A billion here, a billion there, pretty soon you’re talking about real money!
And that’s just for little yellow strips.
The government is killing America one little strip at a time.
I did the math on a new train line in Washington State today, and it cost $433,333 per passenger to BUILD, before they ran the first train. With Operating Costs, it is likely to cost well over $50K per year, MORE COST FOR THE TRAIN THAN THE AVERAGE RIDER EARNS!!!!
Idiocy like this is the norm of government. The only real solution is to STARVE THE BEAST!
WHAT THE GD F-ING F??????????????????????
ISN’T ANYONE IN THE GOVERNMENT CAPABLE OF DOING COST-BENEFIT ANALYSIS?
THERE IS NOT AN INFINITE SUPPLY OF MONEY!!!!!!!!!!!!!
There's a bunch of new sidewalks that were just put in where I go walking. I like the bumps in the wintertime when it's icy, it helps give me some traction.
However, is it worth a Billion dollars to me to replace the lot? Not hardly. But, it likely makes sense to use them going forward as sidewalks are built / repaired / replaced.
Typical gov't stupidity. If a scalpel makes sense, then they'll use a sledgehammer.
Politicians have to have their money laundering money.
WE were once a people who managed to cross and tame a very hostile continent. Now we all but need our hands held to cross the street. Wake up, people.
Well, that may be true, but I have found that they make wheelchair cuts much less slippery. So maybe we’ve saved money on PI lawyers...
This is a perfect example of government run amok. Put the things in at the cost of almost a billion dollars, then change the standards so they have to be revised at a cost of a couple hundred million more. For the number of people in wheelchairs who use them, they could have paid to have a limo pick the people up and take them to their destinations.
We have a couple near my home that are honest-to-God, located at corners with no other sidewalks leading to them. Just another example of PC gone haywire. What representative, at ANY level of government, would go up against the ADA?
Those bubbles are a textbook case of the government trying to do too much with OPM. It’s great when the economy is skyrocketing, but when it isn’t, well, this and things like it need to be axed.
So they don’t do a good job and the water doesn’t drain so it freezes on the sidewalk so that not only the visually impaired, but everyone, gets the chance to slip and hurt themselves. By golly, they could really help by putting spikes around those bubbles to really warn people. Maybe some land mines could help.
Government doesn’t understand the concept of “Opportunity Costs”.
Now just a minute . . . Sidewalk Bubbles IS in the Constitution . . . somewhere . . . over by the 1-gallon per flush, abortion, penumbra, and privacy stuff . . . really . . . I seen it there . . . !
Federally mandated electric wheelchair lifts for all public swimming pools.
The Obama administration had mandated them for all public swimming pools beginning March 15, 2012. After public swimming pools around the country announced that they would have to close because of the substantial cost of compliance, the mandate was postponed until January 31, 2013. It is purely a coincidence that the mandate will now kick in immediately after the election.
Just one more of the many economy killing regulations that we have to look forward to in a second term of the Obamanation.
Would someone tell me just how can the FEDERAL government can DICTATE to a CITY what kind of sidewalks they can and cannot have?.......................
Bump
They might want to get some non-union labor.
At the price tag listed, its $7,500 a ramp. I do cost estimates on these all the time, and its around $900 per ramp. If they have to tear out the old on, its around $1,500. With design, put it at $2,000 a ramp. Who knew, stuff costs too much in Philadelphia.
Now if you read the fine print, you may notice that it uses up 65% of a $20 million budget, every year...but will ultimately cost $858 million...or a 66 year build out. The way it works is the city must have a ramp ‘program’ in place, and commit to replacing a certain number every year. In return they are eligible for federal matching funds (read their own money after its been filtered through Washington) on a variety of street projects. So they burn through their maintenance funds, and in return get more capital improvement funds...which is sadly a recipe for alot of poorly maintained streets.
Some cities get creative. Utility work, street widening, etc. takes out alot of ramps...and they require the new ones to go in with the domes. This costs less than just picking random ramps about town for replacement, but they still get ‘credit’ for the replacement.
Sadly, the ramp mandates were spawned from one act, signed into law by George Bush, in 1990. The mandates can’t be stopped or controlled now. The federal beast has been unleashed...something we should always think about when an ‘well intentioned’ legislation goes on the books.
Anyway, Philly has the pefect storm of corrucpt labor, federal regulation, and an inability to plan/think creatively to reduce costs. I’m not surprised.
They have been installing these “bumps” in Louisville for the past 2-1/2 years. Not only are they a waste of money, but they tear out 50 feet of sidewalk to install a 2’ by 3’ ection of bumps.
They’ve been obsessing putting those in here in Tucson too. And because the “recommended” slope tends to put them lower than the regular side walk and we don’t want anybody falling off those 2 inch lips they get guardrails too. They screw up traffic at an intersection for 2 weeks putting all this junk in and by the time they’re done it’s harder to walk through it because you have to dodge the stupid railing.