UCLA History: Murder in Westwood (in 1932)

Los Angeles Magazine this month in its online edition includes this photo from the LA Public Library picture collection.  A murder in 1932 is being investigated at the Village Theater in Westwood.  It wasn't a movie; it was real.

Listen to the Regents Meeting of July 16, 2013

The latest in regental recording archiving?

NOTE: THE BLOGGER PROGRAM SEEMS TO BE HAVING PROBLEMS TODAY.  IT IS INSERTING PART OF AN EARLIER POST INTO THIS ONE.  IF YOU HAVE TROUBLE READING THIS POST AS PART OF THE GENERAL BLOG ROLL, CLICK ON ITS TITLE TO SEE ONLY THE POST.  THAT VERSION IS CLEAR.  SORRY FOR THE INCONVENIENCE WHICH YOURS TRULY COULD NOT CORRECT.

We continue our practice of providing an archived audio of Regents meetings until such time as the Regents commit to maintaining a permanent archive.  As noted on previous blog postings, the current regental policy is to preserve the recording for only one year.  We’ll leave it to readers to ask why a public board that seems to feel that UC isn’t up-to-date enough in using IT for educational purposes can’t permanently archive recordings of its meetings.

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The UC Regents Committee on Grounds and Building met yesterday.  After a closed session, the Committee discussed and approved a repair and reconstruction of a student housing facility on the Santa Cruz campus.  Apparently, in the university’s view, a construction contract built the facility with major design defects that now require closing and a substantial repair.  Although there was much description of what was wrong with the facility and why it needed reconstruction, it was never clear how it happened that a major project was allowed to be built with the faults described. 

Similarly, a medical project was proposed for approval at San Diego.  When the chair of the Committee raised a question about a $40 million cost to induce local contractors to bid, the answer was initially that the local contractors were busy with other projects and had to be motivated to make bids.  The chair asked why contractors from out of the area were not asked, since in his view the national market was still soft and competitive after the Great Recession.  He essentially never got an answer.  But like the Santa Cruz project, ultimately the proposal was approved.

It also came out in the discussion that the policy is that if there is a cost overrun above the proposal, the Committee is only told about it if the overage exceeds 25%.  As members then noted, essentially current policy amounted to approving $1.25 for every dollar the Regents thought they were approving.  The Committee asked the administration to come up with something better.  But although a promise was made to do so, no date could be promised.

Also approved was a replacement of a pier in San Diego used for ocean research ships.

We have noted many times that the Regents – absent an independent auditing capacity – really cannot judge or track the outcomes of the major capital projects on the UC campuses.  The issue became apparent in the eventual approval of the UCLA Grand Hotel.  But it arises with every project, almost all of which involve really large capital expenditures.  Ultimately, when mistakes are made, the funds to deal with them have to come from someplace.  Despite assurances about reserves, business plans, donations, etc., money taken from whatever source means less for some other purpose.

You can hear the audio of the July 16 session at the link below:

And as for whose fault was it at Santa Cruz:

Public Comments: Possible Preview

There are two public comment sessions on the Regents agenda for this week.  One is on Wednesday morning and the other is on Thursday morning.  (The opening committee meeting today does not list a public comment session on the agenda.)  At public comment sessions, anyone can say anything about anything that concerns UC.  It's hard to imagine that no one will have anything to say about the new nominee for UC president.  But there are other pending issues.  For example, there are ongoing UC labor negotiations; some blog readers will recall the short strike last month at UC med centers.  In addition, there is an active campaign to have the regents reject the nominee for student regent because of her anti-Israel position: http://www.wiesenthal.com/site/apps/nlnet/content2.aspx?c=lsKWLbPJLnF&b=4441467&ct=13221517.  That nomination first comes up on Wednesday immediately after the public comment session: http://regents.universityofcalifornia.edu/regmeet/jul13/sreport.pdf.  Following that session, the Committee on Finance will be considering a bump up in pension contributions which might also be a subject of public comment on Wednesday: http://regents.universityofcalifornia.edu/regmeet/jul13/f5.pdf.  It will also consider increases in tuition of certain nursing/medical programs: http://regents.universityofcalifornia.edu/regmeet/jul13/f3.pdf.  Either or both of those items could be a subject of public comment.

Official action on the new UC  prez does not happen until Thursday: http://regents.universityofcalifornia.edu/regmeet/july18.html.  But nothing prevents someone bringing it up in the Wednesday public comment session. 

Note finally that at public comment sessions the Regents don't respond to comments made or otherwise discuss the issues raised.

One columnist wants the new UC prez to give the state's politicos a tough going over

Most of the commentary about the nomination of Janet Napolitano as the new UC president has been about the candidate or the selection process.  Joe Mathews in contrast thinks she should use her homeland security background to be tough with the state's political establishment and has this advice for her:

...Your focus needs to be changing the reality that the UC has a very minority partner – the state government, which provides only a fraction of its resources – that has majority authority over the system. You need to present the legislature with a stark choice. Either ramp up public resources – we’re talking about at least a tripling of support – so that a majority of the resources of the system come from the state. Or stop meddling in the system, and change governance structure to give the system and campuses the autonomy it requires. If the folks in Sacramento won’t make this choice, and try to persist in the status quo, make them pay a price. Use the press to make war on Sacramento politicians who oppose you. Use politics and political money to target elected officials who won’t either help the UC financially or give it autonomy...

