Governor Jerry Brown spoke passionately Monday night in defense of his legacy project, the bullet train.
Brown opened his speech with a response to critics slamming him for the rising costs of the project. "That's bullshit," the governor said to California labor leaders. Brown spoke for 15 minutes at a Sacramento Hotel.
The governor claimed that estimated $77.3 billion (and rising) cost was a small investment compared to the size of California's economy. Brown also claimed that building the high-speed rail was essentially providing affordable housing. He made the leap that workers could live in the less pricey central valley and commute to the Bay Area for work.
"I'm so tired of all the nonsense that I read in the paper and you hear from other politicians," Brown said.
"We can do it if we have the imagination, if we have the will and we don't let these small-minded people intimidate us into lowering our expectations."
Read more at the LA Times