RTA urges City Council to repeal Chastain Plan
November 8, 2007
The RTA Board of Directors have taken the position and are strongly urging the KCMO City Council to repeal the Chastain Plan that was approved by the voters last November. The RTA is asking the City Council to take this bold leadership move in order to clean the slate and allow for a viable alternative plan to be proposed to voters at an election in February 2008. It is important to acknowledge that placing a plan before the voters that is feasible and can actually be built and operated is critical and essential. This request for the City Council to repeal is also supported by the Citizens Task Force that has been working diligently the past three months to help determine a viable plan for consideration by the voters.
The RTA believes that this action will allow the City, for the first time, to propose a coordinated, comprehensive multimodal transportation plan to the voters that will establish a new level of service that will serve the citizens of KCMO and allow for the possibility of expansion to a regional public transit system.
This action allows for the construction of a public transit system in Kansas City, Missouri that does not desecrate the current bus system and allows for the thousands of people that rely on the network to get to their jobs, seek health care and attend their place of worship among the many other ways that public transit meets the daily needs of the community.
The City Council is scheduled to take up the ordinance regarding the repeal for a final vote at its Legislative meeting on Thursday, November 8.