Clay Chastain coming back with light rail

[flyingember]

chastain has his 1,000+ signatures and the city apparently won't be fighting his "resident" status, so he will appear on the ballot for mayor in the spring. if elected, he claims he would cancel the streetcar (which will be nearly complete) and implement "the people's plan".

Let's take the unlikely case and say he wins the election. Does anyone know his legal basis to cancel the line?

[aknowledgeableperson]

He can't do it on his own.

[DaveKCMO]

He can't do it on his own.

in addition to a willing council, he would also need a plan to refund the $37 million in federal funding that will be spent by the time he (hypothetically) enters office.

[Highlander]

According to Chastain's campaign homepage, he Saved Union Station from demolition?

Wasn't his first petition (or one of his first) to oppose the Union Station Bi-state agreement that actually did save Union Station and created Science City?

http://www.chastain4mayor.com/

[WSPanic]

According to Chastain's campaign homepage, he Saved Union Station from demolition?

Wasn't his first petition (or one of his first) to oppose the Union Station Bi-state agreement that actually did save Union Station and created Science City?

http://www.chastain4mayor.com/

Can he use the Royals logo like that on header of his website?

He can reuse the URL when runs for mayor of wherever he lives. He even says on his site, he's not committing to KC unless we elect him - If elected I would liquidate my outside business ventures and work full time in Kansas City as your city's next mayor

He is the Wile E Coyote of KC politics.

[taxi]

He is the Wile E Coyote of KC politics.

More like Elmer Fudd.

[flyingember]

According to Chastain's campaign homepage, he Saved Union Station from demolition?

Wasn't his first petition (or one of his first) to oppose the Union Station Bi-state agreement that actually did save Union Station and created Science City?

http://www.chastain4mayor.com/

Hover over his social media icons. only one actually is for him. that's a lack of attention to detail

[mykn]

According to Chastain's campaign homepage, he Saved Union Station from demolition?

Wasn't his first petition (or one of his first) to oppose the Union Station Bi-state agreement that actually did save Union Station and created Science City?

http://www.chastain4mayor.com/

Hover over his social media icons. only one actually is for him. that's a lack of attention to detail

I like the really bad photoshopped pictures of him in front of various backgrounds.

Also, if you look at the source of his page, it's pulling in some kind of Facebook feed with news articles, one is about anti-semitism lol.

[mean]

This dude is a joke. There was perhaps a time when he was actually an interesting advocate, but that time is long gone.

[kcmetro]

This dude is a joke. There was perhaps a time when he was actually an interesting advocate, but that time is long gone.

His name should be under the definition of "egomaniac" in the dictionary.

[Highlander]

I've seen very little in the Star about him being a candidate. I wouldn't have even known he was running until I saw this thread and then looked up his homepage.

Sadly, the stance he takes on the streetcar will probably attract some supporters - supporters that likely hate the idea of light rail as much as a streetcar.

[mean]

As much as I thought Funk got a bit of a worse shake than he deserved, his term was unquestionably a debacle. I think we've had quite enough of egomaniacal mayors with ties to the Virginias.

[loftguy]

As much as I thought Funk got a bit of a worse shake than he deserved, his term was unquestionably a debacle. I think we've had quite enough of egomaniacal mayors with ties to the Virginias.

Mean, for the record, I am proud of the local media, because they did not cover fully, through neglect or otherwise, how bad and damaging Funk's term in office was for this city. Had they, the city would have suffered further.

I concede that the Funk family had unreasonable flak from many quarters, but I can't let his professional negative impact be downplayed. We were lucky* that we entered a simultaneous period of international financial calamity, as it allowed us to dodge broad knowledge of how bad things were in KC.

[mean]

Why do you say that? I think it's clear that the guy was an egomaniac with an inability to compromise or play realpolitik to get things done, and that "my way or the highway" shit doesn't work in government (unless you're Boss Tom) but how would knowing this truth you're apparently sitting on have made things worse rather than, say, getting him run out of town and the city on the road to recovery faster?

