http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/kcur/local-kcur-865787.mp3
Kansas City, MO – Activist Clay Chastain is back in town to kick off petition drives for two ballot measures.
Chastain and his supporters will be circulating petitions for his latest transit plan - and for a revision to the city charter that would take away the city council's power to veto it if it passes. Such was the fate of a Chastain plan voters approved in 2006.
His latest one features a 3/8-cent sales tax to help finance a 35-mile light rail spine, a Union Station hub and redone Penn Valley Park with a Ferris wheel.
At a Union Station news conference, Chastain's speech was peppered with slogans:
"I'm putting my six-shooters on and getting my saber drawn and preparing our grass-roots army to persuade the people to sign this initiative and to vote for when it gets on the ballot so that we can turn this city around and navigate it toward a new green prosperity."
Chastain's is the second transit proposal this week. Jackson County Executive Mike Sanders said federal money could pay for his 144-mile commuter rail proposal.
News conference audio courtesy of KMBC TV-9
Click here for the story on the TV-9 web site