UC Regents

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Listen to Parking to Pension at the Regents Retreat

Byuclafaculty

At the Regents retreat today, everything connected to the budget was “on the table.”  One unusual option presented by UCOP’s financial staff was a proposal to raise campus parking fees (thus making the parking services more valuable) and then give the UC parking system to the pension fund as a portfolio asset.  Doing so would reduce the need for pension employer and employee pension contributions. The idea is a variant of a plan some cities have implemented or considered to sell their parking meters and parking lots to a private firm for an upfront payment.  It was pointed out that…

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Listen to Regents Meeting of Sept. 11, 2012 in Two Parts

Byuclafaculty

We have previously posted audio excerpts from the Sept. 11, 2012 session of the Regents dealing with the UCLA hotel and the UCLA teaching center.  The web source on which we park audio from the Regents is again operational so here is the full meeting, divided into two parts as per the agenda below. Tuesday, September 11, 2012 Meeting Agenda, University of California Regents Part 1 1:00 pm Committee on Compliance and Audit (Regents only session) 1:10 pm Committee of the Whole – Public Comment (open session) – includes public testimony on UCLA hotel project 1:30 pm Committee on Compliance…

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Listen to Hotel Echoes in Regents Reluctant Go-Ahead for UCLA Medical Facility

Byuclafaculty

We noted yesterday that the website where we usually park audio for Regents meetings, archives.org, is having a tech heart attack.  Recovery is promised, maybe by the end of today.  In the meanwhile, we will continue to post excerpts. After the Regents Building and Grounds Committee rubber stamped the hotel (except for bathrooms and loading docks!), it went on to consider a proposal for a new Teaching and Learning Center for the Health Sciences.  The presentation was by Steve Olsen and Dean Eugene Washington of the Med School.  In this case, we came close to a repeat of the March…

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Listen to Regents Committee Approval of UCLA Hotel: 9-11-12

Byuclafaculty

Normally, we would post the full audio of the Regents and then provide excerpts if helpful.  However, our audio posting site, archive.org, seems to be having technical problems.  So here (below) is just the audio component of today’s Regents session dealing with the proposed UCLA hotel/conference center.   If archive.org continues to have problems, we will find some other work-around. As was expected, the proposal was rubber stamped by the Building and Grounds Committee after a presentation by Steve Olsen and campus architect Jeffrey Averill.  There was testimony from the Save Westwood Village group during the public comment period raising 1)…

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Maybe the Regents Need to Consult With This Former Regent

Byuclafaculty

Former speaker of the state assembly (and thus former Regent) and former mayor of San Francisco Willie Brown writes a weekly column for the San Francisco Chronicle.  The column is never on a single issue but jumps around from topic to topic.  Today’s column has a paragraph related to a grand construction project at UC-Berkeley: Cal’s newly redone Memorial Stadium makes no sense to me. Why spend all those millions fixing up a stadium that is in one of the least-accessible spots in the Bay Area? Don’t get me wrong – the stadium is beautiful. But now, Cal is trying…

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Settling Pepper

Byuclafaculty

Among the various items on the Regents agenda in September is a review of litigation affecting UC. Included is a tentative settlement of the UC-Davis pepper spray incident. Another bit of litigation from the “occupy” demonstrations at Davis involving a bank branch there is also up for discussion. The Japanese Garden litigation is on the list as is the UCLA lab fire incident involving a faculty member being prosecuted by the local DA (and defended by the university).  And there is a lawsuit arising from demonstrations at Berkeley. The full list is at http://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/regents/regmeet/sept12/finx.pdf but note that all of this discussion will…

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Impressive!! The UCLA Hotel-Brick-Grande Unveiled on Regents Agenda

Byuclafaculty

As noted on yesterday’s blog, the Regents agenda was posted but without the detailed items.  Now we can see the images of the UCLA Hotel Grande and it turns out to be brick.  The prior conceptual images were not clear.  There is also a grand report to the Regents which surely they will read, page by page.  Those who testified at the June hearing will be happy to note that “no substantive comments were received in comment letters or the public hearing that required changes to the conclusions of the Draft EIR.”   The Regents item can be downloaded at:http://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/regents/regmeet/sept12/gb3.pdf or…

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The Regents Shouldn’t be Shocked If Tax Problems Arise from the UCLA Hotel

Byuclafaculty

As our previous blog post noted, final approval of the UCLA Hotel Super-Grande is to be rubber stamped at the Regents Sept. 11.  The business plan was previously approved in July (after being deemed unacceptable in March) so this approval is just for the architecture.  At Regents meetings and numerous other venues, the Regents and UCLA have been given public notice of the tax problems potentially embedded in the hotel plan.  There was an editorial on the subject in the LA Business Journal previously.  And this week there is an op ed in the same newspaper.  You can read an…

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Waiting for Details on the September 11-13 Regents Meeting

Byuclafaculty

The Regents are meeting Sept. 11-13 at UC-San Francisco.  Below is the preliminary agenda – which includes the architectural plans for UCLA’s Hotel Super-Grandeand an “Action Approval” for some plans related to Health Sciences at UCLA.  At the moment (7 am today), the detailed agenda items are not yet posted. Tuesday September 11 1:00 pm Committee on Compliance and Audit (Regents only session) 1:10 pm Committee of the Whole – Public Comment (open session) 1:30 pm Committee on Compliance and Audit (open session) 3:00 pm Committee on Grounds and Buildings (open session) including: GB3 Action Amendment of the Long Range…

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June Trigger; August Cap

Byuclafaculty

Note: This posting has been updated with a report at the very bottom indicating UC is not included in the pension deal.   First we had a trigger cut as part of the state budget enacted in June.  Now we are about to hear about a pension cap.  According to various news reports, the legislative leaders will announce later today what they are going to do with Governor Brown’s pension proposals.  They have apparently dropped his hybrid idea of a mix of defined benefit and defined contribution and are sticking with defined benefit.  But some kind of cap will also…