Although it was initiated long before his current term in office, Governor Jerry Brown has hitched his legacy to moving along California's high-speed rail project. He recently ventured to China in search of funding.
reports from Shanghai were California governor Jerry Brown has been engaged in a multi-day trade mission. At the top of his agenda has been trying to bring some of the $77.6 billion China spent last year on overseas investments back to the Golden State.
"Brown's top economic advisor and rail commission appointee, Mike Rossi, met in Beijing with Chinese investors eager for an update on its progress. And China's vice minister of commerce told a hotel ballroom packed with California government and business officials that his country wanted to explore 'the possibility of investment in the high-speed rail project in California.'"
"The Chinese interest in California's project is a welcome boost for Brown," says York. "Although state voters approved $10 billion in bonds for a high-speed railway in 2008, they have soured on it as cost estimates have ballooned by tens of billions of dollars. The governor, who has vowed repeatedly to see the train system built, needs at least an additional $55 billion to make it happen."
FULL STORY: Brown wants China aboard California's high-speed rail project
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