Friday - October 28, 2011

Saving Money The Government Way

February 27, 2008 | By Phillip Matier and Andrew Ross

Where else but San Francisco City Hall could a 10-foot-long wheelchair ramp wind up costing $1 million?

Thanks to a maze of bureaucratic indecision and historic restrictions, taxpayers may shell out $100,000 per foot to make the Board of Supervisors president’s perch in the historic chambers accessible to the disabled.

What’s more, the little remodel job that planners first thought would take three months has stretched into more than four years - and will probably mean the supervisors will have to move out of their hallowed hall for five months while the work is done.

“It’s crazy,” admits Susan Mizer, director of the mayor’s Office on Disability. “But this is just the price of doing business in a historic building.”
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Supervisor Jake McGoldrick said Tuesday that the issue went to the heart of liberal guilt that often drives the city’s decision making. He also choked on the price tag, and asked that the board take some more time to come up with an alternative, like maybe just getting rid of the president’s elevated seat.

The root of the problem dates back to when City Hall got a $300 million makeover in the 1990s that made just about every hallway, bathroom and office accessible to the disabled. The exception was the board president’s podium, which is reachable only for someone who can climb the five steps from the chamber floor.

The understanding was that the room would eventually be made fully accessible. But no one worried about the podium until 2004 when Supervisor Michela Alioto-Pier, who uses a wheelchair, joined the board.

Wheelchair ramp in San Francisco supervisors’ chamber finally moves forward
By: Joshua Sabatini | 02/02/11 11:30 PM
Examiner Staff Writer

For years, Michela Alioto-Pier, who uses a wheelchair, fought for a ramp in the historic Board of Supervisors chamber in City Hall. Now, after much arguing, officials are finally talking about the details of installing the $529,000 ramp, and work could begin in August.

The rub is that Alito-Pier is no longer on the board. She was termed out in January. And no current supervisor uses a wheelchair. But Susan Mizner, the director of the Mayor’s Office on Disability, said making the board president’s podium wheelchair-accessible is still needed even without Alioto-Pier.

“It’s not just a matter of whether there would be a Board of Supervisors member who uses a wheelchair and is the president,” Mizner said. “To have the second-most powerful seat in city government be inaccessible is a strong and bad message that we don’t want to send to the [disabled] community.”

August 29, 2011 | Phillip Matier and Andrew Ross, Chronicle Columnists
What costs more: a home in San Francisco’s Sunset District, or a wheelchair ramp in the Board of Supervisors’ chambers?

If you picked the house, you’re wrong.

By the time the final tab comes in, the cost of designing and installing a ramp to the president’s chair at the Board of Supervisors - a project now under way - is expected to top out at $699,413.

That is about $50,000 more than the median cost of a home in the Sunset.

Any jackass with a hammer and some 2x4s could whack something together in a week, for peanuts. A decent carpenter with one helper ought to be able to do the job in a couple days, with another day or two at most for finishing work to make it beautiful. No way in heck this project had to cost more than half a million. $5,000 would be my guess, and $10,000 should get you something drop dead gorgeous, rock solid, and easy to use. If you don’t care about pretty, you could build one for $500, labor included.

But hey, at first the bill was over a million, then it came down to half a million, and then was built for that price with only 40% cost overrun. And it took years instead of days. For government, that’s high efficiency and cost savings.

Posted by Drew458     on 10/28/2011 at 03:22 PM   
Filed Under: • Democrats-Liberals-Moonbat Leftists • Government •  
• Comments (5) • Trackbacks(0)  Permalink •  

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