Full op ed at http://www.foxandhoundsdaily.com/2013/07/and-bring-everyones-phone-and-email-records-with-you-janet/

In short, Mathews says, once you are installed as prez, UC is your baby.  So tell the legislature:

In any case, she shares the Jesuit thing with the governor.  Leon Panetta also has advice:

Leon Panetta, the former CIA director and defense secretary who has for years worked with Janet Napolitano, said his fellow alum from Santa Clara University had special help to get her through the toughest days in Washington. "The good thing about people who have gone to Santa Clara is that they have a hell of a lot of grace from the Jesuits," he said last week. What kept them going in the nation's capital, he added, "was the ability to say ... a lot of Hail Marys." If Napolitano is confirmed this week as president of the University of California, Panetta said with a laugh, "She'll need to keep saying a lot of Hail Marys."...

Full story at http://www.sfchronicle.com/politics/article/Janet-Napolitano-seen-as-ready-for-UC-challenge-4664140.php

- See more at: http://www.foxandhoundsdaily.com/2013/07/and-bring-everyones-phone-and-email-records-with-you-janet/#sthash.IwPDMZ8p.dpuf

Your focus needs to be changing the reality that the UC has a very minority partner – the state government, which provides only a fraction of its resources – that has majority authority over the system.
You need to present the legislature with a stark choice. Either ramp up public resources – we’re talking about at least a tripling of support – so that a majority of the resources of the system come from the state. Or stop meddling in the system, and change governance structure to give the system and campuses the autonomy it requires.
If the folks in Sacramento won’t make this choice, and try to persist in the status quo, make them pay a price. Use the press to make war on Sacramento politicians who oppose you. Use politics and political money to target elected officials who won’t either help the UC financially or give it autonomy. Use the initiative process to grab a bigger slice of the budget pie for the system, and for Cal State.
- See more at: http://www.foxandhoundsdaily.com/2013/07/and-bring-everyones-phone-and-email-records-with-you-janet/#sthash.IwPDMZ8p.dpuf

Contest Winner!

We have a winner of today's contest.  The winner noted that Mike Curb, shown here, was Lieutenant Governor during Jerry Brown's first two terms in office in the late 1970s and early 1980s.  One of the oddities of California political institutions is that the governor and lieutenant governor don't run as a slate.  So it is possible that the two come from different parties.  Mike Curb was a Republican.  Another oddity is that whenever the governor is not in the state, the lieutenant governor becomes acting governor with all the powers of the governor.  (Communications were not easy when California was founded in the mid-19th century and state legal institutions seem not have have kept up with such technological advances as the telephone in this regard.) While Brown was out of the state running for president, Curb would assume full authority and would veto bills, issue decrees, etc., to Brown's displeasure. 

Curb's non-political career before and after public office was in the music industry and he was one of the writers of the song included in the contest.  He was a product of the San Fernando Valley where at Cal State Northridge you will find the Mike Curb College of Arts, Media, and Communication.

To find out who our winner is, click on the link below:

More Scanning of Napolitano's Appointment

The nomination of Janet Napolitano - former head of Homeland Security and thus TSA and immigration - to be the new UC president will probably get a reasonably full going over at the Regents this week - although yours truly thinks the fix is in as far as confirming the appointment goes.  Chancellor Block evidently agrees with that assessment.  From the Daily Bruin today:

...Several public figures such as President Barack Obama, Sen. Dianne Feinstein, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, Sen. John McCain, Gov. Jerry Brown and UCLA Chancellor Gene Block expressed their congratulations and support Friday following Napolitano’s nomination...

Full story at http://dailybruin.com/2013/07/15/napolitanos-political-past-sparks-disagreement/

Also in that story:

...(M)any students disagree with the choice. Though Napolitano has advocated for immigration reform in the past, some undocumented students said they were offended the regents chose a nominee who has also deported a record numbers of individuals from the U.S...  A petition started by students on DreamActivist.org calls for the UC regents to reject Napolitano at their meeting Thursday...

Note that in regental public comment periods, anyone can say anything about anything.

Sacramento Bee columnist Dan Walters in a video op ed today says the Regents' choice is peculiar:


And although Gov. Brown will be out of town (out of the country), Lt. Governor Newsom - who automatically becomes acting governor whenever Brown is out of the state - probably will attend since he is not likely to be otherwise occupied.  From today's LA Times:

..."What's a lieutenant governor?" the boy asked.
Newsom kept his gaze on the camera.
"I ask myself that every day."...

Full story at http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-gavin-newsom-20130715-dto,0,4638190.htmlstory

It's unlikely that Newsom will object to a politico getting the job.  But he tends to object to high salary appointments so it will be interesting to see what he has to say when it comes to compensation as opposed to the appointment.

Nonetheless, as we indicated above, when all is done:

Contest

Awhile back, we had a contest on this blog involving identification of someone in a photo.  Let's try another contest.  At one time, Jerry Brown had to curb his enthusiasm for the man shown in the picture here.  Who is that man and what problem did Jerry Brown have with him?  The first person to answer correctly will win our undying admiration.  

Send answers to daniel.j.b.mitchell@anderson.ucla.edu.

Here is a hint that may help or confuse.  There is another hint in the text above: