Evidently, Cartaglia had only solved cubics of the form x cubed plus px equals q, where p and q were positive. This is a type known as the cube and corsa. Remember corsa is Italian for thing, so we could view this as the cube and some unknowns. But what about other types of cubics? So while a cubic equation could have linear, qx, square, px squared, and cubic, x cubed terms, Cardano knew the square terms could always be eliminated. Viewed geometrically, we can take a cube, y cubed, and squares, p, y squared, and form it from a larger cubed, x cubed, minus cubed, q cubed, minus some sides, q squared, x. Viewed algebraically, the terms y cubed plus p, y squared can be transformed by letting y equal x minus p thirds. So for example, let's try to eliminate the square term in this cubic equation. So we'll use the transformation y equals x minus 12 thirds x minus four. And so we want to find y cubed, 12 y squared, and 36 y. And so when we put these terms together, we get 900. And when we put these terms together, our square terms drop out. And put together, this meant that Cardano only had to worry about three types of cubic equations. The cube and corsa equals number, x cubed plus px equals q. The cube equals corsa and number, x cubed equals px plus q. And the cube and number equals corsa, x cubed plus q equals px. So the cube and corsa, the equation that started it all, for this equation, Cardano gave the algorithm. Take the cube of one third the number of things, that's our x coefficient. Add the square of half the number, take the square root, then work with this twice. Add half the number to get a binomial, and subtract half the number to get an apatome. These are technical terms for when you add and when you subtract two terms. And the cube root of the binomial minus the cube root of the apatome gives the solution. So going back to our first cubic, x cubed plus 6x equals 20, we're going to take the cube of one third the number of things. So there's 6x, there's 6 things, so one third is 2, and the cube is 8. Then we're going to add the square of half the number, so the number is 20. So half is 10, and the squared is 100, and we add, and we get 108, which we'll take the square root of, and work with it twice. So we'll add half the number to get a binomial, square root 108 plus 10. We'll subtract half the number to get the apatome, square root 108 minus 10, and the cube root of the binomial minus the cube root of the apatome gives the solution. How about the cube equals cossa and number? From a modern perspective, x cubed plus px equals q, and x cubed equals px plus q are not essentially different since the latter is x cubed minus px equals q. But Cardano doesn't have this perspective, so he gives a separate rule. Take the cube of one third the number of things, subtract this from the square of half the number, take the square root, then work with this twice, add to half the number to get a binomial, and subtract from half the number to get an apatome. The cube root of the binomial plus the cube root of the apatome gives the solution. So Cardano gives the example x cubed equals 6x plus 40, so we want to find the cube of one third the number of things. So again, that's our coefficient of x, so one third of 6 cubed. We also need the square of half the number, so the number is our constant 40, half is 20, squared is 400, and we're going to subtract 400 minus 8, 392, and we'll get our square root 392, which we'll work with twice. So we'll add to half the number to get our binomial, we'll subtract from half the number to get the apatome, and the cube root of the binomial plus the cube root of the apatome gives us our solution. Now while in modern mathematics we would see no problem with handling all three types of cubic equations using the same rules for cube and corsa equals number, Cardano breaks them apart into three different cases, and cube and number equals corsa, Cardano's solution is very different from what we might expect, and it proceeds as follows. First solve the cube equal to the same number of corsa and number, what we're doing is we're solving a related equation. Then take three times the square of half the solution, subtract from the corsa and find the square root, then add or subtract from half the solution of the cube equal to the corsa and number to obtain the solutions. And Cardano solves x cubed plus 3 equals 8x. So first solve cube equal to the same number of corsa and numbers, in other words we want to solve the equation x cubed equals 8x plus 3, and we note this has solution x equal to 3. We won't go through the solution because, well, that's a surprise. And now we're going to take three times the square of half the solution. So we find half our solution and square it, then multiply by 3, and then we'll subtract this from the corsa, the number of things. That's 8 minus 27 fourths, and one of the interesting features about this is that Cardano actually gives us two solutions. We'll add or subtract from half the solution. So in this case, half the solution, three halves, we're going to add square root of five fourths to get one solution, and subtract square root of five fourths to get a different solution.


Hi everyone! Thanks for joining us today. It's Rachel Wolfson here with Cointelegraph. Today I'm doing a very special interview with Mike Thompson. Mike is a two-time Clio award-winning artist and illustrator who has made quite a name for himself in the art world. Mike has worked with some major brands including Nike, Marvel, Coke, and other well-known brands that I'm sure all of you have heard of. So it's just a pleasure to welcome Mike here today. Hey Mike, how's it going? Hey Rachel, how are you? I'm doing well. Thank you. Thanks so much for being here. It's such a pleasure and honor to be speaking with you. You're a very talented artist. If you could just go into your background a little bit to tell the audience a little bit about who you are, that would be great. Absolutely. I'd love to. Thank you first of all. So yeah, I am a digital artist and sculptor. I've been working in the industry for over 20 years or really over 25 years if I'm being honest. Worked with a lot of different clients. I kind of started off in the t-shirt industry. So on the textile side I was designing t-shirts for whatever hip-hop songs were big in the summer. I won't tell you what year that was but summertime might have been a big song by Will Smith and Jazzy Jeff at the time so dating myself. But yeah, so I did t-shirts for a while. I started working with companies who were in the kind of the young men's clothing space and ended up with a company called Echo Unlimited which was doing a lot of really nice kind of clothing and gear and stuff like that. And so it was great because Echo had this ad campaign and they got these rappers like Method Man and DMX and all these guys to pose and they take photos of them wearing the gear and then I would paint the images of them for the ads. And those came out in magazines like XXL and Vibe and all that. And it was fantastic because that allowed me to move on to start doing illustration for magazines and books and movie posters and things like that.  I've always been a big superhero fan. I don't know if you could tell but you know I got into working with companies like DC and Marvel doing package design for toys and you know like promotional stuff like that and eventually got into sculpting and I mean I've been doing a lot of stuff doing a lot of stuff. And how did you get involved in the crypto space? So I met Fred and Christina almost two years ago and you know the pitch was hey Mike you're doing all this great artwork. We would love to you know create an NFT with you and sell it on there at the time it was an online gallery called Pixios. And so you know he's explaining me to me what NFT is and I was like I don't know. I don't know.  I don't know.  So called him up and we got my original piece which actually was in the LA Grammy Museum. I turned that into my first NFT. It went up for a while and sat there until Flow announced my partnership with them in Epic's to do the Icons collection. And then and then it sold. So I was like oh man I'm hooked. So then we're working on you know Fred decided he was going to form Epic's with Christina and their partner Mario. And so we kind of you know went full steam ahead. We're like all right for this collection you can do whatever you want to do. And I decided I wanted to put my my lifelong love of hip hop into this this this set. And are there any other benefits that you want to elaborate on just having the collection virtual versus physical? I love the idea of having collections of things with me at all times you know like I'm a big comic book collector and I had these long boxes that are in a closet and they've been there forever. Everything's in plastic with boards and all that you know and video games are all like in the in the sleeves and and just music walls of CDs and things like that right. But being able to have my entire audio collection on my phone at any given moment is compelling to me right. So like I think that that's the way we're moving with everything. And you know I'm all for physical things as well right like so the statues that are behind me I love the fact that I can look at them and grain you know get inspiration for working on other things from those. We actually have something that is in the works that's going to allow you to have the best of both worlds. So you know I don't want to talk about it too much but you'll be able to combine physical with the unique NFT ID chips as well. And so that's that's pretty exciting. So if a friend of yours or family member wanted to see it you just hold out your phone and show them. Exactly. Exactly you know I've got my whole comic book collection on my iPad. It's crazy.  