The Return of the $700 Hammer?

Some people call it being cheap. My dad used to refer to us as "thrifty Scotsmen." I have to admit I've really been stewing over this $150,000 traffic signal thing. A little background. The other night at a meeting about the Westport Road and Genessee-Bell intersections, the City traffic engineer informed us that a pedestrian pushbutton traffic signal would cost somewhere in the range of a $150,000. As I said in a previous post, I could have an entire house built for that. Granted, not the Taj Mahal but a house nonetheless. It would have a concrete basement that would require crews to come in, dig the hole, lay the forms and pour the concrete. It would have walls, requiring different crews to come in and construct them. It would have windows, a roof, plumbing, electrical and maybe even some carpet. I get all that, all those workers and materials for the same price it takes to put up one bolt-together mast arm with a traffic light hanging off of it?! Not to mention the builder would make a profit at the end of the day. How much profit is involved in one stoplight? I think sometimes we lose track of the value of a dollar in our workplaces. I really think we lose that insight in government. For example at the Westport Road meeting I didn't really see too much of a reaction from anyone when the $150,000 figure was mentioned. I think people figure they don't know much about traffic signals so they'll just "leave it to the experts." What if the experts are getting ripped off? A quick Google on traffic signal cost revealed figures significantly lower than $150K. I even found a site detailing the cost savings of using LED instead of the traditional incandescent lights. To me, $150,000 is a LOT of money. Government should always be looking to do things better and less expensively. I intend to pull cost out wherever I can. It's what I was taught to do. First by my "thrifty" father, then by my business school professors. I think it's time to elect someone cheap, err... I mean thrifty. Like I always say, $150,000 here, $150,000 there, pretty soon you're talking real money!