Like him or not . . . CLAY CHASTAIN DEMONSTRATED THE LIMITATIONS OF LOCAL DEMOCRACY IN 2019 and his activism and advocacy has been one of the few highlights in an otherwise boring election season.
Chastain calls off write-in campaign for council, but his fight to improve KC marches on...
Maybe one can fight City Hall, but it is hard to fight City Hall, a judge and now the Kansas City Election Board (KCEB) all at once. Yesterday the KCEB, through its attorney David Raymond, informed me he also agrees that write-in candidates" are not allowed in the June Municipal General Election" (even though the state allows it) and "therefore the KCEB will not accept a (mine or anyone's) declaration of intent to be a write-in candidate for that election."
Without filing more lawsuits, there is no lane to victory here. So I am calling off my write-in candidacy to clean up City Hall and be a champion for the people on the City Council.
What I am not going to call off, though, are....
#1. My lawsuits against the City and KC Star for trying to defame me and smear my public reputation by falsely profiling me as "dangerous," publishing the big fat lie that I "threatened Mayor James," publishing the big fat lie that I am in politics "just to file lawsuits against Kansas City" and publishing the false statement that I have "suffered from depression," and
#2. my seeing through (to the Winner's Circle) my "Green Transit Petition" (rapid rail / electric buses / greenways / transit aerial tramway / Union Station hub, etc.) which seeks to end the City's plan to expand the streetcar to the Plaza and the ATA's $100 million a year fossil fuel-powered bus system (that 93% of our residents do not use) by replacing those two outdated modes of transit with a state-of-the-art (all electric) rapid, quiet and clean system that will have these fantastic virtues...
(a) be of use and benefit to most residents by saving them time, money, parking and traffic hassles,
(b) connect the airport to the northland, downtown and the central city,
(c) transform Union Station into a multimodal regional transportation center,
(d) connect to most of the City's major job centers and destinations
(e) help Kansas City grow and secure the World Cup and future major conventions,
(f) create new Transit Greenways in the City for transit / bicycle / pedestrian use only,
(g) create affordable housing (no expensive parking or parking garages needed (that increase rent) when apartments are built along "Transit Greenways" where people can live and move about the City without having to own a car),
(h) connect convention center to Union Station and a revitalized Penn Valley Park (new open green space central city park with no roads or vehicular traffic) with a rapid cost-effective aerial tramway - "Kansas City's Urban Flyer."
(i) grow the City's tax base with new residents, jobs and businesses (who are attracted back to the City by its new Green Transit System) to create more revenues to fix and maintain infrastructure, and last but not least....
This type of innovative citywide public transportation system has an infinitely greater chance of securing federal matching infrastructure improvement funding than the City's limited, obsolete, slow moving streetcar system of yesteryear.
Yes I lost this one, but my fight to improve Kansas City marches on.
Community Activist, Clay Chastain
#############
Developing . . .
In the second round of a non-partisan election, why would write-ins even be considered? You've already had the chance to write in a candidate, just like you already had a chance to vote for anyone who was on the ballot. Now you have 2 and only 2 choices. That is the entire point of having 2 elections.
ReplyDeleteWell this is fucked up is all I can say. So what are the people suppose to do who don't want either one of those two current assholes running?
ReplyDeleteIf we can't have Write ins, then we need a "None Of The Above" option.
ReplyDelete(A majority "None Of The Above" vote requires a re-vote within 31 days, with two different candidates.)
Someplace that really, really needs an excellent gadfly is Moscow.
ReplyDeleteGood. He doesn't live here anyways. Has this dope ever won a thing??? He's a loser!
ReplyDeleteI didn’t know clay has a lawsuit against the KC Star. Hope he wins.
ReplyDelete@12:08, Chastain is the reason there still is a Union Station, and he created the Rapid Transit Plan that the majority of Kansas City voters approved and adopted (before he City Council illegally voided all their votes).
ReplyDeleteIf he is a "loser", then so are the majority of KC voters, but it's more likely it's just you.
11:36 for the win, wipe that smugness right off the entrenched bs artists
ReplyDeleteOnly in a little cow town like KCMO and with clown show elections like the one going on right how could someone like Chastain seem to fit right in as part of the entertainment.
ReplyDeleteIntrigue!
Drama!
Legal actions!
LOSERS!
The 85% of metro residents who DON'T live in KCMO just can't get enough of the laughs watching this crap!
It never changes.
Clay’s agenda(as listed in his post) are more thoughtful and inspiring than the two we to choose from. The city once again losses for lack of imagination.
ReplyDelete