For years I had been envious to hear glowing accounts from fellow advocates like Anthony Loui and Roger Christensen of their experiences attending the annual Rail-Volution conference, devoted to smart growth through transit. So it was with no little excitement I greeted the news that the 2004 Rail-Volution conference was to be held in Los Angeles Sunday Sept. 19 through Tuesday Sept. 21. Finally I would have an opportunity to see what all the fuss was about. And thankfully Rail-Volution provides an opportunity for activists to apply for scholarships to defray the conference fee. I crossed my fingers, applied and was overjoyed to be awarded a full stipend. All that was left for me to do was apply for time off from work and start preparations.

Soon I became aware that the conference is a nexus for various organizations and events. Among these was the Unity Reception being put on by various local groups for which I acted as SO.CA.TA's liaison. This was to be on the Monday night and our chief contribution would be warm bodies to help at the event. The planning progressed via a number of conference calls. At some point I stopped getting e-mails and for a time wasn't sure where things stood. After regaining contact my impression was things were moving apace but with disappointing ticket sales.

Meanwhile I learned another entity that intersected with the conference was the National Alliance of Public Transportation Advocates (NAPTA), which SO.CA.TA belongs to. On Tuesday evening there would be a membership meeting--my first chance to have a face to face with representatives of the group (which is based in Washington, DC).

I decided to spend $20 of my own money and attend a Sunday morning symposium on advocacy strategies. Thankfully the conference was held at the Hollywood Renaissance Hotel adjacent to the Hollywood/Highland Red Line station which made it easy for me to get there even on a Sunday morning. After about 90 seconds I was registered and handed a program book and spiffy carry-bag with the Rail-Volution logo. The small room the symposium was held in was full of activists from all over the county, along with myself, Nate Zablen and Mark Strickert representing SO.CA.TA The presentation by Stephanie Vance (aka the advocacy guru) was informative and gave me some new ideas to ponder. I even ponied up $8 for her booklet on how to influence your Congressperson. Walking by the Unity Event table after Nate and Mark were drafted to
watch it and take ticket orders.

Frankly I was a tad tired so I made my way downstairs to the lobby, bought a snack in the gift shop, and enjoyed the trendoidy decorations and relaxed atmosphere while awaiting the late afternoon "early bird" workshops. I choose a session titled Building Good Habits, Building Good Systems on how to lure people out of their cars. Werner Broeg of German's Socialdata presented their findings on how marketing can get people to switch to public transport (see http://www.socialdata.de/switche.htm for more details). Karla Karash of Transystems (http://www.transystems.com/) provided similar perspectives to make transit appealing. Alan Hoffman of the Mission Group (http://www.missiongrouponline.com/) was of interest to me because he is the architect of the transit vision plan for San Diego. I soon became aware watching his presentation that he is very market research oriented--everything seems reducible to public opinion from a focus group or survey. Statistics always raise my suspicions since they nearly always are presented as if numbers alone can shape decisions and are impartial. I became aware of a rather large bias on the part of Mr. Hoffman toward certain technologies and strategies. Maybe they have some merit but his "magic-bullet" like exalting seemed to excess. At one point he had a slide of an empty Red Line car allegedly at Wilshire/Western and then juxtaposed it with a slide with a crammed Metro Rapid vehicle. He seemed to be slamming rail and our rapid bus system. By then I was sure Mr. Hoffman's good points must be weighed against these faults. But it certainly was a very well put together PowerPoint presentation.

Then via subway with Kym Richards I made my way to the welcome reception at the Old Ticket Room in Union Station in the early evening. We were among the first there and grabbed a table to sit at. Soon the room filled up with attendees, chattering and networking. I met some activists from around the country in between sampling the nibble food offered (egg rolls, chicken kee-bobs, flautas, assorted veggies and cheese/cracker combos). After things wound down I made my way home and tried to get some rest before an early start next morning.

