KC Confidential.com

Light rail in Kansas City: Clay says it could still happen

In a world of short attention spans, an economy on the brink, sub $2 gas and feuding politicians, light rail is pretty much yesterday’s news…

With the exception of a figment of Kansas City’s past, activist Clay Chastain. Let the record show that had his voter-approved light rail plan not been de-railed by the KC Council something resembling a starter line might be well on its way to reality.

Hey but no sense crying over spilt milk.

Chastain’s wife /lawyer Valerie Chastain is fighting the good fight to salvage some semblance of the plan in appeals court.

“I think the court’s going to rule in our favor, because if they don’t have to overturn the bus tax they’re more likely to,” Clay says. “I think they were worried about overstepping and interfering with the legislative system.”

His best-case scenario: “The best ruling we could hope to get is that the city had no right to overturn our ordinance and reinstates the plan as the voters approved it.”

More realistically, “Probably they’ll say the City Council’s action violated the Missouri State Constitution and they cannot do that anymore,” Chastain says. “And they’ll order the city to put our plan back on the ballot wth a new 3/8 cent tax to fund it and leave the bus tax alone. I don’t want to predict what the courts will do, but that’s one option.”

That brings us to the worst-case scenario…

“The worst case scenario is we lose and democracy loses, light rail loses and the city loses,” Chastain says.

Leaving Clay Chastain exactly where?

“I’m out to pasture,” he says somberly. “And my vision and dream for Kansas City would vanish. And that would be strike three for me. I wouldn’t have any options because if I put anything on the ballot they would just kill it – that’s what they’re out for – to render me impotent as an activist. But the gondolas may fly yet.”