When Metro opened the first stretch of its long-awaited D Line Subway Extension on May 8 , the future of Los Angeles transit felt tangible. There were speeches, crowds, cameras and optimism that comes with being first through the fare gates of the nearly $10 billion-project . Riders told me they loved the subway and saw the new stops as proof that the subway in Los Angeles was finally becoming more practical. Safety concerns were waved away. What mattered, they said, was utility: A straight