Daley refusing to use Skyway funds for CTA

Chicago Mayor Richard Daley says he won't use the $1.8 billion windfall he generated by privatizing the Chicago Skyway to give a boost to Chicago Transit Authority funding.

Governor Rod Blagojevich has suggested the idea of raiding Skyway funds for the CTA after twice coming up with short-term state funding fixes.

But Daley says it wouldn't be prudent for a city to sell assets to use them for its budget. Daley adds, if the governor wants to generate dollars for state infrastructure projects, he could follow the city's lead and lease the Illinois Tollway to a private contractor.

The problem of transit money has been on the legislative agenda for months. Transit officials say that without additional state aid, they'll be forced to make deep layoffs, service cuts and fare increases on January 20th.