Chastain's LRT plan continues to get more holes

Kansas City MO - Clay Chastain's Light Rail Transit {LRT} plan took a couple of big hits on Thursday but were, as usual, brushed aside by Chastain.

First there was the consulting team which issued its report to the city council and showed that the city just can't afford Chastain's dream system.

Then the city council learned that there were enough valid signatures on a petition to force the city to toss the plan or send it back to the voters.

Chastain of course instantly went on the defensive. He claimed the consultant report was deliberately overstating the building costs so as to shoot his plan down. A bit paranoid? It seems so but Chastain has a long history of being paranoid when things don't go his way. It's always that someone is out to get him.

What needs to be focused on is this paragraph in the news story: "He said the Missouri Department of Transportation should contribute $100 million to operate light rail. According to figures supplied by MoDOT, that would eat up what the state spends on general transit for about 25 years."

In other words, Chastain not only wants to decimate the bus system in Kansas City but he wishes to decimate transit in the entire state of Missouri just so he can build his personal legacy line at taxpayer expense.

Also highlighted in the consultant's report was that many of the things in Chastain's plan had problems and could even violate the law. There has already been many other questionable issues regarding the constitutionality of how he plans on funding it so that didn't surprise me.

What amused me was that he thinks the state will just fork over the money needed to fund all transit systems for the next 25 years to operate his legacy line. He's Clay Chastain so the state is just going to bow down to his royal highness. The bulk of Chastain's plan for funding revolves around such thinking. He thinks Kansas City will automatically go to the front of the funding line with the Feds. He thinks the state will just hand over money because he needs it to run his LRT line with gondola ride.

This is sure to end up in court as Chastain has no qualms about suing to get his legacy line built, even if the people vote it down in the next election. He was all for the people prior to this since they blindly voted for what he wanted but as soon as they learned what was happening and don't want his plan, it's to hell with the people. Sadly, when all is said and done, it will cost the taxpayers plenty but it looks as though Chastain's plan is getting more holes in it by the day and less likely to be built.

Kansas City residents have a chance it seems to officially dump Chastain's legacy line and send the meddler packing back to Virginia. With enough valid petition signatures, there is no reason that a re-vote of the plan can't happen with the next election. Let's hope these people understand what they are voting for this time.

If Kansas City must have a rail line, do it sensibly. Build it for service, not development or prestige. Don't go for the bells and whistles as they don't do anything but drive the price up. While I still think Kansas City can't support a rail line regardless of building price, it might just squeak by if it is done with transportation in mind in an existing high ridership corridor.

Chastain insists his plan will work

Kansas City MO - Clay Chastain, the former KC resident that now resides in Virginia but still meddles in Kansas City affairs, insists his rail plan for KC is workable.

Once again however, Chastain pinned his belief about his rail plan on hopes and dreams rather than reality. At a meeting between Chastain and the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee of Kansas City, Chastain did little to prove that his plan was workable beside suggesting more local taxes be imposed to pay for it.

Chastain told the committee he expected the pie of funding for public transportation to get bigger. “I think the pendulum of the federal government is swinging in the right direction,” Chastain said of the Democratic shift in Congress.

In my experience, the Democrats talk a good game but fail to deliver on their lip service. KC won't see any more money under a government controlled by Democrats than it received under a government controlled by Republicans.

You can't build and fund anything just on the hope that someone in the government will take pity and hand you a big check to pay for it. Chastain just can't seem to understand that simple point. He wants KC to jump to the head of the line and not have to follow any rules or regulations that the rest of the country must follow.

Chastain reluctantly agreed that you can't decimate the bus system and expect the Feds to pony up the money. However, that won't stop him for pushing for his personal legacy line. Another threat of an expensive lawsuit was also issued by Chastain at the meeting if he doesn't get his rail line with gondola ride built as he wants it, proving he doesn't care if the bus system does get destroyed in the process.

Clay Chastain's rail proposal is the perfect example of a personal legacy project that he wants everyone else to pay for. It's his way or he'll sue to get his way.

Chastain pounds the rail drums

Kansas City MO - Pro-rail advocate, Clay Chastain, is pounding the drums again to get his rail plan in place in Kansas City. For some strange reason, Chastain seems oblivious to the fact that Kansas City can't just jump ahead of the waiting list for Federal money to build his precious rail line.

Chastain, a Bedford Virginia resident, seems intent on trying to saddle Kansas City Missouri residents with a light rail plan that the city just can't afford. He loves to claim the voters overwhelmingly want his plan when, based on numerous articles and letters to the editor by residents, that really isn't the case.

The truth of the matter is that many Kansas City voters were simply confused, overwhelmed and completely uninformed of what they were voting for. Of the various comments I've seen in KC newspapers and radio/TV sites as well as comments sent to me, many people thought they were voting for KC to look into a rail plan for the future. They were largely unaware that what they were voting for was to implement Chastain's personal legacy rail line immediately.

That really is the voter's fault and they deserve what they get however, the ballot question was reported to also be rather confusing and misleading. That doesn't really surprise me but the voters still should have informed themselves and it was easy to do with all the coverage on the rail proposal.

Chastain's comments in the linked article also give me further proof that this is all about his personal legacy rather than the good of the city. Of the item's listed, "My light rail plan" comes above anything else. He really wants his name on a brass plaque along the line for posterity.

While Chastain does mention that there needs to be a bus funding plan, it falls much further down on his list. Even with his proposed eighth-cent sales tax to cover bus operations, that money will be siphoned off to pay to operate his rail line, complete with gondola ride which in other news stories he insists must be included or he'll sue the city.

Chastain refuses to look at the whole picture. He's so desperate to get his rail plan built that he really doesn't care if he turns the city into a ghost town. Federal money will not be coming to build it as the Feds have already made clear that KC can't jump to the head of the funding line. I doubt the State will rush to pay for it. That means KC residents will have to pick up the entire tab for Chastain's Folly one way or another. By building it or paying to cover the city costs to defend against Chastain's threatened law suits to force the line to be built. Just imagine the sky high taxes and the rush to move to greener pastures where taxes are lower.

Clay, here's a Lance for your "Damn the costs when my legacy is at stake" attitude. You've earned it.

Wake up Kansas City residents

Kansas City MO - There is a man, Clay Chastain, who is on a one man mission to destroy public transit in Kansas City. He is managed to get the residents to approve a poorly conceived plan at the polls to build a light rail system in Kansas City and he's willing to destroy the city to get it built.

The simple fact is this. Kansas City can't afford light rail and Chastain is unwilling to comprehend that little but very important fact. He has more or less admitted in this report from KMBC-TV9 that he's willing to decimate the bus system to get the line built. He is now demanding that the city take the dedicated transit tax used to operate the bus system to help pay for building the rail line.

He refuses to wait in line with the other cities that are jumping on the rail bandwagon. His precious plan is too important to wait. What a moron. The plan you demand needs Fed money and you refuse to wait. I know why you won't wait too. You know full well the Feds won't approve your Utopian vision, regardless of what party is in control as it is so blatantly flawed that even spendthrift Liberal politicians refuse get behind it.

Then there's this. If the city makes any changes to his plan, he'll sue. If the city doesn't move fast enough for him, he'll sue. If the city doesn't destroy the bus system to pay for his precious rail line, he'll sue. This man isn't just out to destroy the transit system, he's on a crusade to bankrupt and destroy the city.

Simple fact here Clay, the city can't afford your luxury rail line complete with gondola rides, regardless if the voters approved it or not. Your numbers are bad and your planning is greatly flawed and you smooth talked over the major flaws like a professional con man.

Your after one thing Mr. Chastain, a personal legacy that you hope and pray will be viewed in a good light after your passing. All at taxpayer expense I might add. Your as bad as the politicians are with spending other people's money.

