The Garden

Feeling nostalgic? Really faithful blog readers will recall the sad saga of the Hannah Carter Japanese Garden in Bel Air which UCLA sold. Presumably, it is still there, but no longer available for public viewing.

If you are unfamiliar with the sad story, use the search engine of this blog. Type in "Japanese Garden." Pick the option to see the various postings in chronological order. Also see:

https://www.laconservancy.org/issues/ethel-guiberson-hannah-carter-japanese-garden.

We're experimenting. Listen to the text above at the link below:

News Report on the Japanese Garden Designation

[Click on images to enlarge.]

Hannah Carter Japanese Garden - The Continuing Saga

We have received an email indicating that Hannah Carter Japanese Garden that UCLA sold with considerable controversy has been designated as an historical cultural monument by the LA City Council. That status gives it added protection. 

More on the former UCLA Japanese Garden

As blog readers will know, the Hannah Carter Japanese Garden which UCLA sold with great controversy is up for a designation as an Historic Cultural Landmark. A committee of the LA City Council approved the designation which now goes to the full City Council. The Beverly Hills Courier of April 7 carries the story:

Japanese Garden Sale Closes

Blog readers will recall the long saga of the attempt by UCLA to sell the Hannah Carter Japanese Garden in Bel Air, the resulting litigation, and finally a sale for $12+ million with a deal with the buyer to preserve the garden. Our most recent post for those who don't recall is at:
http://uclafacultyassociation.blogspot.com/2016/06/regents-accept-offer-from-buyer-of.html
In any case, a note in the LA Times confirms that the sale has now been completed:

$12.51 million — Bel-Air

The Regents of the University of California sold an estate on about 2 acres in the 600 block of Siena Way to a California-based limited liability company.

The longtime home of late businessman Edward W. Carter, who for decades served as president of the suburban department store chain Broadway Stores, the property had been listed for sale at $14 million, records show.

Built in the late 1930s, the estate centers on a traditional-style home with five bedrooms and seven bathrooms in about 7,300 square feet of living space. A two-bedroom guesthouse, a swimming pool, an outdoor pavilion, gardens and mature landscaping fill the hedged grounds.

Carter passed away in 1996 at 84; the property was deeded over to the Regents of the University of California, for which Carter was a former chair, in 2011.

Joyce Essex Harvey and Danny Harvey of Coldwell Banker held the listing. Jonathan Seltzer of Teles Properties repped the buyer.

Source: http://www.latimes.com/business/realestate/hot-property/la-fi-hp-top-sales-20160813-snap-story.html

Note that the LA Times' story misses the fact that UCLA is to provide $500,000 as an endowment to maintain the garden. Still unknown is whether there will be any public access to the garden. For a long time, UCLA maintained limited public access, although it ended when the attempt to sell began. (Regent Emerita Velma Montoya spotted the article.)

Regents Accept Offer from Buyer of Japanese Garden

We received word that the Regents have accepted a bid for $12.51 million for the Hannah Carter Japanese Garden from Mark Gabay of the Charles Company.* UCLA will apparently pay $500,000 into an endowment fund toward maintenance as part of the deal. So it sounds like the bid was more like $12.1 million net. In any event, escrow reportedly closes in mid-July. Blog readers will recall that UCLA operated the garden for many years and maintained limited public access. The garden was a gift from former Regent Edward W. Carter. During the budget crisis, the garden was suddenly closed and put up for sale, sparking litigation from the donor's family which has now been settled. Whether the public will have access in the future remains to be seen. (Info received from Bette Billet.)
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*Mark Gabay, Co-Managing Partner

Mark Gabay is a founder and co- managing partner in charge of company financing, accounting, and property investments. He is actively involved in all hazardous materials remediation work and as a licensed contractor, oversees and approves all construction documents and plans. Mark maintains a conservation company approach to development and investment in real estate through clarity and 35 years of hands on experience.

http://www.charles-company.com/team/

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The final announcement of the request for bids is at:

Follow Up on Japanese Garden Settlement

Irene Sandler sent a link from Rafu Shimpo, LA Japanese Daily News, with more info about the settlement: http://www.rafu.com/2015/10/dispute-over-hannah-carter-japanese-garden-resolved/

Japanese Garden Settlement

Gov. Pat Brown, President Lyndon Johnson, Regent Edward W. Carter, and UC President Clark Kerr at dedication of UC-Irvine

