Without the goverment, who will help those in need?
Okay, the notes on this are giving me hives and I am seriously concerned about the absolute lack of critical thinking present, so some things about this from a union electrical worker who works a city contract:
1) Are those stairs up to code?
Just by looking at them: no. Open risers are a tripping hazard, I don’t see any tread grips so they’ll become a death trap in wet conditions, and those treads don’t look thick enough, supported enough, or even level. But hey, maybe it’s just a bad photo. But how far do the railing support posts go underground? Are they below the frost line? Were they properly supported in concrete? Was the concrete prepared right and given enough time to cure properly? Is the wood properly treated for weather resistance? Did he take into account the ground shifting on such a steep grade?
Even IF he did all that and the stairs were 100% up to code, the city has no way to verify that. So no, the city can’t just leave them there.
2) Who cares if the steps are up to code?
I saw a concerning amount of this in the notes. I thought we were all on the same page re: Cities have a moral obligation to make sure their structures aren’t deathtraps waiting to happen, and that’s what codes are for. I promise you, you WANT buildings and structures to follow codes and regulations. But in any case, they definitely have a legal obligation for it, so if they leave those stairs up on public land and someone trips, the city could be on the hook for millions in damages. So no, the city can’t just leave them there.
3) There’s no way stairs cost that much, it’s just the city stuffing its pockets:
$65,000 definitely seems on the steep side to me, and I’d want to see a breakdown of expenditure. But I also don’t know the scope of the project. For a set of stairs like the ones above? Yeah, that’s a lot. To excavate the entire grade and put in a concrete structure that includes stairs, an ADA compliant ramp, and good quality weather resistant material? That sounds more reasonable.
But the city also likely needs to have the following: a ground survey of the build site, architects to draw the plans, civil engineers to OK the plans, and the contractors - typically union, and therefore more expensive - to excavate and then build the structure. All of those steps are going to take a LOT of people and a LOT of time and therefore, a LOT of money.
4) Labor doesn’t cost that much, someone is just giving the job to his contractor buddy who’s inflating the price:
Labor does cost that much. Stop telling people to unionize and demand the value of their labor and then getting mad when people do it.
Anyway, in my city at least, contracts are done by blind bid and the lowest bid wins. Under most circumstances, my city legally cannot take a higher bidder, explicitly to prevent the above circumstance.
TL;DR:
“Local man puts up steps” is NOT a safe solution to this problem, the city legally and morally cannot let an unsafe structure stand, even simple construction is complicated and expensive as hell, and acting like the city could have done this for $500 is ridiculously out of touch.
Building and egress codes are /literally/ written in blood just like so many other protections, we take that shit seriously.
*taps the glass* hey, y'all know that what you might want isn’t necessarily what’s best to legislate?
Explanation:
- You cannot be judge, jury and executioner because the division of powers was created for a reason; to remain impartial and try to keep corruption to a minimum.
- Every single living person has human rights. Including the most evil people you could ever meet. Those people have a right to live, to get healthcare, to eat and to have a job. YES, even evil people.
I’ve seen a lot of people talk about abolishing prison, because it’s the cool, new hip thing that everyone is talking about. And instead of understand what it means, they think it’s the liberation of wrongfully imprisoned minorities - which it is. But also:
Prison abolition means setting up a system of psychological and physical help for the people whom are deemed dangerous to society. Yes, that includes Evil Fucking People. Recovery and rehabilitation should be the goal, not incarceration. THAT is abolishing prison.
Of course I want that abusive piece of shit father who abused his children to die. I want him dead! DEAD. But it does not mean that that’s what I want as an official law, because as much as I’d love to see him dead, the betterment of society and the rehabilitation and development of a human fucking being is important.
The benefits to prison abolition are ENDLESS. But it is also a struggle, and y'all can’t keep going through life with a 5 year old’s justice mentality. I swear, fandom has rotted your fucking brains off, because we NEED ACTIVISTS. We NEED TO KNOW WHY WE WANT WHAT WE WANT, AND WHAT IT ENTAILS.
You believe in something? Look up the activists who are doing work there. Read up on it. Look up videos. Follow them on their social media. Work in your communities, if you’ve the opportunity.
And stop being so fucking stupid about abolishing human rights. You’re doing the work for the far right when you call on all pedophiles to be executed on sight. Not even twenty years ago, gay people were mostly thought of as PEDOPHILES.
You see how this shit goes? Yeah?
Then figure yourself the fuck out.
“I really want that fucker to suffer, but I don’t want a society run by my worst impulses”is a really important moral principle that more people need to learn.
I don’t think a lot of people understand that no matter how progressive or well-read you are, there are always going to be moments in your life where somebody pushes back against something that’s so culturally ingrained you never even considered it before. And you’ll say “Huh, it never occurred to me to challenge this but you’re right,” and that doesn’t mean you were “morally toxic” before, it means you’re a non-omniscient human capable of growth.
Also, some preferred terms for things will change and evolve, and terms we prefer now might eventually be considered gauche or even offensive, and that doesn’t mean you were a bigot at the time for using them. It means we evolved as a society and chose new terminology to reflect that change.
Nobody is a fully formed realisation of progressivism that can predict all shifts and modes of thought. The world will always change, and hopefully you will, too
No matter how progressive or well-read you are, there are always going to be moments in your life where somebody pushes back against something that’s so culturally ingrained you never even considered it before. And you’ll say “Huh, it never occurred to me to challenge this but you’re right” and that doesn’t mean you were “morally toxic” before, it means you’re a non-omniscient human capable of growth.
With Republicans in several states talking about banning IUDs and Plan B, it isn’t simply that they don’t think women have the right to choose to terminate a pregnancy; it’s abundantly clear they don’t think women have the right not to get pregnant in the first place. All you have to do is actually listen to these men bemoan how Roe and birth control have led to women being less likely to marry them and birth their children to know exactly what this is really about. They want as many women* as possible trapped at home in a cycle of pregnancy and childcare instead of pursuing higher education, careers, and political engagement. If this post sounds extreme to you, again, all you have to do is listen to conservatives actually talk about this, and their regarding women as second class citizens meant to breed becomes abundantly clear.
*yes trans people can get pregnant but Republicans haven’t thought of anyone but cis women in their decades-long campaign to end Roe, let’s be real (and they’re finding other ways to terrorize trans people right now anyway)
Dudes really like “if only someone could do something about this!!!!”
Biden didn’t cause Roe to be overturned you fucking walnut, it’s literally because Trump appointed 3 Supreme Court Justices. Tromp. Trump. Cuz y'all didn’t want to vote for the email lady
What trump managed to do with just two years of full GOP control will take GENERATIONS to undo. Inaugurating a new president with a razor thin majority is not the uno reverse card y'all think it is.
It’s even more than just two years of Trump. Republicans have focused on the courts for decades because they know judges and Justices can enact policies they could never pass legislatively. This is about McConnell who refused to let Obama fill an open SCOTUS seat in 2016 but allowed trump to fill one days before the 2020 election. And the dozens of lower court judges McConnell refused to confirm Obama appointees to. It was that explicit court packing that got us here.
Literally what is Biden supposed to do about this? The government is designed so the president can’t overrule the Court at will. Everyone complains about dictatorship until it’s something they want done.
