Scene in Woodland Hills: Pavley Visits Council

State Senator Fran Pavley paid a visit to the Woodland Hills Warner Center Neighborhood Council's Wednesday night meeting, where she discussed her take on some issues affecting the state.

Most notable in Pavley's address to the council was her discussion of her vote against the California High Speed Rail project. Though she supports a high speed train between Los Angeles and San Francisco or San Diego, she said this particular project, whose first phase will be built in the Central Valley, is the wrong project, especially during the current economic climate.

"California is a good state for a high-speed rail project (with) two big cities six hours apart," said Pavley, who serves on the state transportation committee. "I actively supported spending the money in the LA Area and the Bay Area on existing rail and then, when we have the money, connecting those two lines."

"That's the short summary: High speed rail, yes, but wrong plan and, admittedly, at the wrong time," she said.

The senator's official statement issued immediately following the high-speed rail project vote can be found on her website.

The senator also discussed the unreported $54 million in the State Parks Department budget reported last week (see a Sacramento Bee report of the state audit here).

"I was just shocked and appalled and concerned when I heard about hiding money in separate accounts," said Pavley, who has been participating with the budget committee to put into place protocol for audits on a regular basis.

"Short term discussion will be on what to do with the extra money," she said, explaining that some of it could be used to make park improvements or the state could save the money for parks use down the road.

Pavley also touched on Sacramento Delta water issues and a measure that had been scheduled to come to voters in November but has now been postponed.