News DeSantis moves to bring state safety oversight of the Walt Disney World Monorail including suspending the service for inspections

[Goofyernmost]

In all reality - this is a major mass transit system that probably should be regulated by the state.

In reality it is a mass transit/entertainment based venue totally and completley maintained and paid for by a private company and the government should have NO say in it except in the same degree that any attraction at a place like WDW would need to insure safety. Disney has deep pockets and any major loss of life from a neglected problem would be very costly. They have far more incentive to make sure that everything is safe than some government operated and controlled entity that any loss would be covered by all the taxpayers within that government.

 

[Casper Gutman]

Exactly, the partisan blowhards here seem to think that FDOT is simply a group of the governor’s storm troopers ready willing and able to be part of the Disney war. They are nonpartisan professionals that have significant experience with mass transit systems and are completely independent and apolitical.

I’d also like to know why @wdwmagic in his article put “Safety Inspections” in quotes. Do you have specific information that these are not legitimate inspections not being handled in a professional manner? Your bias is clearly showing and it’s a poor look.

You cannot take politics out of this situation. When the original intent of a government action is malicious and repressive, as it was in this case, any interaction springing from it is tainted (in fact, it taints any interaction between the individual and government). The threat will always be present, coercing action. It stretches credulity that all inspectors, fully aware of the laws intention and perhaps sympathetic to it, will entirely ignore the will of their superiors. Even those who do achieve total impartiality, however, will still be acting under a law intended to punish speech.

It’s also worth noting that, given the recent and repeated actions of the Florida government, there is every reason to believe that those higher up the chain of command will continue to interfere in the inspection process to achieve political goals.

I very strongly suspect the posters defending these inspections would understand all this very clearly in slightly different circumstances.

 

[JohnD]

Jacksonville FL does have one of the larger monorail systems in this country. Not sure if the state is in charge of it or not.

Not laughing at you. But the Skyway was built in the 1980s and follows along on a raised track for about a mile in downtown Jax. Not necessarily a monorail. It was dubbed the train to nowhere and is virtually riderless. FDOT can easily inspect it and not impact ridership.

You do make a point though . When built it was new so FDOT had to develop policies and procedures for inspecting it. It will be no different for the monorail. This won't be their first rodeo.

 

[wdwmagic]

Exactly, the partisan blowhards here seem to think that FDOT is simply a group of the governor’s storm troopers ready willing and able to be part of the Disney war. They are nonpartisan professionals that have significant experience with mass transit systems and are completely independent and apolitical.

I’d also like to know why @wdwmagic in his article put “Safety Inspections” in quotes. Do you have specific information that these are not legitimate inspections not being handled in a professional manner? Your bias is clearly showing and it’s a poor look.

It should be incredibly clear to anyone that this is an entirely politically motivated move designed to impact Disney's operations.

Ron DeSantis signed bill HB 1305 into law in May 2023, which specifically targets Walt Disney World's monorail by referencing "any governmentally or privately owned fixed-guideway transportation systems operating in this state which are located within an independent special district created by local act which have boundaries within two contiguous counties."

Adding the clause that the monorail can be closed for inspections is clearly a further attempt to threaten Disney's operations.

I feel very comfortable with my report on this, as I fully believe it is a case of the Florida Governor targeting Disney.

 

[monothingie]

I have no issue with the FDOT professionals. However FDOT is an executive branch agency, and the head of Florida's executive branch - Governor Ron DeSantis - has clearly shown to put partisan politics at the forefront of most decisions he's made, and has openly stated that this entire campaign against Disney is retribution for their exercising of free speech.

And as I've asked before, does FDOT have staff experienced in monorails who would be considered competent enough to inspect them?

FDOT is not political and has non partisan professionals working for it, but bad man in Tallahassee is defacto head of it so it is bad . Got it! The monorail needs oversight but it doesn’t because bad man Desantis is doing it.

How many mass transit systems does FDOT oversee or regulate in the state of Florida? I can think of at least a half dozen of the top of my head.

 

[monothingie]

It should be incredible clear to anyone that this is an entirely politically motivated move designed to impact Disney's operations.

Ron DeSantis signed bill HB 1305 into law in May 2023, which specifically targets Walt Disney World's monorail by referencing "any governmentally or privately owned fixed-guideway transportation systems operating in this state which are located within an independent special district created by local act which have boundaries within two contiguous counties."

Adding the clause that the monorail can be closed for inspections is clearly a further attempt to threaten Disney's operations.

I feel very comfortable with my report on this, as I fully believe it is a case of the Florida Governor targeting Disney.

Great. So why don’t you label your articles as commentary instead of news since you have clearly taken a nonobjective position.

