Muh Stairs

Basically, there was a need for a set of stairs in a public area to help prevent people from falling. The city priced it out and was quoted $65,000 to install a simple set of stairs. This is normal; for whatever reason, anything the government has done costs astronomical amounts of money (and it would have taken them months to build them) and no one seems to want to say no. Instead we have battles over taxes and budgets etc.

This man - this glorious, wonderful man - built the damn stairs himself for $550 in 14 hours. They aren't a work of art, but they are not bad looking and are sturdy. They do the job. 

Now, the city could send in an inspector to make sure they are safe. They could make a few suggestions to make them more esthetically pleasing (they are worlds more attractive than any set of stairs in any park around me, though. But really, even though the stairs in our parks are ugly, so one gives a crap. They work).  But even after all of that, it probably won't cost more than $1000. 

Instead, the city wants to tear them out and pay $65,000+ and spend months on end to have someone else install them on the taxpayer dime. Why?

Look, I get it. There are safety issues and all of that. I get it. Allowing private citizens to build this stuff is a no go. However, that wasn't the point this guy was trying to make. The point he was trying to make was that it didn't need to cost the taxpayers $65,000 to install stairs. It's time for the governments to start saying no to these high costs and lengthy finishes. It isn't necessary. And he just proved it. 

You could tie this into the construction taking over every state in the USA. I'll use my area as an example. I-40. If you are in the Raleigh area of NC, you just rolled your eyes so hard you went momentarily blind. I-40 has been under massive construction for at least as long as I've lived here - and I moved here in May 2002 - and most likely a lot longer. Finishing up sections takes years. By the time they complete one section, another section is falling apart, so they start on that. By the time that is repaired, the original section is falling apart, so they go right back to that section. In the meantime, the roads are overly congested all the time, and there are crashes constantly. I used to work on the other side of that construction, and in the morning it took me over an hour and a half to get to work. It wasn't but maybe 20 - 30 miles from my home. 

An even better example, someone I follow on YouTube once did a video showing off the grand opening of a new highway near her that wasn't that long. It took 40 years to build it. Why?!

This is one of those arguments the libertarians always have, which started the whole "muh roads" thing. If the government isn't involved, who will build the roads?

Apparently, the guy in the video above. It is beyond time for the people to demand that these projects get the prices down and the time down. The work they are doing on I-40 should have taken months, not years. I don't know the cost, but I can guarantee it could have been haggled way down. All these projects can be done quickly and for a fraction of the cost, we just need government officials and the people to grow a set and put their foot down. 

UPDATE: 7/24/2017

Govt Tears Down $550 Stairs, Will Rebuild for $10,000