Burlingate Is Mick’s $100 Million Baby

May 21st, 2008 at 07:30pm Michael Conniff 2

When Mick Ireland and his Merry Pranksters assumed office in Aspen after the last election, I of course assumed there would be some glaring glitches and growing pains.

Not in my wildest imagination did I believe that the current regime would all but run Aspen into the ground financially in just a few short months. No exaggeration, my friends. Under the stewardship of the Bath Party, Aspen has been brought to its knees, fiscally speaking, by a group of poobahs who pooh-pooh the value of the dollar even as they burn money faster than an open fire on the Cooper Avenue Mall.

All sanity is sacrificed to the shrine of affordable housing. Nowhere is that more obvious than in what Andrew Kole has called “Burlingate.” Mick would have you think this $100 million overage on the Burlingame project is on the shoulders of the previous administration, but keep in mind that he spearheaded the campaign for its passage, that his political bedfellow Rachel Richards was doing his bidding on the City Council, and—as a Pitkin County Commissioner—he can’t wash his hands of all responsibility.

Is anyone more responsibility for the Burlingame than Mick Ireland? The project likely would have gone down the drain without his unflagging support.

No wonder Mick is deathly afraid of an investigation proposed by City Councilor Steve Skadron. An investigation might show what Mick knew and when he knew it and why he did nothing to stop the sham.

We do know this: the current Council, under Mick Ireland’s leadership, has proved conclusively that it has no clue how to stick to a budget or manage a city.

Consider the City had to ask for more than $23 million to make the current budget work—on top of the $104 million in the budget in a town of 6,000.

Consider the $18 million spent for the ABC lumber yard—from three to six times more than the property was worth, and a piece of land tied up by covenants that won’t allow affordable housing in the first place. Consider all the money in the affordable housing fund has been all but spent.

Consider the idea of floating hundreds of millions of dollars of debt on the ballot in November and then using the Real Estate Transfer Tax (RETT) to pay the debt service, rather than the affordable housing itself, thereby guaranteeing the total cost of affordable housing will skyrocket over time.

Consider the City’s role in the $50 million (minimum) boondoggle to build a new shrine to overspending in the Pitkin County office building, where indoor parking spaces will cost as much as $50,000 each.

And, finally, consider Burlingate.

No—Mick was not in office as Mayor of Aspen, but his affordable fingerprints were all over every Burlingame brochure. The people of Aspen can’t afford not to find out what in the name of honest government Mick knew, and why he did nothing to stop the madness.

Entry Filed under: Aspen, Colorado, People, Pitkin County, The West, Race For Mayor 2007, Affordable Housing, United Post, Aspen City Council

5 Comments Add your own

1. Jerry Bovino | May 22nd, 2008 at 8:31 pm

It's not too late for the citizens of Aspen to request sufficient information to understand the economics of what Andrew Kole calls Burlingate. It's better than waiting until the city is bankrupt and calling it Burlingshame.
2. Michael Conniff | May 22nd, 2008 at 9:21 pm

Well put, Jerry. But here's the real shame: no matter how the outrages pile up the people of Aspen don't seem to care about what their politicians are doing.

Remember that Burlingshame is only the lastest in a long litany of outrages. Remember Act 30, when the Council killed property values by fiat by deeming buildings from the 1970s "historical."

Mick Ireland thinks he's Robin Hood: taking from the rich to give to the poor.
3. alpha6 | May 23rd, 2008 at 7:04 am

Comrade, comrade, comrade.

Please, you must look at this as doing the will of the people. And Mick is the voice of the people. Who these people are I have no idea, but obviously it is self serving and won't do anything but leave a city locked in a lifetime of dept and most likely a ghost town that couldn't keep up with the changing times.

Someone is laughing all the way to the bank. I hope that the investigation takes place and is done by an independent entity and not one of the Aspen "Our Gang" otherwise what's the point. I think if some serious digging is done you will see that not only is there some serious lack of judgment, mismanagement, recklessness, grand standing, and general socialist tendencies, but also, as it is rumored on the streets, graft, kickbacks, and criminal conduct.

Last I checked elected government works is open to the public. Anyone blocking the public from finding out what their elected government is doing is obviously hiding something....hmmmm....but then again we are in the Socialist Republic of Aspen.....
4. alpha6 | May 23rd, 2008 at 7:38 pm

Hmmm...Aspens Future?????

SAN FRANCISCO — The city of Vallejo filed for bankruptcy protection Friday to deal with a ballooning budget deficit caused by soaring employee costs and declining tax revenue.

The unions say compensation for Vallejo's public safety employees is in line with that of other Bay Area cities, and blame the fiscal crisis on government mismanagement and poor decisions by previous city councils.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,357881,00.html

Handwriting on the wall??????
5. sally | June 2nd, 2008 at 2:50 pm

To take a stab providing some information on the economics of Burlingame from the City of Aspen, here goes:

Phase I of Burlingame was delivered on budget. In 2005, the City of Aspen signed a contract with Shaw Construction to deliver Burlingame Phase I at a fixed contract price of $36.4 million. In 2008, Shaw Construction delivered Phase I on budget, including approved changes made by City Council. As a result, there are now 84 affordable housing units at Burlingame.

It is true that the subsidy per unit is almost 69 percent higher now than what was expected from the winning development proposal in 2005 and other known costs at the time including land, infrastructure, engineering, etc. The subsidy number at that time was calculated at $184,455 per unit.

Now for Burlingame Phase 1, the final estimated subsidy cost is $331,567 per unit.

The principal factors which made up this increase in subsidy are:

• City Council decreased the average unit sales price to meet the needs of lower income housing applicants: Resulting subsidy increase: 38%
• City Council decided to enhance the livability and decrease the environmental impact of Burlingame Phase I: Resulting subsidy increase: 19%
• Changes to make the single family lot program workable: Resulting subsidy increase: 7%
• Project change orders: Resulting subsidy increase: 5%

The city has tracked and formally budgeted for every Burlingame cost. During the mayoral terms of Rachel Richards, Helen Klanderud and Mick Ireland, five different city councils have worked on Burlingame. All five city councils understood the costs of their decisions on the project. They had full disclosure about how much individual budget items and project changes would cost.

The city has already commissioned a formal independent audit of Burlingame Phase I. We are confident it will find that all expenses were properly and legally handled.

The total cost for Burlingame (including the not-yet-built Phases II and III that would add 145 units to Burlingame) is currently estimated at $138 million. That is an estimate of the total cost of Burlingame’s three phases and not an amount that has already been spent. The city has put together an advisory group of local development experts to create ways to reduce the cost of housing construction at Burlingame and other possible locations – including density increases and design changes. We are also looking at various partnership opportunities to lessen the use of tax dollars to deliver workforce housing to the community.

In addition, we also continue to look at ways to increase the efficacy of eligibility reviews for housing applicants, their continued eligibility to live in those deed-restricted units, and at changes that might allow the community to better use the existing housing inventory.

Look for announcements in the paper and local media on when a public meeting will be held to explain Burlingame, or "Burlingate" as they call it, further.

Sally Spaulding
Community Relations for the City of Aspen