How has the transition been going from that into the NFT world? Was it an easy transition for you to take you know your physical artwork and kind of make that digital or was it challenging? So it's interesting because I have I started freelancing back in 2004 so I've been kind of working remotely for a big chunk of my life you know and so if you had asked me about transitioning from physical into digital as far as artwork when I first did it it was challenging just getting used to the whole space but I've worked that way so long that the biggest challenge with NFTs was kind of wrapping my mind around the concept of them and you know why having something that you're allowing to someone you know you're allowing someone to have ownership of something right? So you're not only getting you know a print of my artwork where there are a million prints you're getting something that has a very kind of finite availability that you have ownership in so it's it's pretty exciting you know but it took me that was probably the biggest part is realizing what they are. I still can't announce the F part in the middle fungible I think that's what it is but I don't have to so that's good. Are you doing anything to educate the public friends family you know children on what NFTs are? I think a lot of the world you know they know they know of NFTs but they're so unfamiliar as to what they actually are yeah as an NFT artist are you doing anything to educate the world on you know what NFTs are? Absolutely you'd be surprised so since Flo started talking about my collection everybody is coming to me so I've had to kind of ramp up my own knowledge and and tell people so I'm I'm actually an instructor at an online digital art school right this school called the CG spectrum and I just had a kind of a panel discussion with you know the instructors and the teacher like the students and everyone in there about NFTs and you know creating them how difficult is it to do it yourself and and you know sell them and things like that uh with family members every day you know since since the presale of uh of my collection I have been I've been telling people every day you know okay go do this do this I've become like a one of the the the technical support guys you know that you you call when you can't figure something out so uh yeah I'm I'm doing quite a bit of that. Can you explain maybe the personal benefits for you creating NFTs for instance you know like you said it allows ownership all of that but any any personal benefits that you want to discuss? So the biggest personal benefit for me is so I have two kids I have a boy and a girl and uh and I and I wanted to leave some type of a legacy with them and you know it's it's one thing to um you know to to be in a co-commercial here or do this infinity thing there or whatever but I think creating a collection like this with the level of quality like I I put everything into this and and like I said you know I I truly love hip hop so I want people to get that when they see it it's not just a cash grab it's something that that's near like near and dear to me um being able to create that and put that out there in a space where it can live on and sell you know and and and be traded and things like that like that's a big deal for me um I I really um I want my grandkids to be able to look back and be like oh man grandpa was killing it with this thing um you know so that's the that's the biggest thing for me I think you know as a creator and an artist it's fantastic because you have ownership in your own work you know like that's the biggest thing cool awesome if people want to get in touch with you or if they want to find out more about your collection uh how should they do that so my name online is um at Mike T artworks looks like Mike T artworks I didn't think about that when I when I kind of bought that but uh that's what it is I'm not a baker uh unless you count me cooking up all that good stuff um so yeah they can reach me on uh Mike T artworks my site is is is that my instagram is that my twitter is that without the s so Mike T artwork and so yeah you can reach me that way but you're gonna find me on epics as well thanks for sharing those thoughts with us Mike it's been a great interview it's been a real pleasure meeting you and I'm looking forward to you know all of your NFT collections in the future and I'm sure the audience and that is as well thank you thank you so much


You know, when you leave America, everything is white.  You pass through the airport, it's dominated by white people. And when you arrive in Ghana and you get off that plane and you don't see no white people. And then you tell yourself, this is where I should be.


Here, let the record reflect that all committee members are present. All right. We have any announcements. No, departmental announcements. We will cover some regular business and some updates on our agenda. Perfect. So to approval of the minutes, we've got January 9th, 2024 draft minutes. I don't know if I was here that day. So, I was saying on the sign of caution. You came in late.  Because I was. But you were here. Okay. And therefore, we're working. I will remember what I was saying. It's inspiring confidence. I like that. Let's go to public comment, see if anybody has any amendments to the minutes. Well, we only allow public comment in person. That's right. We no longer have that. All right. Well, without objection, we'll show those adopted as presented. Let's move on to public comments. Not seeing anybody here for public comment. Here for public comment for non agenda items. I'm here just to. Perfect. All right, we'll keep moving then. Let's go to new business item 5.1. That's our update on our economic development strategic plan. Good morning, everyone. I'm Jill Scott. I'm the acting deputy director of economic development. And we just want to give a quick update on where we are with the strap plan. So since our last meeting when we went over the strap plan with you, we've spent some time sending the strategic plan out to our national and our local partners. So we had review by the California local economic development association. The economic development board of Sonoma County, Sonoma County tourism metro chamber, visit Santa Rosa, Sonoma small business and among other things. So we spent some time sending that out and then getting back comments and reviewing and talking it through with them. The only changes that we've made are mostly in alignment with language and concepts. So what we found is there's so many things that are national and our local folks are our partners are already doing and how we can align with them to do it together. Rather than us being on separate paths. So we've taken the plan and looked at looked at that piece and really aligned all the language. So it's similar to a national and local and taken opportunities to put partnerships within the plan. And those are really the only changes that we've made. And as of right now, the plans at the with the graphic designer getting designed and having some pictures, some new pictures taken of our local area. And we're hoping to have it back and be able to bring it to full council in April. And that's kind of where we are with that. Any questions on that one piece? Okay. Just a few pieces of implementation that we started on just to let you know, even though the full plan is not going forward, we started, we're starting to work on what we really align with measurements and metrics so that we can really look at our plan. It's a five year plan, right? A lot of plans are three. There's either three or a five year plan we found. So we really want to be able to look at metrics at the end of every single year to see where we are and how we're implementing where we need to adjust and move forward. So right now we're working on a survey, a pretty large survey for small business, which includes home business, women, BIPOC, all kinds of different business owners. We're going to be partnering because there's several other agencies that are also want to do this and set foundational metrics for where we are with these types of businesses and what we can do moving forward. So we're working with them to prepare the survey and get that out. I'm hoping in the next several months it'll be out on the street and we'll have some information from that to report back. And then we've begun reaching out to the national and the local real estate companies to discuss land preparation and availability for large business attraction. That's really going to be a key component I think for us for large business attraction. We're also setting up vacant and commercial retail building less retail industrial commercial, what's vacant what's available reaching out to those property owners to see who's interested in what their future plans are if we can, you know, get the low hanging fruit and connect them with businesses right now, or larger ones right but we can think about the future and what we can put in there what we can connect with those so all of that is started that process is started behind the scenes. And that's really the majority of implementation. Is there any any questions about that before I move on or comments. No, okay. And then gave and I actually today is our first one we're starting our medium and large business tour. So we're going to be meeting with me all the medium size to large size businesses talking to them about. You know, really, really making connections and opening up communication as much as possible but also talking to them about what we can do better, what their struggles are in Santa Rosa, what are the good things we're doing here in Santa Rosa, how it is to to be a business here and what we can work on in the future and so I think there's two parts to this great it's great that we're going to, you know, have this open door communication and these relationships with these businesses which is a key to this, but also just gathering information for when we're doing business attraction, what works what doesn't work what we need to work on. And so that's not starting today we'll be making the rounds on those I'm trying to do at least at least a couple of month if not more. And then, after that, I just have some, we have some overall updates for you. When I want to go through kind of what the economic scene in Santa Rosa and Sonoma County is looking for the first, we're not to the end of the first quarter but the beginning of the second quarter in the end of 2023. We're seeing about the same level of vacancy in the downtown that we've seen for a while we still have some key spaces that are open as you all know we've got one Santa Rosa, 10 Santa or one Santa Rosa Avenue, 10 Santa Rosa Avenue and then the third street is a corridor and third street but is all open. And those are some key spots we'd like to see move. Industrial which I think you all know has seen like this steady upward trend for so many years has really studied out and stalled not stalled but slowed down a bit in Sonoma County and Santa Rosa and actually nationwide there's a really seen vacancy rates on an upward trend. We think that a lot of the economists think that that's likely because there aren't a lot of buildings that have had that have kept up with the needs. And so, it's mostly just about inventory. Retail vacancy rates have slightly risen. Office is still on the rise unfortunately. In comparison, office vacancy rates in 2022 were 14.5% and in 2024 they're 16.1% so that's a 1.6% increase and that's here in our county and in Santa Rosa that's one thing we don't want to see. Retail in 2022 was a 6.9% in 2024 it's 8.5 that's also a 1.6 increase in vacancy rates and then industrial which is a bit of a surprising one in 2022 was 4.7, 2024 it's 7%. So that's quite an increase that we're seeing. In the development and the real estate world overall, we're still seeing higher rates although they did a little bit of a plunge and then back up again. The cost of money is still high and couple that with CDs being, you know, the interest rates being high so you can keep your money in it. We're seeing a lot of 1031 exchange clients that would usually buy another piece of real estate and roll their money over actually taking the capital game loss and putting their money into high yield accounts and holding it. So we're seeing a slow in development right now where people are holding their money in the higher rate accounts and just waiting for the interest rates to change and to do something and that's nationwide. We're seeing it here in Santa Rosa we're seeing it in Sonoma County. But despite all of that the 2024 forecast for Sonoma County is much better and exceeds our Bay Area