Certainly not a problem in the USA, but apparently Canada does not have our style of sovereign immunity. Theirs has something to do with an actual sovereign? It’s confusing to me.
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Well all of that is kind of my point.
The procurement rules are there to prevent the “opaque position where they can obtain ill-gotten gains with minimal risk of oversight”.
Is there corruption in this particular case? I don’t know.
Judging by this story, no.
It appears the guy who built the stairs asked the council if stairs could be put in and was told it would cost $65-150K(!).
However that wasn’t an actual estimate, no procurement had been done. It appears to have been some council worker’s WAG based on estimates obtained for a completely different job at some unspecified other location at some unspecified other time.
In other words, this:
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Cheers for the links. Looking at those stairs he built - I would have clambered up the hill instead.
Things I can almost guarantee that this guy didn’t do:
- Environmental Assessment
- Engineering Assessment
- Public Consultation (“my friends at the garden all said” is not public consultation).
- Ensure that his structure and materials were up to code for a public facility. This includes – but is not limited to – accessibility, safety, sustainability, and load capabilities.
- Pay the salaries of qualified professionals
- Plan the timing of installation to cause minimal disruption / safety during construction.
- Secure the site during construction.
All of these and more are things that need to take place in public works projects. None of them are free. Now you can add in the cost of demo for his stuff, and the cost to fix anything he might have damaged.
Funny thing is, people who pull these stunts are often the same ones you see crying on the news because the government won’t help them when it all goes to shit. “They shouldn’t have let me do this!” when Newsflash: government specifically said “don’t”, but you did anyway. And people who don’t know the full story start crying along with them, and it ends up costing taxpayers more.
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The Toronto senior was contacted by Mayor John Tory Thursday night and was advised that the new staircase will go up at a cost of $10,000.
Ah, see now that sounds at least sane. I can believe a short case of winter-ready concrete stairs built to code cost about the price of a small car. The notion that it would cost the price of a house is ludicrous. But having read that article I think you’re right, this Councilor Di Ciano was probably trying to blow him off instead of really looking into the matter. Better than graft, but it’s still unfortunate it took getting the mayor’s attention to address the issue. All’s well that ends well though I suppose.
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I’m sure as hell not going to get into an argument about Marines vs. the Navy 
I did grow up in a military household though and my impression from that was certainly that any junior officer’s response to being told to do something he or she thought was impossible or just didn’t know how to do should be to salute smartly, turn to their NCO and say “So, Sergeant. How are we going to do this?” and sit back and learn.
Sort of the Jean-Luc Picard style of command:
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wow, you just equated unions and OSHA with cocaine and bribery.
I have two words, about but not for you.
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they must not know what they need. Good thing you’re here to not at all be arrogant in telling them.
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The Navy has their advantages and traditions. I did not want to come down too hard on them, although it is normal to razz them a little. Their system was developed with their mission needs and resources in mind,over a long period of time. My main point was about problem solving attitudes in different organizations. The Navy and Corps are just examples of the two extremes of that.
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I would consider that a pretty good example of a bureaucrat.
A corporation would easily pay this much for stairs.
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If they go concrete, that’s a pretty decent estimate. The last time I built concrete stairs (2-3 years ago) was a rebuild of a pre-existing set that had crumbled. 5 steps total, with only a small amount of surface prep to bring the stairs up to code for step height, and a new wrought-iron handrail, all in a backyard as opposed to a public space. Ran our client $2000, and I’m pretty sure my boss made no money on the project (it was an add-on to a much larger renovation.)
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I was just being an asshole, I wasn’t serious. I’m pro union. and I lived
overseas in a country with no OSHA and there were seriously guys welding
with no goggles, and chipping slag with no safety glasses. If the
government and unions don’t make companies follow safety regs, the
invisible hand of the market will not think twice about permanently
injuring a guy to save $1.
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Phew. I was hoping it was a case of something falling down the Sarchasm! the /s tag is very helpful to those of us who can’t tell a good send up from actually how awful some people have been behaving in public since about… mid November.
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Arrogant, moi? 
Not quite.
They’re passing juicy money-making projects to their friends.
you tell me!
I watched that, in my early teens, and immensely liked the humour. And the nudity. Above all, it massively improved my English when I didn’t get a joke reading the (mostly brilliant) German subtitles.
Don’t pre-screen. Watch it together. I’ll try that, definitely, ASAP.
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