Burlingame Math

July 14th, 2008 at 01:17pm Marilyn Marks 1288

“Good math skills” was Andrew Kole’s campaign platform claim during his 2005 City Council bid. Back then, who knew how badly the City needed math (actually arithmetic) skills?

Aspen insiders know that Andrew Kole and I have our “spirited differences.” I have a confession. As bizarre as it may seem, I did vote for him in 2007 - although for the life of me I can’t remember why. Maybe it was those “math skills.”

After puzzling over the City’s ad in Friday’s Aspen Times, I am now recommending that the City engage Andrew as an arithmetic consultant. The ad (possibly) poses a “Question #1: Burlingame is a half billion dollar mistake.” The question mark seems to be missing, causing me to wonder whether this is a question, or a confession to a far greater mistake than we have imagined. Or is it another “language error”? The response to this baffling question seems to be stated as “Fact: We’ve built 84 units, installed all utilities to the site, and are constructing 7 single family homes, all for $58.5 million.”

Having given up my CPA license decades ago, my math skills are pretty rusty. So I sought out Andrew at the Saturday market to help me. Andrew did some quick ciphering and developed a theory. Since the “fact” response referenced $58 million, the “question”, must have meant “ a $50 million mistake”. The creator got a bit enthusiastic in defending the City, adding an extra zero, inflating the “mistake” to $500 million, and to make it sound smaller (?) said, “Half billion”. Kole’s theory sounds as plausible as any of the other Burlingame math.

But the City’s “FACT” response held an additional surprise. 6 of those 7 single family homes are to be built by the owners with their personal funds. They must be delighted to learn this new “fact” that the city is building their homes, and including the cost in the city’s project cost of $58.5 million. What a bonanza! Andrew is going to report back on that one, or perhaps apply for the same deal himself.

As a math consultant, Kole could test the arithmetic on brochures and ads before they go to press. In the case of the Burlingame brochure, he could have saved us millions. For the right deal, he might throw in fact checking and punctuation consulting, thus reducing those potential pesky “language errors”.

I’m still perplexed by the ad. Could it really be a $450 million error, or is it a clever strategy to make the real error of $75 million+ seem insignificant? Burlingame math is quite a puzzlement to me.

Andrew, if you run in 2009 - bring back the “good math skills” platform. I think it will be a winner!

Entry Filed under: Aspen, Affordable Housing, Aspen City Council

3 Comments Add your own

1. Marilyn Marks | July 14th, 2008 at 1:54 pm

Con Man,
We have since learned that YOU were the cause of this bizarre ad! You were the only one on the planet who got it!

That's pretty good, to write a column 4 months ago, (which everyone forgot about --sorry, Michael), and the City now considers their NUMBER ONE question!

But I think that you should explain this confusion and math anxiety you have caused the citizens of Aspen!

Marilyn
2. Michael Conniff | July 14th, 2008 at 2:23 pm

Happy to do and will do so at length in the near-future.

In brief, the half-billion I mentioned was NOT for Burlingame but for all affordable housing in Aspen. So the City is misquoting me at taxpayer's expense--is that legal?

Second, $200 million for affordable housing is a DIRECT QUOTE from the City's long-range plan in 2007. The $200 million is on paper from the City as the amount projected to be spent on affordable housing through 2012--that's $200 million over the next five years.

Throw in the bond and realize the city would have to pay debt service on that bond over a period of 30 years at a cost of millions more.

Then project beyond five years and the half a billion figure actually seems low, doesn't it?

Best, Michael!

PS Marilyn: Maybe you should pay attention to what I write a little more closely. I wrote a "Affordable Housing Going Broke" blog long before the Burlingame fireworks.
3. Mitch Mulhall | July 14th, 2008 at 9:40 pm

Hmmm...

Michael, responsible for an ad?

If you'd like to see said ad, click here.

And a column too? See:

Aspen's Half-A-Billion Dollar Housing Scam

Cheers,