Dear Editor,
I read about the crosswalk taking approximately 10 hours to finish. This got me thinking, and so I went by the crosswalk and there were six city employees taking off the original white paint from the crosswalk in preparation for the new makeover. But, what I was thinking about was the $15,000 price tag. Please indulge me here. I’m going to be (I think) very, very generous in my estimations.
Let’s say there will be 10 employees working for 10 hours to complete the crosswalk. Now, let’s say that each of those city employees makes $50/hour. That would be $500 per employee for a night’s work. Since we have 10 employees there, we are now at $5,000.
Where is the other $10,000 going? I’m assuming the city already owns the trucks the employees drive there, and the equipment they use for creating a city crosswalk. I’m sure the city owns all the orange cones to divert traffic, and the slow/stop sign the guy was holding up to keep traffic in check. Basically I’m sure the city already owns everything it needs — except maybe the coloured paint — to create this crosswalk. I’d love to know if we’re paying $10,000 for paint, or are there some other costs I’m just not seeing?
Geordie McGillivray
RICHMOND
