Nothing can make a project more expensive than government involvement.
A local resident in Toronto built a staircase in a community park. The city of Toronto, though, claims the stairs aren’t safe. The city insisted that he should have waited for a $65,000 city project to handle the problem. The city is now threatening to tear down the stairs because they were not built to regulation standards.
Retired mechanic Adi Astl together with the local resident built a small staircase. They we’re concerned about a dangerous short-cut to the community garden inside Tom Riley Park.
Although the path wasn’t an official walkway of the park, it was still heavily used by parkgoers, including Astl’s neighbors, some of whom had hurt themselves on the steep, rocky path.
So, Astl collected donations from friends and built a staircase himself for around $550.
Astl’s wife, Gail Rutherford, told CTV News the stairs were a welcomed improvement for people who 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.”
However, the city has complained that the man’s staircase is not “up to code.” The landings were unsupported on both ends; the rail wobbled, and there was no foundation. So, the city — all of a sudden worried about people getting hurt — taped off the staircase.
Funny how they weren’t concerned before.
Mayor John Tory acknowledged the absurdity of the city’s price tag on bringing the stairs up to code, calling it “completely out of whack with reality.”
Work on the new steps began on July 21, according to the Toronto Star. The mayor assured his community that they would be “safe, durable and reasonably priced.”
There’s no reason why a small staircase should cost taxpayers more than a couple thousand dollars, at most. Unfortunately, when the government gets involved, costs seem to magically increase beyond reality, thanks to all the red tape.
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Article Sources: Conservative Tribune, CTV News Video Credit: CTV News/Youtube
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