Monday morning I brought with me a hand truck to haul SO.CA.TA's leftover supply of the Ed Simburger Metrolink guidebooks, which he recently donated to us. I figured to give them away that evening at the Unity event. So I arrived at the hotel just before the start of the opening plenary session. We received a welcome from various dignitaries include MTA CEO Roger Snoble. This segued into a progress report on the state of livable community initiatives conduced by Rail-Volution founder Congressman Earl Blumenauer and the President of the American Public Transportation Association (public transit's trade group) William Millar.

The first workshop I attended was Transportation Funding and Land Use Control. What I found most compelling was a presentation by GB Arrington of PB PlaceMaking on the evolution of the land use component of the awarding of full funding grant agreements under the new starts process for federal funding of rail projects. At lunch Kym Richards and I enjoyed Wolfgang Puck catered box lunches. At the front of the giant Grand Ballroom a panel discussion was held on Community Building, Transit, and Global Sustainability but frankly I could hear little of what they said. We spotted Anthony Loui and he came to sit with us for a while before he had to run off somewhere.

My early afternoon workshop choice was Working with the Media. The advice wasn't earth shattering (hone your message, be presentable on camera, etc.) but certainly important to keep in mind when shaping campaigns, etc.

Ken Ruben and I had arranged to meet at the Unity table circa 3:30 p.m. and we'd find out what was going on with the evening event. I noticed that a sign had been posted that we had sold out. Evidently ticket sales has been brisk at the conference. Ken let me know we were needed at City Hall, where the event was being held. So once more off we went on the subway!

After passing thru security me & my hand truck went to the top of city hall. John Ulloth was already there, along with Ken Ruben and Kym Richards. I helped stuff the goody bag for attendees then helped hand out the bags (assisted by Ken Ruben and a late arriving Mark Strickert) plus gave away the Metrolink books (which many seemed glad to take). The venue was the Tom Bradley Room at the top of City Hall, with a breathtaking view of Los Angeles from balconies ringing the outside. Among the milling crowd I spotted Bart Reed, Anthony Loui, Nate Zablen, Darrell Clarke, James Rojas and Steve Brye. The event was a huge success -- Katherine Perez and the staff of the Transportation & Land Use Collaborative of Southern California (http://www.tluc.net) who did a lot of the heavy lifting to make the event possible (with help from Bart Reed, among others) should feel proud of what was accomplished.

Strickert and I made our way to the Denny's at Western/Wilshire for a late meal before he went to the hotel in Hollywood he was staying at while I went home to crash.

Tuesday I arrived in time to grab a roll or two before making my way to the Grand Ballroom for the last time. Some folks from Salt Lake gave us a preview of the 2005 Rail-Volution followed by comments by Jennifer Dorn, administrator of the Federal Transit Administration. Then they tried to have another panel, this one on the Market for TOD. As before the room was too big and echoey to hear much of what was being said and so I passed the time trading banter with my tablemate Strickert.

My morning workshop was on Mobility Centers, Bike Stations, and Other Key Linkages. The interesting presentation was by Graham Hill of Boulder, Colorado. They raised funds to put a Transportation Resource Center (http://www.gettingthere.com/) in the heart of downtown to support various programs to encourage use of transit, bikes and walking.

After grabbing another box lunch I picked the New Starts Working Group session for my lunchtime session. The Working Group is a coalition of agencies, companies, etc. that are engaged in advocacy on behalf of the federal new starts program. The room was packed as we had a briefing on TEA21 reauthorization and other tidbits. It was electrifying to sit amidst all these hands-on folks who make things happen! In the same room during the next workshop period was a related panel on Achieving Success in New Starts, which shared case stories from the front lines. For a policy wonk this was pure heaven...

My last workshop was “Responding to the Critics”, which shared strategies to deal with the naysayers who making a living going from town to town bashing transit and working to defeat ballot measures.

I ducked out early to attend the NAPTA meeting. Mr. Millar from APTA shared with us the latest scuttlebutt from Washington followed by a discussion about what direction the coalition should take. All that was left was to attend the ending reception, take a look around the exhibit hall (I grabbed some packets of wildflower seeds the Salt Lake folks were giving away for my Mom) ate my last helping of nibble food and happily made my way home, satisfied if exhausted.