Stairway To Bureaucracy

[Satanica]

Of course, it predictably pissed them off and they predictably have acted like assholes.
http://www.ctvnews.ca/mobile/canada...0-irking-city-after-65-000-estimate-1.3510237

[....]
Retired mechanic Adi Astl says he took it upon himself to build the stairs after several neighbours fell down the steep path to a community garden in Tom Riley Park, in Etobicoke, Ont. Astl says his neighbours chipped in on the project, which only ended up costing $550 – a far cry from the $65,000-$150,000 price tag the city had estimated for the job.

“I thought they were talking about an escalator,” Astl told CTV News Channel on Wednesday.

Astl says he hired a homeless person to help him and built the eight steps in a matter of hours.

Astl’s wife, Gail Rutherford, says the stairs have already been a big help to people who routinely take that route through the park. “I’ve seen so many people fall over that rocky path that was there to begin with,” she said. “It’s a huge improvement over what was there.”
[....]
City bylaw officers have taped off the stairs while officials make a decision on what to do with it. However, Astl has not been charged with any sort of violation.

Mayor John Tory acknowledged that the city estimate sounds “completely out of whack with reality” on Wednesday. However, he says that still doesn’t justify allowing private citizens to bypass city bylaws to build public structures themselves.

“I think everyone will understand that it will be more than $550,” he said on Wednesday. “We just can’t have people decide to go out to Home Depot and build a staircase in a park because that’s what they would like to have.”

He pointed out that the park already has an accessible path for those who worry about falling down the incline, which is essentially a shortcut from the parking lot to the garden area.

Tory also cited safety and accessibility issues in terms of the staircase’s design. City inspectors have said the stairs are unsafe because the railing is unsafe, the incline is uneven and there is no foundation.

The mayor says his staff have been asked to revisit the project and come up with a more realistic estimate, as the last one was based on projects in other parks.

Coun. Justin Di Ciano, who represents Astl’s area, said the spot seems safer with stairs than without them, so he’s asked his staff to leave them for now while plans are made for a city-approved upgrade that won’t cost too much.
[....]
Area resident Dana Beamon told CTV Toronto she’s happy to have the stairs there, whether or not they are up to city standards.

“We have far too much bureaucracy,” she said. “We don’t have enough self-initiative in our city, so I’m impressed.”

 

[Sudonim]

which only ended up costing $550 – a far cry from the $65,000-$150,000 price tag the city had estimated for the job.

I bet 1/3rd of that estimate is paid nap time! Canadian city workers are lazy slobs. You'll see 6-7 of them parked sitting in their trucks for hours on end, taking naps and stuffing their faces instead of working.

When I was younger I worked for a landscaping company. They did residential and business. Installing sprinkler systems and doing landscaping for new housing etc. There was a big kerfuffle about a bunch of new sunken electric vaults the city wanted installed. Their estimates were wtf high and they estimated over a month to install a dozen new vaults. People complained enough about the price that it was put up for bid. We got the bid. It took 2 days for me to paint all 12 vaults and we had them all installed in another 2.

There was a scandal here where some politician got his brother to do the local government website and they'd paid him damn near close to 1 million euros for it. It was a shoddy insecure site that any 12 year old could have made. My jaw nearly hit the floor. Few months prior I'd been asked to do work on our local government website and had given them an estimate of about 2,000 euros. If only I was more crooked!

I really don't know where cities come up with their huge price tags and time estimates. I think the only thing governments excel in is wasting money :shrug: