UC Regents

The discussion of the proposed UCLA Hotel/Conference Center occurred in two segments of the March 28, 2012 UC Regents meeting.  During the morning public comment period, there was testimony on the hotel by outside interest groups.  In the afternoon at the Committee on Buildings and Grounds, there was a full hearing on the proposal.  As readers of this blog will know, the result was an embarrassment for UCLA.  Committee members asked questions and were dissatisfied with the responses received.  They were unwilling to endorse the proposal and would have sent it without endorsement to the full Board of Regents the…

From LA Business Journal: UCLA Expansion Fails to Make Grade With Regents: Board seeks more details on plan for hotel-conference center. Jacquelyn Ryan, April 9, 2012 UCLA’s controversial plan to build a hotel and conference center on its Westwood campus has sustained another setback.  The University of California Board of Regents postponed a decision on the $162 million project at its March 28 meeting after citing concerns about the project’s viability.  The board questioned whether the area would support a new hotel and suggested that the university consider acquiring and repositioning an existing nearby hotel. Specifically, it sought more details…

My previous blog entry noted the objections to the UCLA hotel/conference center raised by non-UCLA participants at the public comments session this morning. As in the case of the morning session, I was unable to record the afternoon session of the Regents’ Committee on Building and Grounds.  However, I did hear most of it. There were presentations by Gene Block and Steve Olsen which led to a very skeptical set of questions by the Regents on the Committee.  They questioned all of the items raised by the morning witnesses. Ultimately, the Committee was not willing to conclude its session with…

Later this morning at the UC Regents meeting, there will be a public comments period.  There may be oral testimony by persons opposed to the latest version of the UCLA hotel/conference center project. Below you can find a link to the written testimony of “Save Westwood Village,” a group of neighbors and local business & hotel owners.  Although the group may have interests regarding this project different from those of the faculty, it will be necessary for any Academic Senate review of this project to respond to the objections raised.  The faculty interest essentially is that the project not end…