One gay man has a dream of having a subway line run through West Hollywood and the greater Westside. Is he a silly dreamer or a brilliant visionary?

BY CHRISTOPHER LISOTTA

Local political consultant and BoifromTroi blogger Scott Schmidt has a new mission. As the founder and president of the Southern California Rail Riders Union, he wants to see a subway line become a reality in West Hollywood as part of a regional plan to relieve traffic congestion and make real public rail a real transportation possibility. He’s starting small but thinking big.

FRONTIERS: How did you get started in forming this organization?

SCOTT SCHMIDT: Some friends and I were talking over the fall and into the winter about plans on the table to bring a subway through West Hollywood. But this is not going to happen unless there are active voices supporting the subway. There has already been a bus riders union for years trying to tell Metro (the public transportation authority) that they should only be using buses. We went and incorporated the Rail Riders Union for people that take the subway, would take the subway and advocate for subway and light rail in Los Angeles.

Is this a grassroots organization, are you funded by any big interests?

It grew up with me. I contributed the largest donation we had so far. We have several hundred members in our Facebook group, and it has built grassroots from there, using the power of the Internet. People have tried for years to get [a] rail through larger parts of Los Angeles.

Why hasn’t it worked before and why will it work now?

It hasn’t worked before because the focus of Metro has been getting people to and from downtown. There were a bunch of fiascos with Metro’s predecessors in the ‘90s which led to voters cutting off funding for any new construction. At the same time we had a Congressional law by [local Congressman] Henry Waxman passed 20 years ago that banned tunneling under Wilshire Boulevard over safety concerns; methane gas I think it was. That law was finally repealed just in the last year. So there is a window of opportunity to bring the subway to the west side. At the same time, right now Metro is looking at putting a sales tax on the November ballot which, depending how they write it, could fund $15 billion in subway and light rail construction which means we could finally see a network around Southern California where you could conceivably take a subway from West Hollywood to Burbank airport some day. The opportunity is finally there.

What’s been the involvement of West Hollywood City Council?

The local politicians have been very supportive. But for Metro to get the message it has to come from more than just the politicians. They have to see there are people who are begging to be able to take the subway. With gas prices what they are, we’re taking a half-cent sales tax. That’s $25 a year per person. That’s half a tank of gas. In the big picture, if you could imagine a life where you’re not using a car but can go to the beach by hopping on the subway, that $25 a year is nothing. But Metro needs to hear that there is demand for building a subway, especially through West Hollywood.

Is the L.A. gay population too fabulous to use the subway?

I would hope they would realize it’s a good alternative to drinking and driving, among other things. It’s not just the folks who would be able to take the subway from Silver Lake to West Hollywood, or Long Beach to West Hollywood, but it is the people who are working here who take buses. People get to work late because buses get stuck in traffic with cars. Plus, once you’re out in town no one knows how you got there.

What do you think the likelihood is that in 10 years from now we could ride the subway through West Hollywood?

It’s not likely at all unless we make a stand now. We have to make a stand to the Los Angeles Country Board of Supervisors and Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa: There is demand for the “Pink Line,” the line that goes through West Hollywood—that folks would use it. Otherwise if they don’t fund it in the November ballot initiative, then there is not going to be a subway, period.

You have a very funny acronym. Was that inadvertent?

It was somewhat by accident. We wanted to reflect this was a union of people advocating for rail transit, so naturally we were using “Rail Riders Union.” But it is more than Los Angeles. We wanted to reflect it was the city of Los Angeles, and West Hollywood and Santa Monica and the whole region. That’s why we used “Southern California.” Everything fell in line from there, I guess. At least we didn’t add the “Incorporated” to the end.