Chi-ching! $$

[The Urban Politician]

Alright, guys, the city just leased the Skyway and is getting an instant injection of 1.8billion dollars in cash! The city has a 200+ million dollar hole in its budget that can easily be plugged. Also, the city could easily plug the CTA's budget hole next year, especially if the CTA raises fares.

But why do I get the idea it is not as simple as that? Will this $1.8 billion dissappear into a black hole? Can't the city just use its money to help patch these problems up?

[mypetrobot]

yea a one time payment 1.8 billion for leasing the skyway for 99 years. i don't know if that's worth it to be honest. the euro company plans on raising the fee to 4.50 in like 5 years or something like that i read somewhere.

they just need to restructure the cta to fix their problems.

[geoff_diamond]

Obviously, the CTA's problems can't be fixed by a one-time bail-out... but, the city could, in theory, give them the $83 million they're asking for to at least have another year to convince the General Assembly to correct the funding forumlas.

As far as the entire $1.8 billion being available for capitol and other projects, who knows. I have a feeling much of it will disappear unnoticed.

[The Urban Politician]

Why doesn't Chicago put a small toll on the Kennedy/Dan Ryan?

The city could easily reap millions from doing that

[dancethingy]

That would slow traffic to a crawl at all hours of the day. Its bad now, a toll would make it worse.

[itsnotrequired]

The city still has $430 million in existing debt on the Skyway. Couple that with the $220 million 2005 budget gap and you have already gobbled up over 1/3 of the total. Let's not forget the revenue that will be lost from no longer collecting the money generated from the Skyway toll ($39.7 million last year).

Oh, the city also has about $5 billion in general-obligation-bond debt. I wouldn't count on the city giving anything to the CTA.

[The Urban Politician]

That would slow traffic to a crawl at all hours of the day. Its bad now, a toll would make it worse.

^good! What better way to promote transit use? Make those damn drivers pay if they insist on driving everywhere!