City working on replacing Etobicoke man's homemade stairs at park
City working on replacing Etobicoke man's homemade stairs at park
(OP)
CTV News
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JHG





RE: City working on replacing Etobicoke man's homemade stairs at park
RE: City working on replacing Etobicoke man's homemade stairs at park
1) ADA. If there's no way a wheel chair is getting down that there is no way the City can have anything to do with it.
2) Liability. If someone slips and falls on a muddy hillside after climbing over a guard rail to get there, the City is probably OK. If someone slips and falls on stairs, the City may not be OK.
3) Permanence. Those stairs look like they will last maybe 10 years, probably less before, the stairs are loose from the stringers. Near the end of that life, see Step 2.
4) The Guard Rail. I presume it is there to serve some function and is probably to avoid a problem with Step 2, even if there was no muddy hillside, someone decided it was needed to prevent a Liability claim.
Near to me is a Convention Center and a nearby Hotel. Between them is a flood ditch with levee walls to keep any floodwater in it. It makes about a 6 foot rise from the general elevation on each side. Across the ditch and walls is a bridge with concrete stairs. Neither the Convention Center nor the Hotel claim it. As far as they are concerned it just appeared out of nowhere. It's concrete and about 30 feet long. Because it doesn't belong to either party in some clear way there is no ADA problem and no Liability problem. It's fairly permanent, so that's nice, and it doesn't circumvent any safety barrier. For the conventions I attend and which basically rent both facilities, the convention hires a driver to make the lengthy detour that is required to go between the buildings for those with mobility problems, who would otherwise have a quarter mile excursion that this bridge cuts to about 600 feet. If either party did claim it, they would be on the hook to provide local transport.
That 200 feet claim is garbage. He knows that's each way, so it's a 400 foot detour. I doubt the Mayor would like to park his car 200 feet from his house every day.
RE: City working on replacing Etobicoke man's homemade stairs at park
Just look into article: "We’re looking at options and were going to have a solution in the near future"
Committee of highly skilled professionals "exploring options" for a few months and you won't have anything left for materials and labor.
"For every expert there is an equal and opposite expert"
Arthur C. Clarke Profiles of the future
RE: City working on replacing Etobicoke man's homemade stairs at park
Firefighters rescue woman at Albion Falls.
The city of Hamilton is nearby Toronto. The city is tired of rescuing people and picking up bodies, so they are fencing this off.
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JHG
RE: City working on replacing Etobicoke man's homemade stairs at park
I am ok with the steps if they get tore down or that they were shoddy. He won just by pointing out how ridiculous their estimate was. There are probably a lot of plush jobs like this that are going to friends of whoever is in charge.
RE: City working on replacing Etobicoke man's homemade stairs at park
Looks like the new estimate is $10,000.
RE: City working on replacing Etobicoke man's homemade stairs at park
Additionally,
> no actual access at top, so parking lot railing needs to be re-done
> parking spot needs to be removed
> unclear what kind wood he used, but it doesn't look like it's treated at all
> posts are simply pounded into the ground, so termite and water damage potential
> his stringers are too close together; after about a year or so of use and rain, the treads will wobble
TTFN (ta ta for now)
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RE: City working on replacing Etobicoke man's homemade stairs at park
RE: City working on replacing Etobicoke man's homemade stairs at park
I forgot the main reason for a high estimate: "We don't want to do this."
RE: City working on replacing Etobicoke man's homemade stairs at park
The article said this is for a shortcut into the park. There must be other gentler acccess points. Surely you don't need a ramp at every stair.
RE: City working on replacing Etobicoke man's homemade stairs at park
RE: City working on replacing Etobicoke man's homemade stairs at park
A.
RE: City working on replacing Etobicoke man's homemade stairs at park
There's a shortcut around the Mississippi as well, but the I-70 bridge is more convenient than going through Canada.
Anyway, I'm going out on a limb to say if people are willing to try a steep muddy hill hanging onto a rope, that the route must be so preferred over the gentler approach that including ADA (though this is Canada, so who knows what the specific rules are) suitable accommodations would be a nice thing to do.
I think I found the parking lot. I don't clearly see the shortcut, but I see a garden that shows up in many other pictures. The item of interest is where all the cars are parked - none are near the paved path. Most are near the garden.
(On the map it's Tom Riley Park at the intersection of Bloor St. W and Aberfoyle Crescent.)
The problem isn't getting into the park, the problem is they have a compelling attraction that has poor access.
There seem to be other compelling attractions in these parks that are cause for concern. Dopey dogs
RE: City working on replacing Etobicoke man's homemade stairs at park
RE: City working on replacing Etobicoke man's homemade stairs at park
I'm not saying that the apparent disparity in costs here is appropriate, but there is certainly a cost in government works, and it is often far higher than what average joe expects it to be.
