The steel rails still ain't heard the news

  Clay Chastain is justifiably proud of his light rail plan, which has finally passed.

   But he -- and all of us -- may want to review the charter's Sec. 704, here.

   The council can repeal an ordinance with nine votes, immediately, or seven votes after a year.

   It's a tough call, and all the legalities would have to be worked out -- the charter allows repeal of an initiative ordinance, but it isn't clear if Clay's plan is, or isn't, an ordinance. 

UPDATE:  It doesn't look like there are enough votes on the council, now, to throw out or dramatically change Chastain's plan.

  But everyone is talking about making serious changes, then going forward.

  Chastain, in a statement: "..we are prepared to defend this mandate from the voters to the extent necessary."

Posted by Dave Helling

Comments

Repeal

[H Welch]

The council may also want to respect the voting majority. After all, the individuals on the council didn't come by their positions as a result of the charter.

[eric]

The council could also come back with a grown-up plan of their own. This vote shows the public is so eager for better transit that they'll for a bad plan over no plan at all. It's time for the mayor and council to step up and provide some real leadership on this issue.

[Dickeylee]

eric, great post. So Clay's a dreamer and has had some far out there grandiose plans, but that doesn't mean that the leaders of KC should reject light rail out of hand.

[eric]

The other lesson here is that KCMO are voters are finished with waiting on Kansas to come to the table for regional transit. The people of KCMO are ready to do forward on our own, it's up to the City Council to find a doable way forward.

[Rob]

The council and current mayor also could have taken a more active role in campaigning against this issue but then 2/3 of them are too dang busy running for mayor to spend time on this issue that was surely going to fail anyway.

I think the Star needs to contact every single mayoral candidate right now and ask them how they intend to implement the "will of the people" and do an article in this Sunday's paper with each mayoral candidate's position on it.

It will be very interesting to see how those mayoral candidates currently in the office of councilman handle this situation.

[Mark]

I agree with Eric. The voters have spoken but now it's time to come up with something realistic. Most people I've talked to this morning realize the plan is ill-conceived but they wanted to send a message to City Hall that we want transit. Not Clay's transit but a fixed-guideway system of some form.

If the most we get out of this is a starter line than so be it. Gondolas? Not for me. Dedicated line to the Zoo? Nice idea but there's a lot of nice ideas out there that we simply can't afford. If we can manage a starter line that people will ride, future expansions will be less contentious.

Keep in mind we have a $1 billion dollar sewer problem that sooner or later the federal government is going to force us to address.

[kc watchdog]

The fact that KC voters passed light rail yesterday and the fact that some in the media are even talking about the city council's probability of coming back and usurping the will of the people by repealing what the voters democratically passed is a slap in the face to the process AND to the voters. If there had been any leadership on this issue - a plan from the city - we would have had light rail 10 years ago. The fact that Chastains' plan passed says we want this done. I urge everyone NOT to vote for any mayoral candidate who has served in this or any other city council. If we want true forward progress- out of the mud (both physically and metaphorically) - we need to get rid of the ones with bald tires.
21st Century cities understand the
need for an energy efficent/saving transportation system. Light rail is finally here. Hold their feet to the fire.

I voted yes for light rail...It is time for it. St louis is working on it's third spur..wake up kc..lets build a train from brookside to the airport and then to johnson county...screw i-35 and that daily parking lot commute..

[mod dem]

I agree with the sentiment expressed. This plan isn't great, but if the council rejects it out of hand with no feasable replacement plan, I'll be the first in line to kick any and all of them out. Recall, recall, recall.

Oh, and the sewer problem also needs to be addressed. Nothing like standing in your backyard after it rains and getting a lovely hint of sewer smell.

[SecondDistrictVoter]

Fix the sewers and assess the homeowners. OR do a community improvement district (CID) for the areas with the combined sewers and generate tax revenue from the CID. OR if you're going to make those of us in the Northland and those living out east pay for the multibillion dollar combined sewer problem in the older parts of town, there had better be an enticing carrot for the newer areas to support what obviously is going to have to be a new funding source.

Maybe the city can build the curbs and sidewalks and street improvements they promised the Northland when they annexed us over 50 years ago!

