TKC NOTE: Tonight we have a word from the only guy to ever win a city-wide rail transit election.
CHECK OUT CLAY CHASTAIN COMPARING AND CONTRASTING HIS LIGHT RAIL PLAN VS. THE CURRENT CITY HALL TOY TRAIN SCHEME!!!
Like it or not, he makes some pretty great points . . .
"The Battle of the Bulge" over Kansas City's future.
From: Community Activist Clay Chastain...January 27, 2014
"The Battle of the Bulge" looms as we await the ruling from the Missouri Supreme Court as to whether they think the city was right in shunning the democratic process and blocking the people from voting on their valid multimodal transit initiative. If the court orders the city to place the long-obstructed petition initiative before voters on either the August or November 2014 ballot, it would presummably result in a head to head competition against the City's plan (slated for both a 2014 August and November vote) asking voters to expand the City's 2.2 mile streetcar system.
ATTENTION LADIES & GENTLEMEN & INTRODUCING:
The City's streetcar transit system led by Mayor James & Councilman Johnson.
vs.
The Citizen's multimodal transit initiative led by community activist Clay Chastain.
The tale of truth about City's Trolley Plan:
* Pooh poohs the democratic process...restricts a city-wide vote.
* Is one-dimensional...just a maze of downtown trolleys running here and there.
* Promises low ridership...even Russ Johnson admits their plan is not about moving people.
* Limits economic development...this limited downtown transit system will not generate city-wide economic development.
* Is dumb de dumb dumb...offers no central hub @ Union Station.
* More folly...offers no rail transit service to the northland or KCI!
* Not likely to secure federal matching funds...for all the reasons listed above!
The tale of truth about Citizen's Multimodal Transit Initiative:
* Respects the democratic process...calls for a city-wide vote.
* Is multimodal...comprehensive transit plan includes a straight-line light rail train spine with direct service to the northland, Downtown, Union Station, the Plaza, UMKC, and points beyond; a commuter train from Union Station to south Kansas City including stops at the Truman Sports Complex and the new Cerner redevelopment complex at Bannister; an eastside streetcar line operating from Union Station to the KC Zoo (which is on its way to becoming a world class attraction); a new fleet of electric shuttle buses, an expanded bikeway network; and a multimodal regional public transportation center in the north wing of Union Station.
* City-wide redevelopment..city-wide rail system will drive city-wide redevelopment.
*Promises high ridership...commuter rail line, streetcar line, new quiet low-emmision buses, and a new bikeway network will feed the light rail spine... and vice versa... creating travel density while also generating additional business and residential density along the rail lines themselves.
* Smart...creates Multimodal Regional Public Transportation Center in Union Station's North Wing (it's a walking mall now!!) where all the rail lines will converge, including Amtrak.
* KCI connection...gives people what they want: rail service to either a new single KCI terminal or a revamped existing terminal. Aside: Imagine passing through a small replica of one of Union Station's phenominal arched windows at the end of the new airport terminal with a colorful neon sign overhead that says.....
*Welcome to Kansas City* .....
* Direct Light Rail Train Service to Downtown, Union Station, the Plaza and beyond!
Then passengers pass through this iconic gateway onto a beautiful light rail platform lined with historic lamp posts and enclosed under the stars by a stunning glass barrel roof. Then happy passengers would be wisked away at 65 mph toward downtown with only 3 short scheduled stops in the northland!!!
* Likely to secure federal matching funds...for all the above reasons.
Now voters of Kansas City....Which transit vision do you think will make a better Kansas City for the people?
Clay Chastain
###########
The Clay Plan: Crazy
ReplyDeleteThe City Plan: Not Crazy
Clay you do not live here ... Shoo! Go home!
ReplyDeleteClay, are you going to circulate petitions and then use the information to call up women and ask them out on dates?
ReplyDeleteTrue story.
http://www.xent.com/FoRK-archive/august97/0303.html
Oh here I'll just post some of it....
ReplyDelete---------------'---
Democracy in Action: A Petition Turns Into a Little Black Book
By J. Alex Tarquinio Staff Reporter of The Wall Street Journal
Two weeks ago, Clay Chastain climbed on a horse and rode it triumphantly to
City Hall in Kansas City, Mo. It was his moment of vindication. The local
media and political opponents had long ridiculed his idea of reviving the
city's abandoned Union Station as a rail hub. But after six years of asking
citizens to sign petitions, Mr. Chastain had enough signatures to put his
plan to a citywide vote.
His celebration, however, didn't last long. A Kansas City Star reporter,
perusing the petitions, found odd notes in the margins. Beside the
signatures of about 50 women were phrases like "cute body," "nice freckles"
and "redhead yes." Contacting some of these women, the reporter learned
that Mr. Chastain had called several and asked them out on dates.
The resulting story made Mr. Chastain's dating habits a hotter issue than
his dream for Union Station. Local columnists and talk-radio hosts
lampooned him. And Kansas City Mayor Emanuel Cleaver, an ordained minister,
described Mr. Chastain's behavior as "sinful." (The two are political
opponents: Mr. Chastain once ran for mayor on a revive-the-station
platform, while Mayor Cleaver supports converting the building to a science
museum.)
All this led the 44-year-old Mr. Chastain to call a press conference. With
his 12-year-old daughter beside him, Mr. Chastain, who has been divorced
for 10 years, apologized to the city for what he called bad judgment. He
blamed it on the stress of his battle over Union Station, and offered
innocent explanations for some notes on the petitions: "Blonde watermelon,"
for instance, referred to the type of produce the woman was carrying when
he encountered her outside a grocery, Mr. Chastain said.
Nice move Clay to bring your 12 year old daughter into such a sorded story. SWINE!
