Subway Sinks Blind Talent Agent’s Career

Tim Shumaker has a sinking feeling that he’s reached the end of the line with the new Los Angeles subway.

That’s because there seems to be no end to the nearly six years of misery that Hollywood’s only blind talent agent has suffered since tunneling for the Red Line destroyed his business and left him homeless.

Shumaker’s world collapsed in 1994 when subway construction beneath Hollywood Boulevard caused the building where he lived and worked to abruptly drop 9 inches.

Police gave Shumaker and his business partner-wife, Maggie, five minutes to grab what they could.

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority boarded up the sagging building and booked the Shumakers and other evacuees into a hotel, promising all would be relocated within days.

But the days turned into weeks. And when the Shumakers tried to retrieve their office equipment they discovered that their Braille machine, voice-recognition computer and other equipment had been stolen. Clothing, kitchenware and furniture also had been looted from their apartment on the other side of the building.

Unable to work, they ran out of money and had to give away Shumaker’s beloved guide dog, Inky, because they couldn’t afford dog food. After 13 months in a hotel, they moved into a furnished apartment paid for by their attorney. When the rent money ran out four months ago, they moved in with a friend.

Along the way, Shumaker joined with more than a thousand other Hollywood Boulevard merchants and property owners affected by the subway project in a lawsuit. The MTA repeatedly promised to begin settlement talks--only to postpone meetings with Shumaker, he says.

Last week, a case that already has taken more turns than the Red Line took its most unusual twist yet.

The MTA disclosed that it considers Shumaker’s case over--settled two years ago in a deal sealed with a $10,000 check to him in exchange for a promise that he would drop out of the lawsuit.

That news stunned Shumaker, who said he never received a cent from the MTA and has not withdrawn from the merchants’ suit.

It surprised Shumaker’s attorney, too. Suspicious that the unsolicited check might muddy the talent agent’s claim, the lawyer said, he had refused to cash it. He said he is now preparing to face the MTA this summer in arbitration.

That news, in turn, stunned the MTA. Officials said no negotiations are scheduled, adding that they consider Shumaker paid, whether or not the check was cashed.

The 54-year-old Shumaker now worries that he may never get his life back on track.

“Outrage isn’t the word for the way I feel,” he said as he sat in the Hollywood bungalow of businesswoman Chris Shabel, where he and his wife are staying while saving money for another apartment.

“I’ve tried all my disabled life to be productive. I feel abandoned and betrayed. I can’t find the word for the depression of the last six years.”

Blinded at age 16 by an exploding beaker in his Florida chemistry class, Shumaker taught himself Braille and later won a scholarship to college. He was the first person in his family to earn a degree.

He dabbled in music as a vocalist after coming to California in the 1960s and obtaining a master’s degree in counseling from San Diego State.

Shumaker opened his Shumaker Artists Talent Agency 18 years ago after noticing that most agencies seemed reluctant to take on disabled performers and older musicians and writers. Eventually, Shumaker attracted about 300 clients.

“In this town they were hiring sighted people to play people because blind actors weren’t represented,” he said. “We were able to change that.”

In the early 1980s he moved the agency to the Hillview Building at 6533 Hollywood Blvd. Built in 1917 and once owned by actor Charlie Chaplin, the building includes apartments in the back.

“The place had a lot of ambience, a lot of good vibrations,” Shumaker added.

Vibrations of another sort came when subway workers began tunneling beneath the boulevard,

On Aug. 20, 1994, the building suddenly sank.

The couple tried to continue their business from their hotel room, so cramped that Inky had to sleep in the bathtub. But Maggie Shumaker--who is sighted--later discovered the theft of their office answering machine and other equipment--$15,000 worth in all, according to the police report the couple filed.

The Shumakers say they were reassured that the MTA would relocate their business and cover their losses. When officials failed to act, the couple hired an attorney on a contingency basis and joined in the merchants’ lawsuit.

Lawyer Jack Girardi said his law firm has advanced about $50,000 to the Shumakers, counting legal fees and more than four years’ worth of apartment rent.

“There’s been no settlement of Tim Shumaker’s claim or case in any way, shape or form,” Girardi said this week. He explained that the transportation agency’s $10,000 check was not cashed because “we weren’t sure of the posture of the MTA. Out of an abundance of caution, we decided to hold on to it.”

But MTA lawyers say that Shumaker has withdrawn from the lawsuit. Whether the check was cashed is immaterial, said Rick Jager, an MTA spokesman.

“We settled with him early with the caveat it would not go to trial” and arbitration would handle any leftover issues, Jager said. But Shumaker’s lawyers have not contacted the MTA seeking that, he said.

Jager said he does not know how much the MTA spent on the Shumakers’ housing and food during the 13 months in hotels.

But Hollywood activist Jerry Schneiderman estimates the agency ponied up as much as $130,000--plus $70,000 in legal costs to fight the claim.

That’s far more than the modest expenses the couple first sought, said Schneiderman--whose own experience with the subway led him to create a watchdog group called Hollywood Damage Control and Recovery.

The Shumakers said they have all but given up hope of reviving their business. This week--as the MTA announced that the subway tunnel will begin carrying passengers June 24--they took steps to withdraw their $5,000 deposited as part of a bond required for talent agencies.

Maggie Shumaker works as a freelance video documentary dialogue transcriber; her husband gets a monthly $1,000 disability pension.

“It’s over for me,” Tim Shumaker said. “I’m going to get my blues harmonica and a tin cup and sit in front of the MTA building and sing, ‘Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?’ ”