Toronto man builds park stairs for $550, irking city after $65,000 estimate

A Toronto man who spent $550 building a set of stairs in his community park says he has no regrets, despite the city’s insistence that he should have waited for a $65,000 city project to handle the problem. The city is now threatening to tear down the stairs because they were not built to regulation standards.
Retired mechanic Adi Astl says he took it upon himself to build the stairs after several neighbours fell down the steep path to a community garden in Tom Riley Park, in Etobicoke, Ont. Astl says his neighbours chipped in on the project, which only ended up costing $550 – a far cry from the $65,000-$150,000 price tag the city had estimated for the job.
Toronto bylaw officials have taped off these privately-built stairs in Tom Riley Park, in Etobicoke, Ont.
“I thought they were talking about an escalator,” Astl told CTV News Channel on Wednesday.’
Read more: Toronto man builds park stairs for $550, irking city after $65,000 estimate