Clipboard in hand ... again

Clay Chastain wants to put light rail and a Penn Valley Park proposal before voters in November
Kansas City's original iconoclast of conventional thinking, Clay Chastain, says he "went into seclusion" after his last ballot initiative for light rail was defeated at the polls last November. Demoralized, he said he wasn't going to put himself on the line anymore. Chastain sold his house, traveled about the South looking for a new home, found a place, but then chose not to leave Kansas City. Apparently, Chastain likes putting himself on the line, or in the spotlight, depending upon your opinion of him.

"I decided to undertake the dirty work to move this city ahead with light rail," he says. "If we don't do this now, we will never do it. Kansas City will continue to sprawl, people will continue to have to drive and pollute, and this city will become nothing.

"I would go to the store or out to a movie. People would tell me, 'Hey, we need a guy like you in there.' I became convinced that I had to do this one more time. It will be a presidential election this November, with a large turnout. I feel we stand a good chance of getting this thing through."

Chastain's erstwhile hideaway is a remodeled attic in what used to be his own house. The light is good, trees sway outside the windows, and the air flows freely through the place -- a near-stereotypical independent thinker's abode. Chastain reaches behind a table and pulls out an aerial photograph of Kansas City. The edges are worn and mended with tape. He holds a board aloft and begins to explain his plans with the enthusiasm of a fundamentalist preacher. "What this city needs is a comprehensive transportation plan," Chastain says, "a visionary idea for the development of this city that will make it a world-class city."

He has said this before -- many times. Chastain's plan this round includes imposing a 20-year, one-half-cent capital improvements sales tax for construction and operation of a 32-mile light rail line that would run from Waldo in the south to KCI, with a spur running from the Plaza to Bruce R. Watkins Drive. One-third of the tax, he says, would come from out-of-town visitors and regional residents shopping in Kansas City. The proposal also includes a transit station at Broadway and Pershing to connect passengers from the proposed Johnson County commuter rail to the light rail system he envisions.

"Federal estimates of light rail starts run from $20 million and $40 million per mile," he says. "Using existing right-of-ways, we avoid a lot of condemnation and can do this for about $30 million a mile." In the light rail petition language, Chastain pegs the cost of light rail at $980 million. The sales tax, once imposed, will form a solid match for federal funding and continuing operations, he says.

Chastain's "suggested route" includes the Country Club trolley right-of-way from south of 85th Street and Oak to the Plaza. From there, the proposed line runs up Broadway, through Penn Valley Park, to 12th Street and then to Oak. The line would then cross the Heart of America Bridge on an elevated track to meet north of North Kansas City with a city-owned right-of-way (formerly an interurban line) parallel to I-29 to KCI.

"With this plan, we connect east and south with the Northland, where much of Kansas City's future development will take place," he says. "We have the opportunity to shape that development now, prevent a lot of sprawl, bring together the north with the south. The east side is also represented here, and that is the most neglected part of the city."

During his months of seclusion, Chastain also developed a second petition initiative to renew the half-cent Liberty Memorial sales tax and put the money into re-creating Penn Valley Park sans car traffic -- tearing up some roads and using others for jogging, pedestrian, bicycle, and carriage paths. The proposal calls for new ponds, fountains, and sculptures; a Ferris wheel; and a gondola system from Union Station to the Liberty Memorial. His idea, he says, "will spur development all around the park. Do you drive in Central Park? It (Penn Valley) is not that kind of a place, and it is one we could have here."

Chastain says he came up with the park plan because city leadership has done so little to give life to the inner city.

Both petitions reinforce the notion of Chastain's being an isolated activist, critics say. In the past, Chastain has been rigorously uncompromising, working with a small cadre of devoted petitioners. He says his public support is indicated by petition signatures. Critics point out that Chastain did not work with others developing his park and light rail proposals before he took them to the public. Chastain says he simply has little interest in what the establishment wants.

Warren Erdman, Kansas City Southern Industries CEO and Regional Transit Alliance (RTA) chairman, says Chastain's transit ideas would go a long way toward formulating future transit policy if he worked with the city and with the RTA, a 600-member transit advocacy group modeled on Citizens for Modern Transit (CMT) in St. Louis. "Visionaries are most successful when they find community consensus," Erdman says. "By himself, Clay does not accomplish much. Clay has brought an important issue to public debate and keeps it there; for that we are grateful. But at this point, if everyone goes off on their own, and there is no effort at consensus, we are running from one string of ideas to the next. He may have good ideas on his own, but they won't go anywhere unless more people are on board."