The LA Times is reporting of the Hannah Carter Japanese Garden lawsuit:

 

UCLA said Wednesday that it has settled a long-running legal dispute over a donor's gift of a house and Japanese garden in Bel-Air. Under the agreement, UCLA will be allowed the sell the property near the Hotel Bel-Air on the condition that the new owner agree to preserve the garden for at least 30 years. Experts consider the garden, which contains streams, a waterfall, tea house and blooming magnolia and camellia trees, to be one of the finest examples in North America of a landscaping style meant to inspire Zen-like tranquility. The new owner would not be required to open the garden to the public, but both sides said they hoped a new owner would seek a conservation easement and arrange for at least limited public access. In 1964, Edward W. Carter, a former UC regent and the man who built the Broadway department store chain, and Hannah Locke Carter, his second wife, gave UCLA their Georgian Colonial house and the Japanese garden that cascaded down the hillside below. The UC regents, UCLA's governing body, promised to maintain the garden forever. Decades ago, UCLA opened the garden to visitors on a limited basis, and thousands of people explored it. In 1982, the Carters agreed that proceeds from the sale of their house would be used to fund certain endowments and professorships. Edward Carter died in 1996. Hannah Carter vacated the house in 2006 and died in 2009.

The next year, the UC regents asked the Superior Court in Alameda County, where the University of California is based, to allow the properties’ sale by auction and to lift the “in perpetuity” requirement. The court agreed. In May 2011, the university closed the properties to the public. Months later it announced plans to auction the two acres containing the house on Siena Way and the garden on Bellagio Road. It set minimum bid prices of $9 million for the resident and $5.7 million for the garden. Hannah Carter's children sued. In 2012, a Los Angeles County Superior Court judge concluded that UCLA and UC officials had behaved in a "duplicitous" manner by failing to notify the heirs of their plan to sell the garden. He ordered a temporary halt to the sale. In arguing their side, Hannah Carter’s heirs said the university risked alienating potential contributors by reneging on its written promise...

Full story at http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-ucla-and-carter-heirs-settle-suit-over-japanese-garden-20150930-story.html

LA Times Provides Update on UCLA Japanese Garden

Today's LA Times carries a lengthy update on the litigation over UCLA's Hannah Carter Japanese Garden. Blog readers will know that UCLA closed the garden - located in Bel Air - and attempted to sell it over the objections of members of the family of Edward Carter, former chair of the Board of Regents, who gave it to the university.

...The garden was donated by Edward W. Carter, a former UC regent, and his second wife, Hannah Locke Carter, under a 1964 agreement that the university would maintain it in perpetuity. In 1982, the parties agreed that proceeds from the sale of the Carters' house would be used to fund certain endowments and professorships.

...Despite four mediation sessions, the most recent in November, the two sides have failed to come to terms. But, with the case expected to go to trial this summer in Los Angeles County Superior Court in Santa Monica, some of those involved say the family members and the university could yet resolve their differences. "A settlement is always on the table," said Craig de Recat, an attorney for the Regents of the University of California, which owns UCLA and pays its bills...

"I am optimistic that we will ultimately reach a settlement between now and the trial date in July," said Jim Caldwell, one of Hannah Carter's five children, who lives in Woodside in the Bay Area. "Alumni and donors want to believe in the university."

Full story at http://www.latimes.com/local/california/la-me-ucla-japanese-garden-20150216-story.html

As with any litigation, some caution despite the optimism is advisable:

Summertime, and the litigation on the Japanese Garden gets busy...

The following notice appears on the Facebook page for the group trying to save the Hannah Carter Japanese Garden in Bel Air which UCLA has been trying to sell without guarantees of preservation:

THE TRIAL DATE IS SET! July 20, 2015 the Garden will have its day in Court. Several days probably. At today’s hearing, Judge Cole preserved the right of the plaintiffs to argue that UCLA and the Regents perpetuated a “fraud on the Court” when they originally sought to sell the Garden with no meaningful protection for its preservation.

UC Goings on This Week

Goings on back in the day:

President Saxon and the chancellors, 1982. Left to right: Daniel Aldrich, Robert
Huttenback, Julius Krevans, Robert Sinsheimer, James Meyer,
David Saxon, Tomas Rivera, Richard Atkinson, Charles Young, Ira
Michael Heyman.

