So let me outline the plot for you. San Francisco is spending over 700,000 dollars of our hard earned taxes on a ramp. Yes, it’s not a new building. It’s just a ramp for that amount. I didn’t realize wheelchair access had gotten so expensive. Oh wait, it hasn’t. When I google wheelchair ramps this is the first sponsored result: Wheelchair Ramps 50% Off – Big Ramp Selection Starting at $29. That took me all of five seconds. Now I realize those super cheap ramps are the ugly metal ones that are not built in. (Although you could bolt them down for a few bucks extra) However this goes to show how grossly overpriced this ramp is. The labor costs were over 200,000 dollars. Over 200,000 dollars. I’m repeating it so you can try to picture that amount. San Francisco could have put around 3 needy kids through college with that.
Now I realize this ramp is in the City Hall and they want it to be historically accurate. Okay, fair enough. I’m sure you can find a history professor more than willing to take a few hours to help out. Oops, we can’t even do that. We needed to pay people almost 50,000 dollars for that job. I apologize in advance if my writing becomes incoherent, the longer I type the more infuriated with San Francisco I become. Did the city ever identify other options? Did it for a moment consider how it could lower costs? I do not believe so. Why is that? It’s not their money.
If local government officials had to pay out of their own pocket for this then they would not be doing this ridiculous ramp. In these tough economic times where our government is broke, why not have a little fiscal responsibility? Buy a temporary ramp for one hundred dollars and focus on things that matter instead. With 700,000 dollars we could help people who truly need it. The part that really gets me is that city officials have claimed they are glad it won’t cost over a million dollars like they originally thought. I am ashamed these people were elected.