Question of the day overheard at polling place yesterday: "Who foots the bill for bringing water to 456th Street?" Answer of the day: "I don't know, but after it rains, my backyard smells like s***." The sewer problem isn't as sexy as light rail, but I would've preferred to see a vote on how that would be solved, rather than a plan to string gondolas between two city monuments. However, now that our suburban-sprawl chickens have come home to roost, let's focus on improving transit regionally with all parties represented at the table.

[Mark]

The people have spoken -- the elected officials need to listen to them or let someone else serve on the City Council. The political leaders and business leaders of KC have thwarted light rail for too long. FINALLY, the collective wisdom of the people of KC stood up to them.

I was amazed when years ago Jim Nutter said he didn't want a light rail going past his mortgage company near Westport. Are you kidding? Has he never been to another city with fixed mass transit? Commercial developments are spurred by the location of the light rail. People want to be able to get off the light rail and walk directly to the shop/restaurant/store/business. It is clearly advantageous to be near the light rail line.

Nice to see that, notwithstanding our backward-looking politicos, the people of KC have committed to moving our city into the 21st century, albeit 7-10 yrs later than it should have been.

[marty]

What kind of idiot would even think about going against all of those people that cast their votes . Of course the republican tried and it didnt work to good for them.If you want a clean sweep in the council just ignore all of those voters

I read in the Kansas City Star today that Charles Eddy is thinking of heading up a repeal of light rail. What kind of an idiot that is getting ready to run for mayor dismiss the will of the people. Someone should tell Mr. Eddy that before he asks for votes this winter that maybe he should consider counting their votes.

[cmarshalldavis]

prediction: 10 years from now, not one foot of light rail will have been laid in kansas city or the region. not one foot. look at a map and look at the demographics; we don't have the population density and the metro area (whatever that is) is too spread out. kansas city was built for the automobile, and that's the way it should stay. i have no desire to subsidize light rail when it would serve only a miniscule portion of the populace. cleaver is still right; it's touristy frou-frou.

[cmarshalldavis]

i support charles eddy on a repeal of the light rail vote. where can i sign a petition?

[Rob]

Is the right and proper thing for a city leader to do to follow the people's vote and implement a haphazard ill-thought-out plan or to rescind the ordinance? We chastise politicians for not being real leaders and following public opinion polls when making their decisions. On the other hand, this was an actual vote, not just a poll.

I honestly haven't decided yet what I want my councilpersons to do. I do believe that the Chastain plan CANNOT be implemented as laid out on the ballot for the amount of revenue this tax will raise.

[SecondDistrictVoter]

"Who foots the bill for bringing water to 456th Street?"

Combination of capital improvements sales tax dollars, water bill dollars, and developer fees / contributions. A large portion, honestly, is borne by developers (and, of course, passed on to the "consumer" when they purchase a residential lot or buy a product at a retail establishment).

John Fairfield says the people have spoken and that now it's just a matter of taking the revenues that will be generated to see what kind of light rail system we can build. This will be a big task for Mayor Fairfield and his new city council to take on but I'm confident he can do it!

It's amazing how environmental problems and high gas prices turn a nut job into a progressive, smart thinking man. Thank goodness for nut jobs because they are the foundation of change. He stood by his convictions and it finally passed. In most circles that's called leadership.

[cmarshalldavis]

the most sensible thing would be to override this faulty vote and forget about light rail. blame it on a full moon, blame it on anything; the public is flat out wrong on this one. even so, it would be years and years and years before a single foot of rail is ever laid. meanwhile the cost escalates, the plans morph and re-morph, and federal funds (isn't that our money anyway?) shrink. the kansas city region is simply not suited for a light rail system. the population density is not there, nor are the demographics of who might ride it. additionally, our regional footprint is too spread out, and the downtown business core is weak. it is very doubtful professionals and office workers would choose light rail to ride in from blue springs, olathe, lee's summit, south johnson county, grandview, or any outlying area. we are too addicted to the automobile and it is still the cheapest, most efficient method of transportation, and destined to get better as technology improves. when the cost of an individual's time is put into the equation, the economics fly out the window. rapid bus lines are a possibility, but until potential users get over the stigma of riding public transportation and rubbing shoulders with the very people they've moved to blue springs, et al., to escape, that will be a tough sell, too. light rail is a stupid thing to build just because we think we want to. i will work to rescind this vote if it comes to that, and i will continue to vote against any light rail plan.