IRStuff is also correct, it appears to be exactly what it is, a simple stairwell constructed by a homeowner without consideration as to durability or usage requirements.
EDMS Australia
RE: City working on replacing Etobicoke man's homemade stairs at park
TTFN (ta ta for now)
I can do absolutely anything. I'm an expert! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BKorP55Aqvg
FAQ731-376: Eng-Tips.com Forum Policies forum1529: Translation Assistance for Engineers Entire Forum list http://www.eng-tips.com/forumlist.cfm
RE: City working on replacing Etobicoke man's homemade stairs at park
RE: City working on replacing Etobicoke man's homemade stairs at park
TTFN (ta ta for now)
I can do absolutely anything. I'm an expert! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BKorP55Aqvg
FAQ731-376: Eng-Tips.com Forum Policies forum1529: Translation Assistance for Engineers Entire Forum list http://www.eng-tips.com/forumlist.cfm
RE: City working on replacing Etobicoke man's homemade stairs at park
Steve
RE: City working on replacing Etobicoke man's homemade stairs at park
Have blue marked on the picture what looks to be an access point (or possibly not)? Any clue?
RE: City working on replacing Etobicoke man's homemade stairs at park
I don't think your last photo is relevant. Your first one shows the area of a joint community garden, where folks grow some vegetables. There is a gradually graded access point on the left side of that photo, but it is the long way around. So naturally, some of the garden users found a more convenient, albeit a bit dangerous, way of getting down to their patch. Now they are getting a proper stair.
RE: City working on replacing Etobicoke man's homemade stairs at park
TTFN (ta ta for now)
I can do absolutely anything. I'm an expert! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BKorP55Aqvg
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RE: City working on replacing Etobicoke man's homemade stairs at park
The intended access point seems to be at the far end of the parking lot from the garden where the paved path goes. The well-worn path is at the garden after hopping over the parking lot guard rail.
RE: City working on replacing Etobicoke man's homemade stairs at park
hokie66, 3DDave,
(just for the fun...)
My point was this: there are three paths A, B and C to get to the park (I just made an arbitrary destination in the park). Going via the path C is a long way. B is a short cut (where the stairs are).
But path A does not seem to be a long way either.
So still not even warm, or completely freezing? :)
RE: City working on replacing Etobicoke man's homemade stairs at park
TTFN (ta ta for now)
I can do absolutely anything. I'm an expert! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BKorP55Aqvg
FAQ731-376: Eng-Tips.com Forum Policies forum1529: Translation Assistance for Engineers Entire Forum list http://www.eng-tips.com/forumlist.cfm
RE: City working on replacing Etobicoke man's homemade stairs at park
I thought that the garden is not the main attraction! and that most of the users who are parking their car there, were essentially visitors of the whole park. But apparently the stairs are just about getting to the garden...Fair enough... There must be something very special in that garden !
RE: City working on replacing Etobicoke man's homemade stairs at park
RE: City working on replacing Etobicoke man's homemade stairs at park
It might help, in future, to read some of the explanations given before continuing to question. The point here is access to the VEGETABLE GARDEN, as I think everyone except you knew, at least from the time when 3DDave started posting the overhead photos.
IRstuff,
If you are going by your B route, you could park at the other end.
RE: City working on replacing Etobicoke man's homemade stairs at park
Your suggestion is trivial.
RE: City working on replacing Etobicoke man's homemade stairs at park
Additionally, there are probably other factors involved:
> When have you worked in a garden and not needed to carry stuff to/from somewhere else? Carrying a couple of baskets of goodies a couple hundred feet will get tiring for lots of people. Not to mention tools like hoes, shovels, and supplies like fertilizer, mulch, etc.
> Being in North America, there's bound to be an element of thumbing one's nose at authority, particularly one that says you can't just walk down the hill to get to your garden.
TTFN (ta ta for now)
I can do absolutely anything. I'm an expert! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BKorP55Aqvg
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RE: City working on replacing Etobicoke man's homemade stairs at park
Thanks. Right back at you. On a forum of engineers, we are all expected to understand the problem before developing the answers.
I accept your suggestion of triviality for IRstuff's routing, but not for your failure to read.
RE: City working on replacing Etobicoke man's homemade stairs at park
TTFN (ta ta for now)
I can do absolutely anything. I'm an expert! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BKorP55Aqvg
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RE: City working on replacing Etobicoke man's homemade stairs at park
I went through this thread taking things with a grain of salt, on the one hand considering safety issue with gravity but on the other approaching the thread with fun and amusement. I read the explanations and I was questioning to understand again with a tonality of fun.
You want to educate me and lecture and make personal judgment on intellectual failure. Then fun off.