There is a well written commentary piece also on this in the Kansas City Star which basically states, it's time to back down. The writer of the commentary piece is correct, Chastain needs to back down but he won't. He's determined to ram-rod his personal rail dream into reality.

What is funny in all of this is that Chastain thinks it's all about him as to why the city and transit system are saying they can't afford it. He stated, that the city won't accept the plan because he thought of it. That right there tells me this is all about his ego and he wants something that can be his legacy. Something that future generations will look at and say "gee, Clay Chastain fought to get this for us". Sorry Clay, it's not going to happen. That brass plaque with your name on it will be ignored by the masses if there's anyone left in the city after it goes bankrupt building your personal rail line.

Considering that Bedford, Virginia is Clay Chastain's current residence, I am curious as to why he is so intent on pushing this plan in Kansas City and why the residents of the city blindly follow this light rail pied-piper. Obviously he no longer lives in KC yet is strutting around as though he owns it. Given the sorry state of our legal system, I'm sure some whacked out Liberal judge will give him the city when Chastain sues to get his penis envy line built.

The citizens of Kansas City need to wake up, get a referendum on the next ballot to shoot Chastain's plan down. Your city will end up being a bankrupt ghost town that has a rail line and gondola ride that sits and looks pretty if his crackpot plan moves forward. It won't be able to run since there won't be money to run it under his poorly thought out plan.

You know, on second thought maybe the residents of Kansas City do deserve what will happen to them if the line is built. They just had to have a new ice arena built and no hockey team to go in it in their attempt to keep up with the Jones'. Perhaps they do deserve every tax increase, boarded up business and job loss they get as the city hemorrhages money and picks the resident's pockets to pay for Chastain's personal legacy that they voted for.

Kansas City's LRT plan unconstitutional

Kansas City MO - Some details are coming out on the voter approved initiative to slap a light rail line down in Kansas City and it's not the rosy picture painted by the pro-rail crowd that pushed for the vote.

The Kansas City Star has two stories regarding this upcoming disaster: Story 1 - Story 2

Pro-rail activist Clay Chastain, who got the initiative placed on the ballot, obviously hasn't a clue what he's doing beside living the LRT lie. His initiative that voters approved is filled with problems ranging from the mundane to items that are completely unconstitutional.

In Chastain's zealousness to have a LRT rail line slapped down as fast as possible, he didn't do any homework to see what all was involved. He just pushed to get the initiative on the ballot and then went into spin mode to make it look great to the public so they would pass the initiative.

Chastain doesn't care that it will cripple the transit system, just as long as he gets his precious LRT line. It's the old pro-rail philosophy of "damn the costs, full speed ahead" that is driving him.

There is no method to pay for the LRT line in Chastain's initiative besides hoping the Feds will just magically pony up the money. Talk about wearing blinders. He literally ignored any potential problem in his initiative.

All Chastain has accomplished with his ill-conceived initiative is to saddle Kansas City with something they can't afford. This also sets a precedent that any whacked out plan can go through now with just the hope that maybe the Feds will fund it.

Clay, your an idiot. That initiative shouldn't have even been on the ballot based on how poorly the LRT plan was researched by you. I hope that Kansas City voters put another initiative up to vote your plan down on the next election. They are beginning to see they were hoodwinked by you and the pro-rail crowd that so desperately wants LRT and trolley lines slapped down anywhere and everywhere.

Radical rail activists like Clay Chastain are one of the big problems with public transit today. They push for expensive and unneeded items like LRT without any true plan to explain how it will be funded and lie to the public by painting a Utopian vision of how much better off they'll be if they'll just support this unneeded and expensive project. Once they get it rammed through, they just shrug their shoulders when reality sets in but still keep pushing for the project they know can't be afforded by the city or the transit system. They live in a utopia within their own mind and try to shove that utopia down everyone else's throat through conning the general public into believing something can be done when it really can't be.

Congrats Clay, you got the Lance. I may need to make a special award up for idiotic pro-rail activists and call it the Clay Chastain Award.