ReplyDeleteSay what you want, but Clay's petition turned into a city-wide initiative the people passed but the council blocked. The council can't say that for the toy train.
ReplyDeleteGreat point
DeleteGreat point
DeleteGreat point
DeleteClay a stalker---Byron a sheep shagger---they could be best friends.
ReplyDeleteThe Clay Plan: Ridiculous and unaffordable.
ReplyDeleteThe City Streetcar Plan: Unnecessary, impossible to rationalize the same way twice, and unaffordable.
The taxpayers: Screwed.
All aboard!
say what you want it still should be called the chastian line
ReplyDeleteTony you see to be forgetting the Sly Foxx connection. Anthony "finally got our piece of the pie" Foxx is gonna make sure sly has a dollar or two of "sufficent federal funding" so the city can start draining the little remaining life out of the east side and the so called urban core. Choo! Choo!
ReplyDeleteI can see Sly and Russ Johnson tearing thier hair out over this. If not throwing shot glasses and lamps against the wall.
ReplyDelete6:51, you forget that this asshat Chastain tried to get it passed 8 times before and it was defeated at the ballot box.
ReplyDelete6:51 PM So you thought the Gondola was a great addition to public transportation?
ReplyDeleteSadly, it's all just too ridiculous for words. Johnson's plan is about eco-dev opportunities limited to a few friends while Chastain's plan is about moving people to a central core -- a central core that really hasn't existed for several decades.
ReplyDeletenot only does the core exist, its STILL denser and bigger and better than anything else in this town. Your suburbs are run of the mill. This city is one of a kind.
ReplyDeleteScheme is a good word for what passes as a plan from City Hall.
ReplyDelete275,000 people in 58 square miles. 4750 people per square miles. Similar in size and population to St Louis, Cincinnati, Cleveland, etc.
ReplyDeleteAs dense as Portland.
No single city in the suburbs has more people in less area than the urban core. And Downtown is literally booming. Midtown is picking up pace with apartment infills announced every couple weeks. The writing is on the wall. This is a city.
the tkc suburbanite trolls and the nothing can change KCians are scared of the streetcar because its already working and everyone knows it.
ReplyDeletedevelopers here and in every other urban core from St. Louis to tampa list access to streetcars/light rail and good transit as a primary concern in where they locate businesses and buildings.
There a reason Kansas has to pay ridiculous subsidies to every business that relocates there, and its not because EVERYONE JUST NATURAL WANT TO LIVE IN JOCO, its because lots and lots of people prefer the city and the amenities it offers that suburbs cannot and never will.
Transit is one of them.
Diversity is one of them.
Culture is one of them.
KC is a great city, Having great transit (and this expanded plan would make KC's system on of the best in the midwest) is the cities biggest flaw right now.
Crime happens in all cities. Schools suck in all cities. Regrettable but facts of life. KC offers a lot of bang for the buck, has an awesome culture and a cool, mellow lifestyle that people increasingly are discovering and it obviously make a lot of you suburbanites feel inferior.
It should. You are.
Pat Klein... grow the fuck up! This is a city, duh. A city big enough and oriented towards a street car development? No. The City will never, ever, ever get people out of their personal cars and onto this stupid train. Grow a pair you drone troll. And fuck you.
ReplyDelete8:41: Did I say either was a good idea? My point was that the city will do as it pleases in spite of what voters want. (Ignore a passed referendum; pass a jury-rigged vote) Sorry I didn't make my point clearly enough for you.
ReplyDelete9:55 you should stop wasting your time on TKC and start convincing black voters to pay higher taxes for a service they don't need or want.
ReplyDelete9:55 is an idiot to say the least and I hate to label people but sometimes they leave you no choice. I would guess they have never seen the schools in Shawnee Mission Dist. or Blue Valley, Olathe or Spring Hill or know anything about them? I wouldn't in anyway say their schools suck. I find as a rule people go where they want to be. And those paid to promote something will do so no matter how big a pile of crap it is.
ReplyDeleteMy families business has been in Kansas City since it was started. But the past five years it is getting harder to stay there. My employees have made it known they want to move, they hate the e-tax. They hate the streets and the way the snow is removed. I like tradition myself as well as my father so for us it's a hard call to make about moving. This so called transit system will not in any way help our company or those who visit it. Ok maybe in 10 years or so it might. But by then I think all work will have come to a stop on it due to not having enough tax money to continue adding to the retarded first phase of it. I know not of another business who is falling all over themselves to locate along this line. I myself wouldn't want to be located where those who feel a life of crime is called living and gets free travel to move along and rob at will. I myself am not going to ride something that has riders of that such on it. So the people who City Hall thinks is going to ride it won't and the ones they would rather not will. This starter line will look like that free day at the Zoo here a while back every day. That my friends is not something I want to be a part of.
"developers (sic) here and in every other urban core from St. Louis to tampa (sic) list access to streetcars/light rail and good transit as a primary concern in where they locate businesses and buildings."
ReplyDeleteDon't know about "every other urban core," but I understand Tampa's light rail is a disaster.
The arrogance of Kansas City thinking if it rushes out with a giant expenditure on its own program that somehow the courts will jump over on the side of the city. KC better hope that this turns out better than their red light cam snowjob.
ReplyDeleteIf only City Hall would of changed their minds about Streetcars back in 2001 the cost would of been a lot lower and been done by now.
ReplyDeleteTo many hard heads even when you give them the facts.
Yay, Clay! Go Clay, go! Win Clay, win!
ReplyDeleteActually, the reason we hate the streetcar is because it is an overpriced project that displaces minorities, uses a disproportionate amount of money that could be used to make better, more targeted and unique improvements, and we are making progress and growing our neighborhoods without it.
ReplyDeleteWhen you're selling tax payer funded gentrification, it's important to mischaracterize your opposition.