TKC MUST READ!!! KANSAS CITY TRANSIT ACTIVIST CLAY CHASTAIN RAGES AGAINST LEGAL DEPT TINKERING WITH HIS PLAN!!!

We talked about his listing on the ballot earlier this month and now it seems the light rail advocate fears another legislative shut out. Checkit:

Clay Chastain: Kansas City's government welcomes petitions like a tyrant welcomes elections.

Tomorrow the public can witness whether Kansas City's newly elected city council is the transparent-acting, citizen-oriented elected body voters were promised, or just another council of patsies for the powerful.

At 8:30 A.M. the City's Finance & Governance Committee will review an amended light rail ordinance (slated for the November ballot) recently crafted by City Attorney Bill Geary. Unfortunately, this is not only not the original petition ordinance 2,500 citizens signed in behalf of, but it is also unacceptable to the Committee of Petitioners of which I am one and represent.

Rather, Geary's version is a cleverly cooked up and underhanded attempt to castrate the original light rail ordinance, including the ballot language, and here is how...

1. Geary intentionally omits three crucial sections of the original light rail ordinance (to inhance the city's control over the petition) that explicitly instructs the city how to proceed with the petition if approved by voters, including requiring the city manager to seek federal matching funds.

2. Geary intentionally omits details in the original ballot language (to make it look less attractive to the voters) that would inform a voter what parts of the city would be directly served by the light rail system and where the station stops would be.

Geary also made inappropriate and negative comments about the merits of the light rail petition plan in his amended ordinance.

Keep in mind that, unlike me, Attorney Geary is not a degreed engineer and urban transit planner. Nevertheless, he presents himself to the city council as an authority on the feasibility of the proposed light rail project.

If this city council wants to minimize distrust and restore public confidence then it will reject Geary's scheming amended light rail ordinance and follow this public mandate printed at the top of the light rail petition itself...

"We the undersigned voters and citizens of Kansas City, Missouri hereby petition the City Council of Kansas City, Missouri to adopt the ordinance printed in full on the reverse side hereof and provide for the submission of the following proposal (ballot language) to the voters of Kansas City, Missouri on the next available election date (November 8, 2016) as may be provided by law."

Clay Chastain...Member and leader of the Light Rail Committee of Petitioners, degreed electrical engineer, and registered voter of Kansas City, Missouri
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