UCLA

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405 Closure Tonight

Byuclafaculty

From the LA Daily News:In another minor preview of “Carmageddon II,” the northbound San Diego (405) Freeway will be closed Saturday night through the Sepulveda Pass. Beginning at 11 p.m. Saturday, the northbound freeway will be closed from Getty Center Drive to the Ventura (101) Freeway. The freeway is expected to reopen by 9 a.m. Sunday, according to Metro, which is overseeing the San Diego Freeway construction project. The Mulholland bridge over the freeway, which closed tonight, will remain blocked until 8 a.m. Sunday… Full article at http://www.dailynews.com/breakingnews/ci_21549600/northbound-san-diego-405-freeway-closed-saturday-night [youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0b5LzCOc98E?feature=player_detailpage]

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Fires North of UCLA

Byuclafaculty

At least two fires are reported burning north of UCLA causing major traffic disruptions this afternoon.  The most recent alerts (as of around 5 PM today) say: Please be advised of a hillside brush fire in the Sepulveda Pass which has closed Sepulveda Blvd and slowed traffic more than normally on the I-405.  Additionally there are reports of car fires on Mulholland Drive and near Coldwater Canyon.I-405 is still open in both directions but moving slowly.  Heavy smoke from the fire is visible on campus. == Coldwater Canyon is closed between Ventura Blvd and Sunset Blvd. This is in addition…

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UCLA Crows But As Alfred Hitchcock Pointed Out, Too Much Crowing Can Lead to Trouble

Byuclafaculty

UCLA Newsroom  UC Board of Regents grants final approval for UCLA conference center By Steve RiteaSeptember 11, 2012 [Update, Sept. 13: The full Board of Regents has approved the project’s final design plans and a final environmental impact report.]    The University of California Board of Regents’ Committee on Grounds and Buildings today cleared the way for UCLA to begin construction next year on the Meyer and Renee Luskin Conference and Guest Center, a project that will enhance civic engagement on campus and allow UCLA to compete with other universities for important academic conferences.   “We are grateful to the Regents…

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Listen to Regents Approve Everything in Afternoon of 9-13-12 (partial recording)

Byuclafaculty

The Regents were in closed session most of the morning.  A prior entry on this blog gives you the audio of that part of the morning session which was open.  The Regents came back into session early so I missed an item.  Thus, the link below is only a partial recording of the afternoon session during which they approved everything including the UCLA hotel and the UCLA med school teaching center.  (See earlier posts on those projects.)  Indeed, they approved all executive compensation recommendations of the compensation committee and all projects endorsed by Building and Grounds in toto, i.e., no…

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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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Compare and Contrast

Byuclafaculty

The LA Business Journal regularly runs lists of top firms in LA County by various criteria and sectors. It also has a listing in this week’s issue of colleges and universities ranked by enrollment. UCLA is the largest campus in the County with over 40,000 students; USC is the second largest. With the talk around about privatization, it might be of interest to contrast UCLA (public) with USC (private), using the data from the Journal. The biggest contrast is that USC has more faculty, full time and part time, than UCLA, although fewer students. On the other hand, UCLA has…

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More for the Regents to Consider Before They Rubber Stamp the UCLA Hotel

Byuclafaculty

Yesterday we posted a note suggesting that big projects largely dependent on future revenue streams can lead to big losses.  For those Regents who need a reminder from past history, the two excerpts below might be instructive: UCLA Buys Land in Westchester for 90 Faculty Homes July 20, 1989 | SPENCER S. HSU | Los Angeles Times UCLA has bought a controversial, 57-acre site on the Westchester Bluffs for $15.25 million to build subsidized faculty housing. The 90-home development will be UCLA’s fourth and largest housing project. Since 1986, in an effort to help its faculty members cope with the…

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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…