[flyingember]

Why do you say that? I think it's clear that the guy was an egomaniac with an inability to compromise or play realpolitik to get things done, and that "my way or the highway" shit doesn't work in government (unless you're Boss Tom) but how would knowing this truth you're apparently sitting on have made things worse rather than, say, getting him run out of town and the city on the road to recovery faster?

No matter how right the paper would have been, some people would have voted for Funkhowser just to vote for someone liberals didn't like. there's a lot of people that don't listen to the Star just because they think it's extremely liberal.

There have actually been cases of people complaining in the online comments that opinion pieces are too opinionated!

people dismiss certain people and groups at their political peril. Like if we want light rail expanded we don't want the mayor championing it in any way. His black, liberal, friendly, successful individual persona alienates too many by default reactionary people that then go out and push other people to their viewpoint. We need to find two people to push the line such as 1. a fiscally conservative socially liberal libertarian that has been unemployed several times and 2. a black protestant evangelical preacher. People that "don't like" the plan but "think voting no is far worse"

It's sad but we need people to promote plans as being better than doing nothing. I'm not joking. To get people to vote not based on getting good things but because you don't gain anything by voting no and things are likely to just get worst. Look what voting no hasn't done for the eastside.

And funkhowser had one thing going for him with conservatives, he didn't like liberal spending plans.

[loftguy]

Why do you say that? I think it's clear that the guy was an egomaniac with an inability to compromise or play realpolitik to get things done, and that "my way or the highway" shit doesn't work in government (unless you're Boss Tom) but how would knowing this truth you're apparently sitting on have made things worse rather than, say, getting him run out of town and the city on the road to recovery faster?

Maybe sometime over a beer. No great secret to share. Just facts as I see them.

[DaveKCMO]

ICYMI - http://www.pitch.com/FastPitch/archives ... ansit-plan

Chastain, the Bedford, Virginia, resident last heard from around these parts when he finished a distant last in the mayoral primary in April, is talking about his latest $1.82 billion light rail/commuter rail plan that he wants to put on the November 2016 ballot.

We struggled over whether to cover this latest plan for several reasons. The most obvious one is that his plan is unrealistic.

Chastain contemplates building a 30-mile line that starts from the forthcoming Cerner campus at the old Bannister Mall site to Kansas City International Airport with seven stops in between. That light-rail spine is supplemented by a 12-mile suburban commuter system that brings people from eastern Jackson County to Union Station, with a stop along the way at Truman Sports Complex. And then there are the usual gondola lines and other such accoutrements that typically dangle from his transit plans.

[mean]

If a bistate transit tax were to actually pass, I might die of astonishment.

[longviewmo]

We should come up with a transit plan and get it published.

[FangKC]

ICYMI - http://www.pitch.com/FastPitch/archives ... ansit-plan

Chastain, the Bedford, Virginia, resident last heard from around these parts when he finished a distant last in the mayoral primary in April, is talking about his latest $1.82 billion light rail/commuter rail plan that he wants to put on the November 2016 ballot.

We struggled over whether to cover this latest plan for several reasons. The most obvious one is that his plan is unrealistic.

Chastain contemplates building a 30-mile line that starts from the forthcoming Cerner campus at the old Bannister Mall site to Kansas City International Airport with seven stops in between. That light-rail spine is supplemented by a 12-mile suburban commuter system that brings people from eastern Jackson County to Union Station, with a stop along the way at Truman Sports Complex. And then there are the usual gondola lines and other such accoutrements that typically dangle from his transit plans.

Chastain must have attended the same school as Donald Trump -- The P.T. Barnum University of Bombastic Pomposity.

Clay Chastain says you can.

"I think this plan I have designed that you have in your hand is the greatest public transportation plan placed before voters in the history of the United States of America," he says.