Originally published at: http://boingboing.net/2017/07/25/city-claims-building-park-stai.html
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I’m certain that it all revolves around liability. If someone were to slip and fall on the cheapo stairs, even the shittiest of lawyers would win the case.
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Thank god everyone is safe now. Whew.
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BB time distortion or BB update?
You decide.
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Two things:
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The stairs were extremely shoddy and not anchored in any way. They were a potential lawsuit factory.
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The City of Etobicoke hasn’t existed for 20 years. It was amalgamated into Toronto in 1997.
That said, typical city bureaucracy. All contracted projects cost 4x too much and take 4x too long.
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Point of pedantry: Etobicoke still exists in crossword puzzles.
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What would Rob Ford do?
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I don’t know if they are anchored or not but the stringers were like right in the middle leaving the treads cantilevered on both sides. That was a disaster waiting to happen.
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So does New Amsterdam.
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While I praise the effort, those stairs don’t come close to the structural and safety standards for a public structure.
Those stringers, set toward the center, is the most egregious. While the cantilevered treads look cool, they’re an accident waiting to happen.
And don’t get me started on the design of 1/2 of the required handrails.
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Constantinople, not Istanbul?
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Hah! I love those stairs.
They look like something I might build on a bad day.
The top stair narrower than the rest, weird double railing, the big heavy post brackets on the railing posts, and anti-rot post caps, but then attached to the cantilevered treads that will get weak and wobbly way faster than the posts would rot anyway, and will flip up once the nails or whatever in the middle can pull up… I suppose its mostly treated wood so it will last a while even buried in the ground.
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Obligatory:
Is he alive? Has someone made a thread about this?
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Rob Ford? Nope. Cancer caused him to drop out of his re-election campaign, and he died not a year after.
I know 
It’s a running joke in the forum among some users to ask if he’s alive/dead and if there’s a thread about it any time his name comes up.
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I think it’s more that the 65k and up figure was a go-away estimate. What they’re building it for, 10k, seems pretty reasonable to me unless they’re going super basic with railroad ties, but most likely it’ll be concrete.
Honestly though I don’t think it should be too difficult to create a civil program that allows residents to take on small projects like stairs, play structures, etc. Small contractors could donate their time in exchange for their name on the thing, like a ceremonial brick or a stamp in the concrete, shit like that.
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I find it fascinating how critical so many people are of the endeavor that was made and have to wonder just how many of those same folks would have stepped up and done anything to fix the situation?
If I were a betting woman, I’d say probably very few.
No, the stairs the guy made aren’t hardly perfect, and they aren’t even remotely up to code for a public structure… BUT at least his actions lit a fire under the city officials and new stairs will be built, for one-sixth of the cost originally quoted.
That’s a step in the right direction, and it’s far more progress than what comes from doing nothing except sitting on a computer criticizing the efforts of others.
Good for Adi Astl.
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The city was right to remove the stairs, but yes, Adi Astl did a good job stirring things up.
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I didn’t say or imply otherwise. My point is that the guy actually took some initiative instead of just complaining uselessly, so good for him.
Far too many people are on cheerleaders on the Uh-Oh! Squad, IMPO; they are only too happy to broadcast and accentuate any given problem, harping on it endlessly… yet they never seem to have any ideas for viable solutions, let alone the willingness to try to fix them.
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