What costs more: a home in San Francisco's Sunset District, or a wheelchair ramp in the Board of Supervisors' chambers?
If you picked the house, you're wrong.
By the time the final tab comes in, the cost of designing and installing a ramp to the president's chair at the Board of Supervisors - a project now under way - is expected to top out at $699,413.
That is about $50,000 more than the median cost of a home in the Sunset.
Why so much for a 10-foot ramp?
First, it took two companies, at a total cost of $132,205, to come up with a design that passed architectural muster for a designated historic landmark. The cost in city staff time to oversee the planning hit $38,434. That's $170,639.
Then came the job itself.
To install the ramp, the board's majestic podium is being taken apart, raised five steps above the chamber's floor, then put back together.
Costs include $25,200 for materials, $201,678 for labor and $49,000 for a set of historically accurate brass handrails. Outside historic experts to keep an eye on the work are getting $48,824.
Miscellaneous costs bring the construction job's total to $477,000 and change.
Also, because the job could take 10 weeks, the supervisors have set aside $51,042 to pay for relocating board meetings.
Supervisor John Avalos - the lone "no" vote on the project when the board approved it in February- said the political math just doesn't add up.
"This is a tremendous amount of money being spent on something in City Hall that rarely or may never even get used," Avalos said.
"Meanwhile, there are so many other needs for handicapped access that are really needed that are going unfunded," Avalos said.
Board President David Chiu defended the project, saying that "San Francisco has been at the forefront of access issues, and it's important the board reflect that."
Chiu also said the cost is "significantly" lower than the $1.1 million original plan.
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