Friday, September 18, 2015

Has The Bureaucracy Gone Bonkers?

Inventing ways to spend tax dollars
and justify it's existence?


While investigating a popular birding spot for my wife I came across some news items that had a most familiar ring to them vis a vis Colliery Dams saga.

It is a logoon very popular with birders and photographers alike. As many as 160 different birds can be seen here during the year. The spot is called Witty's lagoon and was first established in 1966 and sees about 30,000 visitors per year.

There are some stairs which allow people to come down to the beach of the lagoon without having to be mountain goats to handle the slope. It has been in use for over 60 years without incident.

Bungling Bureaucratic Baloney

It seems the stairs are now of concern to some of the engineers employed by the CRD who felt the stairs could possibly fail because perhaps the slope might be unstable. Sound familiar?

The options presented by staff were to remove the stairs to eliminate the risk (which would make the lagoon inaccessible) or spent as much as $1.3 million to stabilize the slope.

Well, thankfully the Mayor of the municipality and his council had the gumption to stand up to the bureaucracy and has instructed them to look for other means of managing the risk. The Mayor noted that in over 60 years there has never been a problem and suggested we might learn something from our friends to the south who have managed to deal with far greater risks.
Ranns said it’s “time to bring some sense into the parks system” and argued that the slope hasn’t moved in more than 60 years. “Anybody visiting there, I think, would also acknowledge that the likelihood of it slipping is pretty low,” he said. “We’ve got lots of engineering on this, but we don’t have any information as a board on risk management and how it’s handled.”
Ranns said many state and national parks in the United States have “astonishing hazards,” and although the U.S. is the most litigious country in the world, “their parks seem to be able to get away with having virtually no safety measures in a multitude of ways.”
- See more at: http://www.timescolonist.com/news/local/stairs-to-witty-s-lagoon-beach-get-temporary-reprieve-1.1789787#sthash.dMTkT43Y.dpuf
Ranns said it’s “time to bring some sense into the parks system” and argued that the slope hasn’t moved in more than 60 years. “Anybody visiting there, I think, would also acknowledge that the likelihood of it slipping is pretty low,” he said. “We’ve got lots of engineering on this, but we don’t have any information as a board on risk management and how it’s handled.”
Ranns said many state and national parks in the United States have “astonishing hazards,” and although the U.S. is the most litigious country in the world, “their parks seem to be able to get away with having virtually no safety measures in a multitude of ways.”
- See more at: http://www.timescolonist.com/news/local/stairs-to-witty-s-lagoon-beach-get-temporary-reprieve-1.1789787#sthash.13sR5nrx.dpuf

The stairs, built on a Metchosin right of way, have been a popular access point to the beach and have been used by about 30,000 people a year.
Ranns said it’s “time to bring some sense into the parks system” and argued that the slope hasn’t moved in more than 60 years. “Anybody visiting there, I think, would also acknowledge that the likelihood of it slipping is pretty low,” he said. “We’ve got lots of engineering on this, but we don’t have any information as a board on risk management and how it’s handled.”
- See more at: http://www.timescolonist.com/news/local/stairs-to-witty-s-lagoon-beach-get-temporary-reprieve-1.1789787#sthash.13sR5nrx.dpuf
The stairs, built on a Metchosin right of way, have been a popular access point to the beach and have been used by about 30,000 people a year.
Ranns said it’s “time to bring some sense into the parks system” and argued that the slope hasn’t moved in more than 60 years. “Anybody visiting there, I think, would also acknowledge that the likelihood of it slipping is pretty low,” he said. “We’ve got lots of engineering on this, but we don’t have any information as a board on risk management and how it’s handled.”
- See more at: http://www.timescolonist.com/news/local/stairs-to-witty-s-lagoon-beach-get-temporary-reprieve-1.1789787#sthash.13sR5nrx.dpuf
      

allvoices

2 comments:

  1. What looks like bureaucratic baloney to some can look like litigation mitigation to others. If someone falls or worse, dies, using those stairs one million dollars may seem like a bargain.

    Maybe a 'use at your own risk' sign? Couple hundred bucks, tops.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. good idea anon... so much of our world is being presently dictated by insurance companies, or lawyers working for them.. we need to be looking for alternatives.. 'use at your own risk' - great idea...

      Delete

Your comment will appear after moderation before publishing,

Thank you for your comments.Any comment that could be considered slanderous or includes unacceptable language will be removed.

Thank you for participating and making your opinions known.

Note: only a member of this blog may post a comment.