities announced a plan to discontinue the Flyaway bus service to LAX from Westwood. As part of its presentation of June 6 to the airport authorities aimed at keeping the service in operation, UCLA promised its 280 room hotel/conference center. Above you see page 4 from the presentation. The full presentation is accessible below: Open publication – Free publishing – More airport Yours truly did suggest a modest…

Story about a questionable China venture at Duke from Inside Higher Ed appeared today. The numbers didn’t add up. It reminds me of something at UCLA that rhymes with “motel.” Excerpt below: Faculty members at Duke University’s business school expressed deep reservations at a meeting last week regarding the viability of what were supposed to be the first programs at the university’s new campus in Kunshan, China. Following the recommendations of two committees convened to design the programs — a master’s of management science and an executive M.B.A. — the faculty sent the M.M.S. program back to the drawing board,…