partners. If the forecast is correct so that's something to look forward to I'm good but something also for us to watch when we're doing we're thinking about local businesses and business attraction. I think you've all probably all heard that the Calais conference is coming here to Santa Rosa and it's April 10th through the 12th of this year it's going to be at the Hyatt which is pretty exciting to have all here. The mayor and the city manager are both speaking on opening day at the conference. We split up tours on Thursday from 2 to 4 on the 11th there'll be two tours. The Economic Development Board is planning one tour, City of Santa Rosa is planning a second tour. The Economic Development Board is doing the Spassful Road area they're going to visit Sonoma County Meads, Tia Maria, some of the developments, the mural projects and then end at Matote and then Santa Rosa staff. We are scheduling the downtown revitalization tour so we're going to start at the Hyatt we'll go to the Canary project over to the smart station talk about smart proposed housing project community benefit district and then we're going to head uptown to see 420 Mendocino Avenue development and in progress and then over to the two city surplus lots garage 5 and White House site to talk about the surplus lands act and where we are with those developments and then back down to the Hyatt again. And that is really it for the conference for right now did you want to talk a little bit about the thoughts updates. Absolutely. So first off any questions about conference. Right. When we speak about the office vacancy rates at one point something and how we're actually very better than our original part of the Bay Area. Are there any zoning alternatives that we see being used elsewhere, other than just office space that might be working for other parts of California. I can touch on that and gave can also talk on that but that was a big piece that Ashley, myself gave and the planning team has worked on in the general plan update and I probably should have mentioned that as well as that we've combed through the general plan update with a fine tooth comb to make sure that these two plans coincide that they match. We've made a lot of changes for it to match the strategic plan, and we've looked at things and Ashley's been a huge help with that at different types of zoning and different districts that we can put in place to allow that in the general plan so we can make some changes. Did you add anything. I think then that's an excellent point and we've seen with some of the unused office space in other areas that it's reprogrammed in a way that people did not envision years ago. And that's for recreational purposes I've seen pickle ball look at vacant office space. So what how we're responding to that is we need to be nimble enough to be able to handle that from a policy standpoint if all of a sudden that request comes in so we can activate that space without a really rough road through the permanent process and that really starts with the discussion in the general plan, but then I think it really moves when when Jill and I do this tour of businesses that really is to obtain feedback. And then our goal is really to provide incentives from a process standpoint that's something that the department can do by just changing internal process and policy. So all this feeds into that is really the next step in our process and our evolution and the strap plan is to sort of understand what an incentive package looks like to bring these uses in. And that's a really important point a lot of jurisdictions have that and really and you're dealing with vacant office space around the county, we have to be competitive and that program increases that that competitive nature in that environment. But that is what we're looking at is how we program that space for uses that we would not envision in the past. I'm very happy that we're looking at the agility and adaptability when it comes to zoning in our downtown district specifically, just because we've seen it work and whether it's Santana row or the gaslight in San Diego, or even at that point in this vast world where we've seen the mix use become some of that's that's that's normal for our city, so I definitely apply the efforts of visiting and and and really gaining information of what was needed for the specific parts of our city. And to piggyback, we have to be competitive with other areas that one of the policies that we've talked about for quite a while, possibly revamping is the local preference and really giving people a strong incentive to continue to have office space or to continue to have industrial space in the city of Santa Rosa, and I'd be really interested in seeing us right now it's at 1%, 1% isn't going to make margins for for folks, and we know that the economic multiplier is up to seven, nine times when it stays in your community. We bumped that up to 3% or 5% is driving economic development, and keeps those businesses and those jobs here. So, I don't know if there's a way for us to continue to advance that. I know that it's hinted at, if not called out directly in the economic strategic plan but I think that that's a pretty simple policy for us to be able to look at. And I also had a question mentioned with Ote, and that's a prime example of something that's popped up that's driven interest and economic development. And yet, I know it's futures a little bit uncertain and I'm wondering if there's just an update on sort of where that's at with, as the county moves forward. And that's an excellent point I think metote was an incredibly creative idea that really had an impact to the community in a space that was sort of underutilized but was not part of the bigger program. I've been having Greg, I meet with the CDC and mid pen week to discuss the status of that project. Right now, it looks like they're still the financial aspect they're still balancing that out but it's getting much closer that they've closed the gaps significantly. Much of the discussion is about breaking ground this summer. And we have allowed them to phase the development of that site to ensure that metote can stay as long as possible. And then through that process there'll be discussions about what the final use looks like. But specifically they can build the infrastructure we can build the affordable housing, and then there's solutions to protect that through the entirety of that construction exercise. I'm glad that's very much a conversation with the CDC on what their ultimate plans are for the plaza, but just know that we are supporting the longevity of metote for as long as the county wants to keep it there. Yeah, I think that that's the interest from my interest I expect for the rest of Council is don't get rid of an asset to a community and then have it sit vacant while we wait for the CDC to either find their financing or to move forward on a project. Right, because it has been, it's been great. No, and I appreciate your comment even going back to when it was property of the county, and we're looking at the old Albertson site. The site was tore down only to do just that sit vacant for for decades or decade plus years. But to piggyback on your comment, you know, we do have the food vendor. I don't know if that's part of it, but also I'd like to incorporate or include that conversation. The knickknacks or the crafts or the artisan aspect of what used to be the metote inside the teaching in a while or teaching by site, where a lot of those vendors weren't able to continue, because we weren't able to find the space and logistical issues that we couldn't overcome. So hopefully in that conversation about food vending is also the artisan vendors that hopefully are included in the incubator program. Okay, and there are next item. I just wanted to provide a brief check really fast scene public comment. No comment. Okay, so just a very quick update on where we stand with our ARPA programs very specifically our small business support program. The one program that had the least amount of expenditure in it and there's a few good reasons for that. So the small business program is actually made up of three separate elements. We have our facade grants. We have our place making, and then there's also an incubator component to that with that small amount of funding to it. So the facade grants are inside that there's two components there's parklets which are slightly different and then there's those improvements people were making to the front of the building to increase destination awareness to improve that site for those that were impacted by the So on the grants we have roughly around 720,000. There's agreements that take place in there the property owner has to commit to completing those by surf timeframe. We've been partnering with our city attorney's office to get those completed they're all at the finish line now, and we're really ready to start rolling these out. Basically the way that program works is the businesses are eligible to get 20% up front and then there's an 80% reimbursement for the full amount on the back end. Most of these projects we've teed them up to ensure that anything that requires an entitlement review or a planning action is done up front, so we can put them in a very small window. So we're about to release the 720 to the community and we'll march that through what we have to be mindful of is some won't be able to complete it for a variety of different reasons. So there will be turn back in that program. What I've been looking to do with the turn back is to better support parklets downtown the construction of a parklet downtown. It's very difficult to think this but with current construction and design costs $40 to $60,000 for a platform that nature is going great. That's more expensive than what we thought when we went down the road of providing a permanent advocate for parklets. So adding that additional amount will help us transition from the few we have sitting there there's still temporary under coded so that would be Elko key or icky belly, and also concha which may not I think they'll pull that. But that will give us right now, five parklets in the downtown that are permanently in what you'd see out of that is very similar to what I still is did, which is beautiful it aligns to the building. It's an asset to the downtown and it's assets of the public right away. So there may be some shifting with the disbursement of those funds. The other piece is facades or excuse me murals, which falls under place making those have commenced. We are spending money in that arena there's more to come on that front so we'll build out that program. And then one of the pieces that Jill and I are working on very closely now is an incubator program. So we wanted to dedicate some funds to that. It can be a little challenging to set up an incubator program that the city runs becomes very costly usually have to have partners that are providing time to run that long term. But we want to use some creative approaches here we've discussed concepts with Katari we're discussing concepts with the county on how we can come together as a larger group of jurisdictions to provide an incubator somewhere in the city, because that provides resources to everyone in our