If you want to be added, please FReepMail me.
Posted on 04/16/2023 2:16:49 PM PDT by CFW
Disney leadership thought the company out-maneuvered Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis this year after a last-minute agreement with local officials gave the theme park virtually unlimited developmental power. But sources tell The Federalist that Disney’s corporate lawyers missed the fine print in Florida statute governing tourist districts.
In February, supervisors running the Reedy Creek Improvement District signed an 11th-hour resolution to hand Disney maximum authority over the company’s 27,000 acres in central Florida. The late agreement effectively left the DeSantis-appointed successors on the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District board — which replaced the Reedy Creek board — powerless to govern Disney in their own state.
“This essentially makes Disney the government,” said Ron Peri, one of the new board members appointed by the governor, at a Feb. 27 meeting. “This board loses, for practical purposes, the majority of its ability to do anything beyond maintain the roads and maintain basic infrastructure.”
(Excerpt) Read more at thefederalist.com ...
....and Trump cultists (not to be confused with sane Trump supporters)
Disney needs to defrost Walt
Or bring back Eisner
The jackasses brayed loudly on this forum. I predicted at that time that DeSantis would have the last laugh. The thing about being subject to the legislative state is that all the provisions for enactments
Must be followed. If this reporting is accurate, then Disney is done. And the cutesy provision that the agreement would expire with the death of King Charles’ last grandchild will earn them another metaphorical 2X4 to the teeth.
Or, as I said before, all agencies are subdivisions of the state. The Legislature is far from powerless in the face of hijinks like these
According to the neoCONs, anyone that can get across our border is as “American” as apple pie.
Disney was NEVER going to win. Heck DeSantis could use eminent domain and confiscate the entire park and turn it into a wetlands if he wanted to!
...and Trump cultists (not to be confused with sane Trump supporters)
And all the people said Amen. Exactly my thoughts.
I bet that DeSantis will win.
It’s amazing to see the Democrats and Trump supporters agree on everything that is anti-DeSantis. Good thing we have a full record of it here on this site!
good. i hope disney gets smacked around harder than anheuser busch.
Didn’t know whether to put this in the old thread or this one. Doesn’t matter, I guess.
A Prison Near Walt Disney World? Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis Dials It Up
Jill Goldsmith
4/17/23
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis insisted again today that he and the state legislature can and will overturn any Disney development deal and retake control of the acreage that’s home to Walt Disney World and was administered by the company in what’s called the Reedy Creek Improvement District.
He called the recently discovered Disney contracts legally unsound but said that even if they weren’t, “Florida statutes provide the legislature with the authority to revoke development agreements in this exact kind of instance.” He told a press conference this afternoon in Lake Buena Vista at the Reed Creek building that the state “will make sure the agreements are revoked and the people’s will is established and upheld.”
How will that look for the House of Mouse? The governor seemed to relish ticking off possibilities, including tighter building and safety inspections (he called out the WDW monorail in particular), higher pay for first responders, affordable housing for park employees, and no more “medical authoritarian policies” like forcing patrons to wear masks.
He mused about the possibility of developing district land that Disney doesn’t own. “People are like, ‘Well, what should we do with this land? Maybe create a state park. Maybe try to do more amusement parks?’ Someone even said, ‘Maybe you even need another state prison.’
“Who knows? I just think that the possibilities are endless.”
Disney declined to comment.
Former CEO Bob Chapek crossed the governor a year ago when, under pressure from employees, he came out against the state’s so-called ‘Don’t Say Gay’ bill. Florida lawmakers voted to rescind Disney’s longstanding Reedy Creek autonomy. But a Disney-appointed old board enacted long-term development agreements that appeared to be an end run around DeSantis and the new District board that he appointed. The deal was public but came as a surprise to the new board, which was seated early this year.
Current Disney chief executive Bob Iger recently slammed DeSantis at a the company’s annual meeting, noting the area in question was swampland before Walt Disney developed it. “We love the state of Florida. And I think that’s reflected in not only how much we’ve invested over the last 50 years, but how much we’ve given back in the form of jobs and community service taxes which you brought up, tourism, of course, and all sorts of other responsible business practices. We’ve also always respected and appreciated what the state has done for us,” he said, “but it’s kind of been a two-way street.”
A person familiar with the situation noted that the development agreement had been approved by the state.
On safety, the person said Disney has been a leader and continues to develop procedures and best practices that are leveraged across the industry, including a state-wide memorandum requiring quarterly reporting of any serious ride-related injuries and immediate reporting of fatalities, biannual site visits and reviews.
On housing, in 2022, WDW announced it would be contributing nearly 80 acres of land into more than 1,300 units of attainable housing for Central Florida. There’s been talk, “but very little follow-through” on housing, the governor said at his press conference.
Disney is the largest taxpayer in the state with $1.146 billion in state and local taxes paid last year.
DeSantis had also scoffed at the fact that Disney has been allowed to do its own property assessment. The person said Disney does not assess its own property but that’s done annually by the Orange County tax assessor or the Osceola County tax assessor.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.