Goings on this week - Wednesday, anyway - at the UC Regents:

Regents Wednesday Agenda (Sept. 17, 2014)

8:30 am                Committee of the Whole

Public Comment Period  (Likely comments on fossil fuel divestment)

Remarks of the Chairman of the Board

Remarks of the President of the University

Remarks of the Chair of the Academic Senate

9:30 am                Committee on Educational Policy

Includes discussion of sexual assault politices

10:45 am              Committee on Finance

Capital budget approval including some seismic upgrades at UCLA.  The item, if you read it carefully, notes that the sharp dichotomy between the general fund budget and the capital budget no longer exists.  UC can use general funds for capital purposes.  On the one hand, this change gives UC some flexibility.  On the other, it is a symptom of the state’s backing away from support to UC.

12:00 pm              Lunch

1:00 pm                Committee on Investments 

Basically, the agenda is a repeat of what went on in last week’s meeting of the committee, i.e., investment in green stuff/not divestment in fossil fuels, and earnings on the pension and other elements of the UC portfolio.

concurrent with    Special Meeting:  Committee on Investments

The Regents are to approve an investment vehicle for “innovations.”  It is unclear whether this item refers to the $1 billion for green investment or something else.

2:15 pm                Committee on Compliance and Audit

Included is a presentation by the Berkeley and UCLA chancellors on NCAA rules.  It is likely that this item has some connection to the various lawsuits on behalf of college athletes.

3:00 pm                Committee on Compensation (closed session)

Big buck salaries plus collective bargaining. 

3:30 pm                Committee on Compensation (Regents only session)

Yet more big buck salaries.

4:00 pm                Committee on Educational Policy (Regents only session)

Confidential personnel matter involving a UC-San Diego faculty member.

4:15 pm                Committee on Finance (Regents only session)

Lawsuits: There is a hint of some kind of settlement talks on the UCLA Japanese Garden affair.  There is an update on the O’Bannon college athlete case against the NCAA.  A case yours truly would guess involves the attempt by a UCLA faculty member to obtain admissions records related to Prop 209 and affirmative action seems to be on the agenda. There is also reference to a lawsuit in which San Francisco wants to collect parking taxes.  (City collecting taxes on a UC enterprise? Think UCLA Grand Hotel!)

4:45 pm                Committee on Compliance and Audit (Regents only session)

Vague reference to personnel matters.

4:55 pm                Board (Regents only session)

Full documentation at http://regents.universityofcalifornia.edu/meetings/agendas/sept14.html

Taped Together

Yours truly still has one of these which works (somewhat), vacuum tubes and all.

The LA Times ran a nice piece about a UCLA project to digitize and put on YouTube what appears to be a very large quantity of reel-to-reel audio tapes of lectures given at UCLA going back to the mid-1960s.  (I also found a radio broadcast from 1951 which includes Ronald Reagan.)

Oddly, the one bit of info left out of the piece was a link to find them.  So yours truly is happy to inform our blog readers that you can find them at:

https://www.youtube.com/user/UCLACommStudies/videos

You can find the LA Times article at:
http://www.latimes.com/local/education/la-me-archived-speeches-20140902-story.html

There is a large array of types of speakers ranging from local politicos (e.g., Mayor Sam Yorty), state politicos (e.g., US Senator Alan Cranston), national politicos (e.g., Gerald Ford),authors (e.g., Ray Bradbury), entertainers (e.g., Carol Burnett), activists (e.g., Saul Alinsky), commentators (e.g., William Buckley), student protests (e.g., free tuition), scientists (e.g., Harold Urey), ceremonies (e.g., 1965 graduation including reference to opening of Pauley Pavillion - see link below), etc.



PS: You might notice the photo of the UCLA Japanese Garden in this video which pops up at around minute 35.  It also appears in other videos.  UCLA is currently trying to rid itself of the Garden, as blog readers will know.  Just saying.

That's a nice garden. Say, wasn't there another one?

UCLA's other garden

Real estate developer and philanthropist Morton La Kretz gave a $5 million donation to the UCLA Mildred E. Mathias Botanical Garden.  The gift is the largest in the garden’s 85-year history.  The donation will be used to construct the La Kretz Garden Pavilion that will house a welcome center and classroom. It will also be used to start an endowment. The pavilion is scheduled to open at the end of 2016.  Last year, La Kretz, a UCLA alumnus, donated $1 million to create a new entrance for the garden. The university has scheduled a grand opening celebration for noon on Monday. The new entrance is located at the corner of Tiverton Avenue and Charles E. Young Drive...

Full story at http://www.losangelesregister.com/articles/city-600074-garden-kretz.html

As blog readers will know, UCLA has been trying to rid itself of the Hannah Carter Japanese Garden in Bel Air and gotten enmeshed in litigation which blocked the sale.  Yours truly once served on a university committee with Mildred Mathias and is happy to see her garden enhanced.  Maybe with the new university interest in gardens, some better resolution than court decisions can be found for the "other" garden.

Dig a Deeper Hole?

The plaintiffs in the case against the UCLA Grand Hotel have filed an amended brief.  You can read it at the link below.  There are actually two cases, one involving environmental and other matters and another regarding the tax issue.  The environmental case will be heard in September.  And there is legal skirmishing around the tax case.




The tax issue is basically that if the hotel is a commercial operation, it has to pay taxes just as would any other hotel.  There is also an issue of whether the Regents can run a commercial enterprise and, if that's what they are doing, whether tax-exempt bonds (which are part of the "business plan") can be used.  Note that the donation covers only about a third of the cost of the hotel so the business plan has to produce a lot of money.  Taxes and non-exempt bonds would raise the costs.  Delays would raise costs.  The environmental lawsuit claims that the required environmental review was not properly done, that there were irregularities regarding the administrative and regental process, and that there were improper conditions imposed by the donors, among other allegations.




Right now, of course, the university is busy digging a deeper hole on the site of the Grand Hotel, as the photos show.  It is confident that creating facts on the ground is the best way to proceed. It is sure it will prevail in the lawsuits.  But let's suppose that there is, say, a 10% chance the university is wrong.  Does it make sense to just bull along?  The university bulled along on the Japanese Garden affair instead of trying to work with the plaintiffs in that case, and now litigation has put that matter on hold.  The university didn't promptly apologize to Judge Cunningham who was stopped in Westwood by campus police and now has a $10 million complaint on its hands.  So maybe bulling along is not such a good strategy. This blog has pointed out in each instance that there are advantages in talking, negotiating, compromising, all to no avail.  So it is probably pointless to suggest talking-negotiating-compromising in the case of the Grand Hotel. But we do suggest it. Why chance digging a deeper legal hole?




Actually, battleships can turn around but it depends on the captain giving the order

We've all heard the expression about how hard it is to turn a battleship around.  Giant ships moving forward have momentum to keep going in a straight line.  But they can be turned around.

Yesterday we posted about the Judge Cunningham case.  It is symptomatic of a larger problem in Murphy Hall.  What should have occurred in that case is a prompt apology by the chancellor and appropriate internal action.  If you were reading this blog at the time of the event, you would have found that suggestion.  Instead, what occurred was defensive legalism which is still going on.  So now we have a claim against the university for $10 million.  The episode is also marked by a complete sense of divorce from all the supposed concern about "campus climate." 

An extra $10 million could have nicely resolved the UCLA Japanese Garden affair - see our posts on that matter - still in litigation, by the way, because the ship just sailed on in that case, too.

And let's not get started on the colossal hotel project underway in the center of campus that could have been scaled back to something appropriate and better suited to the wishes of the donor and the needs of the campus.  But instead we have more litigation there.  Another battleship.

In each case, the battleship could have been turned before damage was done.  But there was no order from the top to do so.   Where is the captain?

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UPDATE: The Daily Bruin now carries the Cunningham story in which the university responds with vague statements about being "distressed" that the judge feels bad but continues its legalistic approach - with no sign of intervention by the captain.
http://dailybruin.com/2014/02/03/judge-files-10m-claim-against-ucpd/

“We are distressed when anyone feels disrespected by our officers or anyone who represents UCLA,” university officials said in a statement Monday. “As in this case, feedback to UCLA Police provides them the opportunity to review their actions, tailor future trainings and improve performance to reflect the department’s commitment to excellence.”

$10 million in "feedback"?

Unsolicited Suggestion for the Traffic Stop

We have been offering unsolicited advice to Murphy Hall about what to do about the traffic stop "problem" that arose a week ago.  Before the lawyers get hold of this matter and make it complicated (think, for example, about the Japanese Garden affair), how about just starting with an apology to Judge Cunningham?  It's been done before and we offer a modest proposal below:

LA Conservancy Picks Up Story of UCLA Japanese Garden

The Los Angeles Conservancy includes a story in its November-December 2013 newsletter on the Hannah Carter Japanese Garden UCLA has been blocked from selling through litigation.  We continue to suggest that UCLA work with conservation groups and the family to find a solution that will preserve the garden.  Litigation is costly for the university and its purpose should not be simply to gratify someone's ego in Murphy Hall.  How about a focus that is less on "winning" and more on achieving the dual goals of garden preservation and revenue for UCLA?

You can read the LA Conservancy's story at:

It appears that publish or perish doesn't characterize the 2nd Appellate District California Court of Appeal

Appellate Court Verdict For Hannah Carter Garden Unique 

Beverly Hills Courier, Laura Coleman, 10/14/13*

The 2nd Appellate District California Court of Appeal yesterday denied a request to publish the Court’s decision to uphold a preliminary injunction against the University of California, Los Angeles from selling the 1.5-acre Hannah Carter Garden. The traditional Japanese garden, which was bequeathed to the university in 1964 by former UC Regent Edward Carter sparked the ire of garden preservationists and the heirs of Hannah Carter, who subsequently filed suit against UCLA to maintain its promise, when the university undertook efforts to begin the process of selling the garden just months after Hannah Carter died – even though it had agreed to maintain the garden in perpetuity.

Last month, the Appellate Court of Appeal unanimously voted to uphold the preliminary injunction that L.A. Superior Court Judge Lisa Hart Cole issued on July 27, 2012, calling the university “duplicitous” in its attempt to sell the garden. Plaintiffs’ attorney Walter Moore of the Law Offices of John R. Walton told The Courier that publishing the opinion would have allowed lawyers in other disputes to site the case as a matter of precedent. “We think this opinion’s important enough and helpful enough to the public to be cited for publication,” Moore said...

Full story at http://bhcourier.com/appellate-court-verdict-hannah-carter-garden-unique/2013/10/14

*When you click on the link, it gives the date as 10/4/13 which is apparently a typo.

Yours truly can’t really interpret what happened.  It is likely that the plaintiffs felt that publication would embarrass the university which has so far not fared well in this litigation.

Garden Therapy

Blog readers will know that UCLA tried to sell the Hannah Carter Japanese Garden and has been blocked so far by litigation since the original agreement specified the university would maintain the garden "in perpetuity."

This blog has urged UCLA to sit down with the family and others who have an interest and work out a deal that would conserve the garden even if it is sold.  Basically, the reason the sale has been blocked to this point is that the university's attempt to sell it failed the sniff test.  If you haven't followed the issue, type in "Japanese garden" in the blog search engine for earlier postings.

In any event, the Daily Bruin recently published an editorial favoring sale.  See http://dailybruin.com/2013/09/22/court-of-appeal-should-allow-uclas-sale-of-hannah-carter-japanese-garden/  The fact is, however, that as it stands, the issue will be settled in court and really at this point has nothing to do with newspaper editorial opinions. Now there is a letter to the editor in the Bruin favoring garden preservation and retention:

...Rather than cashing in the treasure the Carter family left us, maybe there are other ways to manage the costs. Expanded hours, alternative transportation and entry charges are some ideas. My specialty is psychiatric mental health nursing. A visit to the Hannah Carter Japanese Garden is a whole lot of therapy! A visit to the Hannah Carter Japanese Garden offers tranquility and beauty. Please protect this treasure.

Full letter at http://dailybruin.com/2013/10/01/letter-to-the-editor-hannah-carter-japanese-garden-is-a-ucla-treasure/

Japanese Garden: Time for Salvage?

UCLA has now lost two rounds in litigation over its attempt to sell the Hannah Carter Japanese Garden.  A judge has suggested that the attempt just doesn't pass the legal sniff test.  

I'm not sure why, exactly, but the headline on salvaging and righting the ship on today's LA Times website suggested to yours truly that there might be some alternatives for UCLA beyond just leaving the legal situation as it stands.  Someone in Murphy Hall might think of salvaging the garden sale's tenuous legal position by talking to the plaintiffs and others involved. No?

Anyway, it's something for the captain of the ship to consider.