It’s really hard for me to see why they should have done anything more than they already did “to encourage residents to access the park elsewhere.”
I mean - there’s a barrier and what looks like a very nice path. What more are they supposed to do - install landmines? Poison ivy (whatever that is)? Cacti? A sign saying " Beware of the leopard!"?
But yes, all’s well that ends well. 
well, actually
it’s that you said all. That is as exhaustive a word as this is exhausting a conversation.
Please, take the advice you offer.
There are ways to do landscaping that successfully blocks off access but it’d depend on how well it blends in or complements the existing look of the park. Generally involves planting greenery like trees, hedges, large rocks, etc. The easier option would be to put up a wall or fence, wouldn’t necessarily need to be all that large. It just needs to make it inconvenient enough that people stop using the slope.
This particular line of discussion does directly relate to the topic at hand but i feel like it can lead to discussions of urban planning and the psychology of the design of public spaces. Which would be a pretty fascinating topic to cover but it’d be quite the derail
Points!
(Holy crap is the minimum post length thing annoying)
I generally get around that by posting images.
*sighs
I’m starting to regret commenting on this post, seriously;
who knew so many people were so passionate about stairs…
in a park, in a city where they don’t live and are unlikely to ever visit.
And yet here you are anyway, with a lengthy comment pontificating about the topic.
0_o
That sounds like a personal problem, but you make a good point. I was the person who walked away from the computer.
I see I should have kept walking.
Too late.
I wasn’t trying to get into a deeply philosophical discussion about this, I just wanted to commend the man in question for doing something instead of doing nothing; especially in light of all the negative criticism.
Foolish me.
Well, if you’re going to quote me to make a point, at least quote the whole sentence.
Hmm, maybe the snark doesn’t work so well then.
As for the length, I’m sorry. Also the pontificating. It’s the hat, I can’t help myself.
It is (a personal problem). I did try and explain why I think it’s also everyone’s problem.
I agree - simply saying ‘his stairs are crap’ was not useful.
Negative criticism was flying pretty thick and fast both ways here though.
I’ve said what I wanted to say. I was trying to make a useful contribution. If you didn’t think it was, fair enough. No need for further discussion.
The term you’re looking for is desire path.
My apologies to you for being snarky; it’s my first language.
This conversation and all the needless negativity had already gotten tedious to me yesterday and I took it out on you, so my bad.
It pretty much always is lately, and that’s partly what’s so grating.
I tend to play devil’s advocate quite a lot even though i might not buy into a particular point, though i like to do it to try to balance out the conversation. I presume that might be the case here for some, but seems that it can lead to people really digging into their arguments rather than keeping the conversation moving forward. Honestly this particular thread should’ve only been a couple of posts and instead turned into a a 90 post thread.
Indeed, it’s very telling.
I personally don’t mind it, even with particular people taking certain positions. But then again i like to talk a lot, to a fault. But i am not keen to see people argue things for the sake of it, i try really hard not to be contrarian which can be really easy to do. I catch myself doing it often and try to change gears or just leave the conversation because i have nothing meaningful to say or won’t be able to hold a productive conversation.
Mind you i’m not saying this to point fingers at anyone, just that i am keenly aware of my own role in discussions and i would hope that other people here try to be more mindful if they feel that a discussion has stalled.
Gram-pa just needs to slip and fall down the hill. “Sorry sir, we would love to build some stairs”
Lol 65k for stairs. Time to get out of the private sector and start building for the city.
It would be someone in the private sector who would be paid that $65,000 to build the stairs. Government procurement is horrific, but it’s not because the public sector is wasteful, it’s because the private sector believes the public sector is a bottomless money well and the public sector is needlessly deferential to that idea.
Sounds about as expensive as a staircase, and more likely to thwart the preferences of the actual residents and users of the area.
That and the private sector also spends outrageous money on their properties. The campus at HP whenever I worked there spent a total of $3 million over 5 years to make a basketball court, a set of cement stairs, a new lobby, and a small park with minimal landscaping.
The idea that the public sector wastes money while he private sector has perfect budgets is something worth immediately scoffing at. It has much more to do with the size and scope of the institution and literally nothing else.
And long past the curve of anyone giving a shit about the story (especially, I suspect, all the folks who were eager to cry “corruption!”), here’s a nice follow-up from a person with an actual clue, Ward 33 councillor Shelley Carroll.
“Please know that it will not come in at the new cost of $10k so widely reported in the news. Not included in the $10K are any of the labour costs. Those City workers’ wages are included in the base budget for operating our city’s parks. Any work those labourers have set aside to resolve “Stairgate” will have to be done before the season ends, resulting in yet more staff pay.”
“I’m gunna build my own stairs, with blackjack and hookers. And blow!”
So it’s literally all the issues people brought up in the thread that would balloon the costs. Color me surprised.
