UCLA

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…