Do I understand Mr. Kaufman correctly?

To the Editor:
I’m just a simple country architect and not used to the kind of sophisticated financial deals that Mr. Kaufman is accustomed to in New York City, so I’m writing in hopes that he can help me make sure I understand his recent proposal to “buy” the Orange County Government Center. So here’s the long and short of his proposal as I read it:

First, we (the taxpayers of Orange County) get to give the whole government center, kit and caboodle, to Mr. Kaufman, including the land that it sits on, which happens to be the only centrally located site in the Village of Goshen appropriate for a government center. But never mind, we’ll be able to stick our little ole government center somewheres somehow.

Next, we (the taxpayers of Orange County) get to hire Mr. Kaufman to design us a new government center for a just a little under $10 million dollars! Of course, we don’t know exactly what it’s going to look like yet or what it’ll cost to build or where it’ll be, but never mind, Mr. Kaufman says no matter what he’ll guarantee there will be no design cost over-runs, and I guess what he means is that he won’t charge us a penny more even though some others might, like engineers, architects of record and contractors.

Last, we (the taxpayers of Orange County) get to save $3 million dollars because we don’t have to tear down nothin', see, and we get to collect all that government money we’re going to get because we don’t have to deal with those historical preservation people, unless of course some dang application deadline may have passed.

Anyway, I hope I got it right but I’m not worried because Mr. Kaufman says even if someone else gets the job he’ll be happy as a tick on a hound dog as long as the Paul Rudolph building gets saved, so you know his heart’s in the right place.

Harry Pharr
Pharr & Anderson Architecture-Planning-Interiors

Goshen