county and can benefit Santa Rosa through that. So more to come on that front that those are in the initial stages of understanding sort of the best use of those funds, but we do want to dedicate dedicate dollar amounts to. So any questions on facades. Is there any discussion happening about closing down 4th Street again through the summer. So that was one of the conversations that Jill and I have had with chamber, and this, this will be an ongoing discussion. Because through the use of SRTBA funds through the use of community promotion funds the city does support events. And how can we take those funds and better support instead of many events over the course of multiple months. How do we sort of throw our eggs into a few different baskets that provide a bigger bang for the buck downtown. So there are some creative approaches for what we want to do downtown and I think using this committee to bounce off those ideas to understand what it would look like if we sort of work with the chamber to reprogram something like the Wednesday night market. I know that that concept. Jill and I have talked about just a downtown block party concept that how do you provide an avenue to allow businesses to come out it's not bringing other businesses in it's just supporting the downtown businesses to provide what they have in the public right away space. So right now, there's a lot of good ideas being thrown around, and we will continue those discussions and as they start materializing into something more formally will bring that forward in front of this committee and they'll be the more formal process to make that a program. Yeah, I just don't want to say sir is that there seems to be very little interest from Mendo Mendozino up to a Russian river of closing that section of fourth. We are engaging some business owners from the mall up to Mendo Zeno so the Rosa Belly, we're in key. And there seems to be a little bit of interest. What we don't want to do is if there is no interest from the business owners to close for the street. Obviously, we don't want to move forward with that. And we'll continue those conversations and work for that. And there's the flip side of that also though which is the interest from the public. Because one of the things when you talk about the parklet program when you talk about putting art in public places that works really well with fourth street there, and it did drive people's interest in coming downtown. So I do think continuing to explore that as an option that it makes it more sense for people to make that investment in their parklet it makes it so that it makes more sense for people to have Taco Tuesday bike rides down fourth street if it's a protected area for folks to be. I think there's two sides to that coin. Absolutely. And so personally, not speaking for the team. Yeah, I do see a benefit in showing proof of concept right one for from Santa Rosa Plaza up to Mendo right and so for the sake of partnership right it can close that section say a pilot program, maybe from June to September. We work with parks and break in possibly program out that area, work with the market as well. And we can show the benefit we can show the value. I think we have a stronger case to make sit then extend the pilot. The duration of it, but also the physical space. Yeah, I think for me I think that the pandemic was the proof of concept, getting to see it play out and then as a bike rider. That segment is not big enough to attract me to use that, but but fourth street being longer, having more opportunity that's what would be interesting to me. Absolutely. And so knowing that. Like the bank, the banks on that side are not particularly attractive for me as a pedestrian. I hear you. And also as an elected official. If we see the value the benefit and closing all the fourth street and we would need your assistance and messaging that to the business owners happy to help. Yep. For sure. Any additional questions on a comment. I think of producing a, a, maybe a program that involves other cities incubator program. And I know that the building behind towns and a fundita has remained open or vacant for a long time. So I always thought of what possible use could that will improve by for foreign sea services as a benefit. It's thrown out there. I mean, there's a lot of space in there. And I could almost imagine like a, like an indoor flea market type of thing, or incubator program or whatever we should call it. It's thrown out there just give it a mic. We appreciate that. Yes. Very much. Yes. On this. Yep. Public comment. Go ahead. Okay. So if we talk about incubator space, could you describe what you have in mind. Like in terms of incubator space. How would the spaces possibly be used. Sounds interesting, but could you define that go into a little more detail about incubator space. Yeah, sure. Thanks for the chair and can you stage your name for the record, sir. Sure. Be happy to. It's David. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. We're very loose in this committee. So in incubator, and it really just depends on what sort of business sector that incubator is focusing on. The ones that I have heard about here locally have a tendency to focus on food. So beverage or food production that's happening at a very startup level where someone is actually operating out of their home. They start running into space, but they're not start running out of space excuse me, but they're not generating enough revenues to find their own space and a much larger commercial business. So in incubator space is often a shared location where different businesses can use similar equipment in that shared location. There's a certain level of management and training that takes place long term. So someone wants to be a professional chef and they're starting a home kitchen, they're advancing through this. And then there's generally a period of time in which the individual can be in that space before they have to make the next step in their business career. So it really is a bit of a startup location, and it has all the equipment needed. For example, if you're making permitted beverages such as kombucha, it would focus on those items. From a long term management standpoint, some of the options that have been discussed is really how do you partner with Sonoma State or the junior college because they have these programs where they can either offer those programs to individuals or then handle some of the management long term for those types of uses, because it is it's a space issue. It's upfront costs with hardware issue and then it has a long term management to be successful as well. Thank you. Appreciate that. And if I may add, you know, if where I've seen incubator spaces is very effectively are places where there's high amount of density. And Los Angeles, for me as a prime example, where also you find yourself in the international building, so to speak, where you have every every food from every part of the world, but also mixed in with artisan products, handmade products from also all over parts of the world. So you're definitely seeing where where the entrepreneur spirit is being nurtured and supported. And at one point or another, I've seen it in Rosin specifically, where we start seeing the vendors move outside of our area into the general mainstream or downtown of the city that they occupy such will start to seem out Santa Rosa. So it's definitely a incubator so the chicks become a spread their wings and fly. A couple more comments or questions if I could, in terms of the parklets, you know, improving upgrading the parklets downtown would be terrific it seems like you're on track to do that. That would make a huge difference I think it's great to have the outdoor dining, but upgrading some of those facilities would be wonderful to do. What about for those that don't go through the upgrade. Do you have a phase out program in place and what's the time for that. Yeah, go ahead and get all your questions out so they can so another another question. I think the pilot for downtown for 4th street kind of looking at different options. For really creating a more vibrant downtown by closing a portion of 4th Street is a great idea and should be pursued and the pilot option. Even though we've had a COVID period as a trial run. I think a more formal pilot looking at different options would be important to do, but I think it's important to put down a date in mind. Get it on a schedule. When is that going to happen. The pilots a great concept coming back to this committee is terrific, but when. So that's it. Okay, so on the parklets. The way it actually works is, as I mentioned, there are a few out there they're still under their temporary parklet program that was put in place in our initial responses to the code. When we adopted our permanent program, we set a transition plan for those parklets. Basically the way it worked is there was a certain deadline in which they had to apply for the permanent parklet, and then they had to keep that permanent parklet active and be moving on and couldn't create a delay of more than 60 days through that cycle so what's happened with some of those as they went down that road and they applied for the parklet is the costs were increasing they were sort of value engineering so there was a lot of back and forth in the review there wasn't really the city's time it was more on the applicant making a decision about design. But to answer your question more specifically or Ike and belly are moving forward with the permanent parklet that temporary parklet will be allowed to remain in place until that's done. And Elco key are not at this point so they will be removed and we were working through that process so those two will be removed. And then we have other applications that that may come through with new parklets and certain areas through the small business support program that I mentioned. But generally the timeline of Contra and Elco key is you're looking at a few months of removal there. Contra will likely occur before that. Okay. Thank you. I'm just trying for Park border, say looking at Ford Street. We don't have a timeframe right now sir. We'll work on it. It's important. Yeah, we understand. We have more information will share. And I'll bring it back game. Anything else. I just one quick update on the staffing side. Obviously with the acting roles that we currently have. We're maneuvering through what the economic development team looks like in the future. We're working on filling spots. What I would like to announce though is Rafael which I know you know him really well. We want to move him into more of a predominant outreach role for the department as a whole. So our goal is to pull him into the graffiti pilot program that the council adopted to have him be the face of that program to work on community engagement efforts through our code enforcement team. And that's going to be part of an ombudsman for the department. So he is really your face. And if there's issues you go to him, he has a direct line to me. We think that that that's going to be a more efficient way to get issues resolved and he's done a fabulous job. I really appreciate the efforts he's put in over the years and creating relationships with the community. We want to honor him with a more difficult role in the department. And that means that he'll be taking more on or understanding what that means to the economic development team and we're working through that. But we have a lot of creative approaches where we potentially can really look at, you know, our first step is to look at options that do not increase costs. But when we look at our strap plan, we're also developing what our strap plan really needs to succeed. And I think that's an important part of this process. So just understand that we're going through that. It is a priority on our end to get this solidified. Jill's been an amazing job in the acting role. But we also want to solidify this and really move forward with the strap plan and, you know, have the community feel comfortable with the services they're getting from this department and fill those roles and get people moving in the right direction. So that is our strategy. But the immediate is to have Rafael take on more for the department. Congratulations. I think it sounds like it sounds like we're simply giving the title to a job is already been doing. Congratulations. Absolutely. And I will say either we've reiterated it over and over again in this committee, but I'll continue to do so. We understand if we need to dip into some of our money to be able to deliver the economic strategic plan. I view it as revving the engine that it'll pay itself off over time if we can create lasting economic development throughout the city. So just let us know what you guys need to implement because I think it's a good plan. Priming. Priming the engine? Priming the engine. Priming the engine doesn't go anywhere. Kind of like conversation. Anything else guys? Cool. That concludes our agenda topics for today. Okay. So, are you heard from me earlier? Let's see if the council members have anything that they are interested in us bringing in the next couple of meetings, but I am interested in the revamp of the local preference. I think that that's something that we really can move quickly. Anything else from. Yeah, go ahead. David, if I'm with our conversation here, just you can update on the child care density bonus and where that's at. And then we've talked a couple of times about, I don't even know how you would describe it like the miscellaneous business ordinance. We talked about this kind of ordinance that covered multiple things with signage or improvements and stuff like that. And it may overlap with parks to a certain extent, but and attracting people to downtown. A small play structure of some kind on courthouse square and make it more family friendly. Yes, specifically, I'm glad you brought that up because specifically vacant spaces. Repurposing vacant spaces where developments are not yet moving forward with some form of an amenity for the downtown so that it's not just a blank spot. And then just as a report item. If we could reach out to the economic development board of the county about the, the CFO bill and see if there's any ramifications for us as a city. I know they're doing their own economic analysis on it. Whenever that comes out, have an update for us. And then just the last thing under adjournment here we have, you know, our accessibility stuff. There's the phone numbers not complete. So I just want to make sure that we update the, the agendas that we're in compliance with all ADA requirements. Thank you. No, thanks for meals early updates, but those were just touched on so just see how we're doing and signage was available. Right. Good idea with the playground. That's an excellent idea. Well, all right. Any public comment? Yeah. All right. I think with that business is done. So we'll adjourn. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Chris, if you look at that paper about. Yeah.


Thanks for coming I wanted to talk about campus conversations first It's a this is the first in a series of events that we invite the campus community to come and engage with Campus leadership as you know, we've got a lot of new leaders on campus who have kind of bold and inspiring agendas that we want to share, but we really do want to make it conversational so So we invite you to ask questions we put note cards and pencils on your chairs And we have our student ambassadors in the room on either side of the room That will take the note cards and sort through them by theme and then after our speaker is finished I'll sit with her and go through the note cards and ask her the questions that you have So pass those along anytime just raise your hand when you've got one and then you can send it down your row And we'll we'll get it in the stack So You'll also see on your chairs is a flyer about future campus conversations next one's coming up in short order on February 12th with our executive vice chancellor and provost Paul elvisados He has been on campus for a long time, but new to his role and he's got some he'll have some interesting things to say And I hope you'll be able to join us for that So without further ado, I'd like to introduce today's speaker rose Marie Ray is our chief financial officer vice chancellor She's been on campus for about four years, and she brings a really rich three decades worth of experience to The task at hand which I know you all can appreciate is quite a challenging one These days So she has four areas within her portfolio that I wanted to mention Capital strategies, which is all the building and capital projects around campus on and around campus the controller's office financial planning and analysis which It has been doing an amazing job making transparent all the kind of numbers and figures and information about the campus finances on their website and Then the university partnership program So I will welcome rose to the podium and she'll speak for a few minutes and then She and I will Take your questions. So thank you Thank you. Thank you. Thank you for inviting me and Thank you for your Remarks and and I think what you mean by my richness is potentially my age, but I'll let it go Yeah, so Before we get going I Tried to anticipate Some of the questions that you might have that seemed natural to me and I came up with four questions of my own And I'm going to count on you to fill in the rest in terms of Questions and I thought it might be helpful because we have such a diverse audience here today It would be really helpful for me if I could kind of find out a little bit about you before I get going So could I just ask if your faculty member to raise your hand? Or a maritime yay great and then staff whoa And then finally students Thank you You're carrying it for the students. I appreciate it Okay, so I think that I appreciate that everyone is going to have different points of view and Has something to say and I want to hear it, but I wanted to Go through the four questions try to answer those in the first 20 minutes or so and then we would jump into the questions Does that sound okay with everybody everybody to go like this? Yes? I got 10 people to do that I'm gonna take that as confirmation to go ahead so here are my four questions and I'm gonna throw some numbers at you. It is not necessary for you to write them down We're gonna post my talking points and then like a supporting deck that would have some graphs and charts that would Walk you through some of the things that I talk about. We'll post that next week I've anticipated I've got the answers to the four questions, but I want to answer all of them If you have not been to the CFO dot Berkeley dot edu website We post a lot of really great stuff there that I think you could benefit from taking a look at so that'll come next week And and the hope is that we can keep this conversational So ready here are my four questions in broad strokes. How does our budget work? And what is the flow of funds around campus? It's question number one Question number two who makes longer term decisions regarding our budget and when are they made? So this is sort of a multi-year horizon Question number three who makes campus budget decisions as it relates to our annual budget and when are they made and then I hope we have an opportunity to talk about how you can influence The decisions that are made in our budgeting cycle by knowing when those decisions are made and who's making them So that's the goal and then number four. What are the priorities of of our teams that? Diana went through already and how do we serve you because ultimately my team serve campus serve our faculty Serve our staff serve our students. That's our job is to serve you And then finally I would say that it's impossible to get through all of this in an hour And so much to my chief of staff's chagrin. I'm going to tell you that my email address is RR AE I'd give you my phone number, but So but RR AE if you have other questions you have a point of view you have something you want to get off your chest I'm a phone call away. Please I'd much rather you reach out to me so that we can create a virtuous cycle of Conversation that we take out of this room So let's tackle question number one which probably seems like forever ago that I talked about what the questions were But in broad strokes, how does our budget work and what is the flow of funds? And if you're coming in there are seats right up here by me if you want to come on up here Yeah, nobody wants to get too close to the CFO So our budget story actually begins in something that we call the central ledger So you could think about this like a big pot In which in which we record the tuition that's charged to our students But not all of the tuition state support indirect cost recovery and other fees For it for the campus and then we record some some expenses there that are not a Directly attributable to any one unit or division and those are things like the assessments that we pay to the office of the President and then the largest disbursement that we make out of this central ledger is Through allocations and we distribute about one point four billion dollars worth of allocations out of this big pot We have a budget in total that is about two point seven billion dollars And that's inclusive of our contracts and grants. So we're big and we're complicated On the revenue side inside the central ledger We record state support of about $375 million and I'm I am rounding way up So I tried to think in like twenty five million dollar chunks here So these are all approximate figures. That's about 14% of our budget And I'm gonna come back and talk about state support and tuition Especially in light of the regents meeting yesterday, which I assume some of you might have questions about a little later We record about seven hundred million dollars of tuition and fees of that about 225 million dollars of that is non resident supplemental tuition it's an important part of our budget and Just to give you a sense of that that makes up about almost 25% of our undergraduate body We also record current use gifts and endowment payout. That's not recorded at the division level That's about 60 million and then we also record investment income And that primarily comes off of the interest that we earn on our cash balances of about 72 million dollars And I mentioned earlier that we also record indirect cost recovery there So that's what happens that kind of adds up to 1.4 billion Things, you know flow right through the the central ledger and on the expense side Let me lay that out for you the things that are not directly directly charged to divisions or units I'm kind of using that language Interdependently is we spend about 60 million dollars on Ucop assessments or the office of president assessments and that includes things for charges like the UC path project It also pays for I'm not sure everyone would know but there's a pool That we pay into that provides scholarship to our students. It's called return to aid We that's a system-wide program and and we have an expense associated with that And then finally we support the operations of the office of the president so the rest of that is flows right back out again in terms of allocations to the divisions and It's complicated in that sometimes those allocations are made to a school or a college or you know A VC level and sometimes they're made to departments So there's 42 for to 42 of those allocations that get made out of the center And they they're just some of them are a historic artifact and some of those allocations reflect priorities That are set by campus So You might be wondering if that's you know What happens? Where is the 2.7 billion dollars of our budget? And I want to present it to you in like three big buckets and the first big bucket is our academic units schools and colleges and then we also include in this What are called other academic units examples might be the library is a good example of that and that budget that are? Academy is about 1.6 billion dollars of our 2.7 billion dollar budget Remember how I said we make these allocations out of the central ledger Well, the academic units get about 700 million of that 1.4 billion that we allocate out And then they also have their own activity They have contracts and grants of about 450 million and then they receive fees from things like pdst It's self-supporting degree programs. That's about 300 million and then they also have their own gifts their own endowment payout And that's about 200 million. So that's what the size of the academy is aren't you glad I'm gonna put this all on my website. So you don't have to remember this. There's no quiz at the end Then we have the vice chancellor of research That is about a 300 million dollar budget 50 of it comes from central support some sales some gifts and then the biggest chunk contracts and grants Don't forget that the academic units are also recording their own contracts and grants And then finally because there was a lot of folks that raised their hands when we talked about staff There is a about a 900 million dollar budget for central support units and by that I Some some folks refer to this as the administration. I'm using the central support units deliberately because it's inclusive of student affairs Equity and inclusion finance capital strategies and then administration as well So so 900 million dollar budget there about half of that comes from central support Which is surprising I think and encouraging and then 250 million of that comes through auxiliaries So housing for instance is part of this portfolio. And that's a big revenue driver All right So that's a little bit about the big context of how funds flow around campus. You've got this central ledger We're collecting in revenues and then they're being distributed out to two different units around campus So question number two was who makes longer term budget decisions and when are they made? There are a lot of people who contribute to budget decisions as we think about this in the longer term and Many of those people are not here at Berkeley If we only had to make decisions at Berkeley, what a delicious thing that would be but The influencers when you are a public university are are many of them are external. It's the office of the president It's our regents. It's the foundation. It's the board of visitors It's my favorite the California Department of Finance. They're my buds and The legislature and the public so we're really juggling a lot of different perspectives and priorities You know as an editorial note I would say that no matter which side of the tuition increase issue that you're on The decision about when we're gonna make the decision about tuition Which is may is is really a challenge for us for planning at Berkeley Right. It's a it's a big driver in our budget and it's it's it's a challenge I feel like captain obvious in that statement that the Chancellor and the provost are also passionately Representing the interests of our students and and their families for their own financial planning and campus And and they think very deeply about Balancing the needs of faculty and staff and our students and in environment where we don't have sufficient resources I don't have a platitude for that We do not have sufficient resources to do all of the things and serve all of the needs of all of us And they think very de as do I think very deeply about how we manage that So the provost and the Chancellor are making strategic decisions that also are very long-lasting you know a faculty hire is a commitment for 20 30 40 50 years so so they think about that and they And I really hope that you will come back the the headliner Is is going to be the Chancellor who will be here on April 24th?  Thank you And and I think you you'll what she wants to do is really share her priorities So it's longer term key priorities, and I think she has a very good sense of those and that's going to be very exciting I'm just like the warm-up band for for that So as you're aware and some of you won't and I think part of this conversation is we're all coming at this at different Times and what we know is a little bit different. Oh, I'm getting the okay Is that Berkeley has been operating with a structural deficit for about a decade didn't just happen Didn't happen when they hired me. It was here before And the deficit was fueled by a number of factors So so again all of this is on the website Already, please feel free to take a look at it, but one number one is declining state support So at its peak it was about five hundred and six million dollars a year and then the trough it troughed at 283 million dollars and today it sits at about three hundred and seventy five million You probably may also be aware that a couple of years ago the president and the governor entered into a budget framework agreement and As part of that budget framework agreement there was a commitment to increase state support by four percent for next year and and Unfortunately that didn't that didn't last and so the the percentage is three percent And we're using that for planning purposes for 1819 and just to put that in terms That's about seven million dollars. It made a difference to Berkeley Right and so after experiencing five years of frozen tuition tuition was increased by two and a half percent For set fiscal year 17 18 and as I just mentioned, we're not really sure What what's gonna happen? There are Actually three pieces to increases one is that you know the flat the base tuition Which is about two hundred and eighty dollars per student rounding up three hundred then there's also a five percent increase for student services fees and then there's a three and a half percent Increase that's been proposed for NRST. All of those are tabled for this for right now And if I add all of those increases up for Berkeley again We're talking about a range that's you know in a twenty million dollar range for us for planning purposes so it matters and then the other fueling occurred in 2010 when the system you see restarted the pension pension contribution after a 20-year holiday and that added about a hundred and twenty-one $25 million to our budget. So we went from zero to a fourteen percent Contribution to to help offset the unfunded life pension liability for the system and then finally State funding for capital projects was effectively zeroed out so that so each individual campus is responsible for all of their Capital needs and that had been in part funded by the state prior to 2010 So in I can't stop there because I don't want to leave you with only bad news in 2015 16 You know we launched a an aggressive Yet I think reasonable five-year plan to bring our budget into balance by 2020 So we're in our third year of our Of our turnaround our financial sustainability goals These targets were heavily negotiated with the office of the president and the governor's office So going back to what's being part of of our public mission and our performance against those targets Which I'll outline in a sec have been closely closely monitored throughout and Very important to say that the office of the president has been very helpful to campus in terms of Moving us along towards our targets. So what were our targets? in 2015-16 our target structural target was a hundred and forty nine million that was the deficit we're talking about deficits a hundred and forty nine million and In 2016-17 we had a target to reduce that target to a hundred and ten million dollars And I'm really happy to report that due to a lot of hard work on the part of a lot of people a lot of people in this room We surpassed our target and came in at a deficit of seventy seven million dollars I will say professionally. I've never been proud of that, but I think we are really making solid progress 2017-18 the year that we're we're in now We have a target of fifty seven million dollars and we are on track Next year our target is twenty million dollars. This is fiscal year 1819 and then we reach a balanced budget by 2019-20 and we're doing that without a lot of support from the state and Without, you know Tuition increases so I think we can be really really proud of what we're doing But it has happened with a lot of sacrifice and again I I I I don't want to sugarcoat that there was a lot of sacrifice that that brought us to this point So while meeting the targets is a part of this important pact with the legislature and the office of the president there's important reasons for us as well as a campus to to reach this balanced budget and I'll just begin by you know We have to stabilize our operations Employees need to know that the place that they work is a stable environment and that they're gonna have a reasonable workload Faculty needs to know that they're going to That we're gonna be able to invest in their research and also ensure a reasonable workload And I don't think that's happening all the time either and Students need to know that they can rely on services and support that ensure their academic success And so to borrow an expression from our Chancellor We've got to move from being a place in which we just survive and that we thrive and to thrive We've got to get to a balanced budget Secondly We've got to It's my opinion continue to shift our reliance from less dependable sources to our own revenue strategies and Those revenue strategies have to be in alignment with our mission and our values It they have to uphold teaching Research and public service and I do think that there's a way that we we can we can manage all of those objectives In fact one half of our budget improvement target from for for 2017 18 is being made or being met Through revenue generation, and I think it's a really exciting Opportunity for Berkeley as we look forward Finally the other really important reason is that debt is Not issued by Berkeley. We do not hold our own balance sheet at Berkeley We there is a system-wide balance sheet and debt is issued by the office of the president Through these algorithms that have been established for each campus and we're we're Unable to go out to the debt market now because of our financial position And this is really important when we think about I can figure out Funding mechanisms for housing. I can figure it out for auxiliaries It's difficult for me to figure out funding strategies other than debt for our academic buildings And as our enrollment has grown We need to be addressing that and we also need to be addressing deferred maintenance. I don't think that's Any in you know, I think we all can agree on that So that's kind of like the big big picture of sort of the context that some of these budget decisions Float around in and when you have an opportunity to meet with the provost and the chancellor In particular our students All of you all of us we need to be thinking about how we can reach People who are influencing our budget externally. How are we talking to the legislature? How are we showing up for the office of the president? How can we win support of our regents and and actually? You are the secret sauce in that it that those messages need to be heard from our students from faculty and from our staff They see me and they are like whatever. Okay, so number three Who makes campus budget decisions in our annual budget and when are they made? So I'm gonna take down a notch now talk about just our annual budgeting cycle And I want to begin by stating that it is a highly highly highly iterative process and it is completely transparent Please go to my website Not mine our website cfo.brookly.edu not only can you see the budget? processes you can see each divisions financial performance their strategies Their targets you can see their strategic plans and then you can see the final budget decisions And I think that that's Something I encourage everyone to do to become better educated about the decisions that are made in the annual Process the process in its entirety takes about five months. I like to say they're the best five months of my year and And here's how it goes First we develop a budget for that central Ledger that we talked about that 1.4 that flows in and flows back out again and we established these allocation envelopes and Then and that that's already happened. So that happens typically in January and then in February each unit And by a unit, I mean like a division so a school or a college or you know Administration starts to prepare a one-page strategic plan For a three-year period and then they indicate the actions that they're going to take in the next fiscal year And then the provost invites small groups of these like units an example might be all the professional school Deans get together and they discuss their individual strategic plans with each other and the provost and really the goal is to cultivate These cross-functional programming opportunities Then after we've gone through this process of a lot of listening Provisional targets are are made for each of the divisions. So At this time, we don't typically we the budget office We aren't in the business of setting Budgetary targets for departments that happens with the leadership of the school or the college or or your vice chancellor but we we do set it for the division and We're we really encourage people who can to meet their targets through revenue generation So reminder we did it half we got halfway there in 2017-18 with with revenue generation I And I I want to acknowledge that that I'm very aware and I care about the burden that this is creating these these targets are having on the departments I I think you know new academic programs Are difficult to make a lot of traction against if you're already part of an overburdened unit academic unit And I think administrative units who have heard rhetoric of Doing more with less that that falls flat And we're gonna have to think more deeply about the work that's conducted by administrative units because Everyone's capacity to absorb more work is gone The the deans and the vice chancellors then so they've had these group meetings then they're going back They've got these provisional targets. They're talking to their teams and then each vice chancellor each dean meets Individually with your with your provost not a bad idea if you want to have participation in those decisions to know when that date is and to make sure that your team has had an opportunity to provide your your your leader With the information that helps best guide that conversation and then the units that have revenue generation opportunities are Submitting revenue projections to a new unit on campus. It's called the aptly name new academic ventures at Berkeley or NAFB and what this unit does is they sort of assess the health of those revenue targets and then think about ways that they can assist academic units in attaining the The goals that they've established for themselves and then once the chancellor and the provost has gained the perspective of all of these meetings They apply Strategic decisions to our budget as well. So I'll just offer one example There's you know hundreds of things that they consider But last year it was it was very important to us as a community that the chancellor make an investment in sexual violence sexual harassment Initiatives so there's an overlay that happens and then finally after all of that happens in about the March a late March timeframe finalized targets are released to to each division. So that's how that process works and then that's question number three and then lastly I wanted to touch on what I what I see as priorities for our teams and how we can serve the campus and I would ask that on your cards on the other side of your question if you have ideas I'm going off script It wouldn't be me if I didn't go off script on the back of your question I would be really great for me to know how my teams can better serve you I Really would like I really appreciate that advice from this group. So You know, we just talked about our annual operating budget But as I prefaced earlier There's there's an equally important part of our budget budgeting cycle. That's often unseen Which is how we prepare for capital projects and this is a key Priority for our chancellor We've reached a very critical point In terms of our student housing Many of you may know that we only house 22% of our undergraduates and 6% of our graduate students Which we want to we need to make a lot of progress on faculty housing Our classrooms our labs and then the infrastructure Whether that be IT platforms or whatever that support our revenue-generating ideas We also are very focused to have a number of initiatives that are The the intent of which is to improve tools for campus We have a new Financial reporting platform called Cal answers financials which is intended to replace the bears reporting system And if you have not had an opportunity to take a look at Cal answers financials, it's amazing Because it has a lot of drill-down functionality built into it and a lot of filtering capability that we did not have in bears We also have a website that I'd love for you to take a peek at called our Berkeley and at our Berkeley We are sharing a lot of frequently asked data questions about enrollment about our headcount about student success factors about faculty workload and Take a look at it and then it's really intended to be a Communication vehicle so that we can have more collaborative conversations around campus and with our external stakeholders we're also because of Our financial position really understanding where we are Throughout the course of the year So that we can make course corrections has become very important. So we're doing a lot of Forecasts forecasting revisions. We're looking at actualizing a lot of our forecasts and then we're also Working in partnership with the vice chancellor of administration. Who's in the back want to wave mark? Who yeah save all your tough questions for just kidding kidding We have a direct travel Entry program so now you can you know take a picture when you travel take a picture when you travel and zip it right into a direct Travel system a number of the academic units have already signed up We're getting great feedback and we we're experiencing like you get paid faster is the punchline. So it's yeah And actually we've measured it. It's gone from about five six weeks down to less than a week So, you know just saying seems like a good idea to you and then finally we're looking at our reserves So we have a lot of ending balance What we view to be what we need for liquidity and our day-to-day operations but we have 20 over 25,000 funds and most of them and are most of I'm just kidding but a lot of them are in arts and humanities and a lot of them are like really small balances that are hard to use And so how can we create some strategies that free up these dollars that sort of get trapped inside of some of these funds? And we we've just finished up a I think about a six-month project to to better look at it So all of these things are helping us identify new funding sources for us That help us make the the investments in campus that we need to make and I'm gonna stop there I know that was a lot. I thanks for hanging in there with me again We'll post all of this on the website But I look forward to hearing your questions All right just a reminder to pass your cards to the Outside ends or the students are collecting them and I will pose the questions to Rose And I'll start you talked a lot Rose about revenue generation as a solution to our budget challenges Yeah, can you give me give us some examples of what what those are sure? Can you guys still hear me? Yeah, okay, because I feel like I can't see you anymore Okay, you're here. Okay. Um, so that's a great question. So Oh The question was what are this what are this revenue generation seems to be like a magic bullet that we're all talking about and I'd like some clarity I'm what what is meant by revenue generation? What are some examples of revenue generation? So examples are I would say philanthropy but Philanthropy that we can use for things that are budget relieving so the Chancellor's been meeting with our donors and encouraging our donors to Perhaps relax restrictions that they normally would apply so that we can use more of our philanthropy for day-to-day operations That's one Increasing concurrent enrollment Things like growing our PDST and self-supporting degree master's programs What is a professional degree okay supplemental tuition, okay, thank you stop asking And Don't make me it's ssg PDP hmm, it's let's just call them self-supporting degree programs and Finally, how can we grow revenues associated with extension programs or summer sessions great? so it seems like The the our inability to acquire debt or assume debt is a real challenge in terms of yeah Building new things and improving our buildings and maintaining our buildings at a very basic level so What are what are the solutions to that? I mean with a new governor might we might that conversation get reopened? Or is philanthropy the only solution to that? Well, I I think I'm I'm not overly optimistic that That a new governor is going to and I don't think we should rely on that I don't think we should rely it would be great if the legislature were to step in I do think the office of the president has made a very convincing case as to why that's important Deferred maintenance for our campus runs at about seven hundred million dollars. I know you all know that You know you're in your buildings. You're working in these buildings You have a good sense of that but it is it is a staggering figure when you add it all up We have been able when we talked a little earlier about how the office of the president has been helpful to us They have relaxed some of our debt service expenses and have provided some funding for us to to start Biting off the deferred maintenance programs that we have And then trying to reserve the debt capacity that we have for our academic buildings and then Using public-private partnerships for things like housing parking and auxiliary buildings We're a lot more creative in terms of how we think about funding mechanisms Then then we have been in the past out of necessity. Great. Thank you All right. I hope the first question is what my favorite color is No, no, okay What are the big initiatives on the horizon to reduce campus reliance on unstable sources like the state and yeah So really going back to our own revenue generation programs. I Often say that You know the most precious and valuable asset that Berkeley has is not a tangible thing It is who we are it is our brand and it's very valuable And I think we have some opportunities to explore revenue strategies or and and I you know I'm talking about this through the lens of a of a chief financial officer But I think there's educational reasons that we need to be exploring how we can create educational opportunities that are not Just Predominantly focused in the place in a physical place So I think that's something that we're really excited about great So we've got some tricky questions some difficult questions coming in that surprisingly and I know you'll be I'm glad Yeah, so a couple questions here about The California Memorial Stadium and the debt that the that the chancellor has talked about Assuming a portion of that debt and it's obviously quite controversial on campus So if you talk a little bit about that and sort of what the sources of payment on that debt might be sure Could I offer a little context in case there isn't there obvious there has to be one person that doesn't know the the stadium story But we we've incurred about four hundred million dollars of Is that okay, okay of debt For the renovation to the stadium and that included the Simpson High Performance Center as well and That debt was The debt that was issued was just sort of traditional debt plus We also use century about 75 million dollars of century bonds for for the stadium as well Our debt service on an annual basis for current fiscal year for the stadium is about 18 million dollars there is a an FFE or a fund functioning as an endowment That does support the debt service for the stadium and the source the things that feed that Endowment are the endowed seating program plus rentals and you know events that occur at the stadium and then a large number of gifts that came from from donors and So the the Chancellor and I would say we're in very early days And we don't have all of the information that we need to finalize decisions and and Carol is Very actively seeking input. So April 24th. This would be a great question for Carol as well She's really seeking a lot of feedback from a wide variety of constituents and she's been so Yes, it's serviced by this FFE it flows through the athletics department's financials, you know, it flows right through and so she is Considering and and no decision has been made, but she is considering That that the campus would assume part of the responsibility and only a portion of the seismic related work that was done for it for the stadium and I don't I apologize I don't have figures right now that and I don't have a sense In terms of how Carol is leaning in that decision, but that conversation is occurring great So can the system the UC system allocate additional debt for cash positive initiatives such as student housing? Um Yes, they could Okay, I know that you guys are so used to my long-winded answers. You're waiting for more to come Okay, so the the level of budget cutting that the campus has experienced over the last decade Certainly erodes trust and Impacts morale. How can campus leaders like yourself help to rebuild trust on campus? Well, I I Want to begin by saying that the the chancellor talks so eloquently in a way. I'll I'll never be able to do about The key the most important thing that that leaders need to be doing on campus is re Earning the trust of everyone on campus. She calls it re-spiriting Berkeley and I I think it comes from Making commitments and honoring them. I think it also comes from being very transparent about decision making which is where I think I can contribute and ensuring that Everyone has to the best of our ability an opportunity to participate in the decisions that we're making For campus great Another athletics related question and it's just it's general philosophical Question that you may or may not have the answer to but just philosophically. Why are we in the business of athletics? April 24th Good answer There are some advantages to going first What are how will we provide additional services to an expanded student body? With an increasingly diminished and you know fewer fewer and perhaps less experienced staff I I don't know the answer to that to to be honest. I I I take that very seriously Um, and I I I'm not sure So I hear more of a statement than I do a question and and I want you to You know, all I can say to this audience is um I I think about that every day And I I think about our students and I I think very deeply about our staff I think everyone has a very clear sense of serving faculty and serving students and That that there are times that staff falls third in the pecking order And uh, I I I don't want that to be the case And um, I I hope that uh mark and I can serve as you know advocates and Really ensure that campus leadership. That's that's you know, uh, the deans and other vcs The chancellor the provost that we can keep those priorities top top of mind Was that all the questions are you just being nice? That's not a No So, uh, we're the campus is um Embarking on a strategic planning process That you know, that will have some financial implications What are what are some things you're hoping to get out of that process or what what are you? Excited about that they're considering. Yeah Well, I I think having that roadmap And having consensus built around a strategic plan um I often say that uh, you know the the budget follows strategy And without clear strategy I think all of us in this room have the experience of sort of winding and unwinding work And that uh, we'll have the principles in place That we'll have the direction in place That we'll have consensus Built around it That our our faculty our students our staff our external constituents are all rallied Around that and then I I think it's easier for us to to execute and implement It speeds up once you have those principles in place So you talked a bit about The the outflow of funds to certain places and one of them being the office of the president So this question is we send a lot of money to ucop Do you think we get good value for those dollars or should we be advocating for ucop to lower their own costs? This is the best water Who asked this question? You know, I I think that there are uh opportunities For for greater efficiency My dear colleague Nathan Broestrom who was the cfo here. I I think is is taking this very seriously But uh, my job is to protect the interests of berkeley So here are some things that i'm i'm looking out for I want to make sure that as the office of the president is reducing their budget that they're not just cost shifting to the campuses Or that they are creating specific assessments for specific projects like uc path That their projects that that that we are participating in Are going to work and that they're going to be cost effective in the long run and the juries out on on a lot of that And and i'm very hopeful that the office of the president is going to be able to Restore the the trust With the legislature because I I think that's very fundamental to what we experience here At the campus level that they they've got a you know, they they've got to hold hands and work together Because the ultimately the folks who pay the price For that that that mistrust are our students Very good This sounds like a revenue revenue generation idea But are there plans to expand regular classes to evenings and saturdays to accommodate more students and programs It's getting hard to meet To make ends meet without building out. Yeah I think a lot of that already happens Actually, I think there's a lot of is that right jim? Yeah, there's a lot of of we are moving beyond traditional Tuesday Tuesday thursday from 10 to 2 and you know, we're teaching more of our classes at 5 o'clock on a friday we we And and we are teaching saturday classes So so I think we're going to be doing more of that And then I think an opportunity for us also is to reconfigure The classroom space that we and and the buildings that we have Actually jen stringer did an amazing job of a project like this and do a now. Well, what's his name of that space? Yeah, the active learning classrooms Because students want to learn in in different Classroom configurations other than you know the 50 seat classroom Or it's either that or these large auditorium settings and pedagogy is changing I think how we think about classroom space So what what Are the differential sort of budget inputs from like a traditional undergraduate student and someone who's taking one of the One of our new online masters our new professional masters. Are there different tuition levels? Yeah, that's a great question. Um, and I'm not going to be able to quote Because some of my notes are like way over there. Uh, oh, they're here, but I don't have it Is that the the tuition happens, but I'm going to turn them over. Um, there are different tuition levels Most folks are responsible for a base tuition, which is about $13,000 Select just under $13,000 and then you have these supplemental Tuitions that kind of sit on top of that So non-resident students, uh, their supplemental tuition is about $20,000 And then housing on top of that And then we have we also have different supplemental fees for graduate programs, etc. And they they do They they differ by program So Great we are about at the end of our time I want to thank everyone for coming and we've got a bunch of questions That we'll let rose answer on her own on the website on either her website or the campus conversations website Join us on february 12th, and we hear from the provost paula lovisados, and thank you so much for coming. Thank you