 

[JohnD]

It should be incredible clear to anyone that this is an entirely politically motivated move designed to impact Disney's operations.

Ron DeSantis signed bill HB 1305 into law in May 2023, which specifically targets Walt Disney World's monorail by referencing "any governmentally or privately owned fixed-guideway transportation systems operating in this state which are located within an independent special district created by local act which have boundaries within two contiguous counties."

Adding the clause that the monorail can be closed for inspections is clearly a further attempt to threaten Disney's operations.

I feel very comfortable with my report on this, as I fully believe it is a case of the Florida Governor targeting Disney.

It's easy to agree on the intention of the bill. At the same time, if asked, I bet FDOT employees had no desire to be put in the middle of this. They're just state employees tasked with doing whatever is in ststute. So I humbly suggest, keep your criticism on the politicians, not the employees.

 

[mkt]

How many mass transit systems does FDOT oversee or regulate in the state of Florida? I can think of at least a half dozen of the top of my head.

I took the time to look it up. There are 4 monorail systems in the state, and none as extensive as WDWs. Maybe they do have a professional who can handle them.

 

[Splash4eva]

The last few years have been in the era of social media, when everything spreads across the globe in real time. That does not automatically mean things are better or worse than they were for the 45+ years before that- it only means that it's easier to learn about things that happen than it was for decades before that.

And that is bad how? Changes the facts how? Everything that was stated on what is going in is absolutely true. Heck i was on a monorail about 4-5 years ago late at night when an issue happened with the doors. It was just empty so not blasted across social media. Im sure im not the only one who has had problems either.

 

[wdwmagic]

In an effort to try and drag this thing back to the subject at hand and the news from today. If this had been brought up as a standalone initiative due to the number of people riding on the monorail, especially after the accident that resulted in the monorail pilot's death, I would not likely have had any concerns with it. Having the NTSB involved in that investigation gave the investigation into the cause significant credibility that was to everyones advantage.

In normal times, having an external party watching out for safety isn't by its very nature a bad thing. A separate pair of eyes is rarely a bad thing, if only just to highlight gaps in procedures. Unfortunately, we are not currently in normal times with the relationship between Disney and the state, and this effort was not done to resolve a safety issue (perceived or otherwise).

This is a very good take on the situation, and I agree. Having external inspections is a good thing, but only when that is being done for the right reasons.

 

[JohnD]

And as I've asked before, does FDOT have staff experienced in monorails who would be considered competent enough to inspect them?

As to your question, it's not like other new train systems haven't been built that FDOT had to develop procedures for inspecting. So, sure, I agree they don't have the staff now, or didn't 8 months ago when the bill was passed. It's not like they can't hire professionals who do have experience and learn the transportation system.

 

[mkt]

In an effort to try and drag this thing back to the subject at hand and the news from today. If this had been brought up as a standalone initiative due to the number of people riding on the monorail, especially after the accident that resulted in the monorail pilot's death, I would not likely have had any concerns with it. Having the NTSB involved in that investigation gave the investigation into the cause significant credibility that was to everyones advantage.

In normal times, having an external party watching out for safety isn't by its very nature a bad thing. A separate pair of eyes is rarely a bad thing, if only just to highlight gaps in procedures. Unfortunately, we are not currently in normal times with the relationship between Disney and the state, and this effort was not done to resolve a safety issue (perceived or otherwise).

This is the best take.

 

[Casper Gutman]

You have yet to provide proof that FDOT is operating in an unfair, arbitrary, and capricious manner. Until you can do that you have no leg to stand on.

You continue to ignore the issue I have repeatedly highlighted - the inspectors may be saints but they are still carrying out a repressive, malicious law and thus their very presence will be coercive. It is also fair to question the degree to which we can expect government employees to act in defiance of the clearly stated will of the government.

 

[MrPromey]

Great. So why don’t you label your articles as commentary instead of news since you have clearly taken a nonobjective position.

I'm sure Steve will take your advice on how to run his site under advisement.

 

[MrPromey]

It's easy to agree on the intention of the bill. At the same time, if asked, I bet FDOT employees had no desire to be put in the middle of this. They're just state employees tasked with doing whatever is in ststute. So I humbly suggest, keep your criticism on the politicians, not the employees.

Did I miss something where he did otherwise?

I'm assuming I must have since so many feathers suddenly seem ruffled around here.

 

[JohnD]

You continue to ignore the issue I have repeatedly highlighted - the inspectors may be saints but they are still carrying out a repressive, malicious law and thus their very presence will be coercive. It is also fair to question the degree to which we can expect government employees to act in defiance of the clearly stated will of the government.

You make a good point. From the employees' perspectives I would hope they carry out the law fairly no matter the intentions of creating it. It would be in their best interests not to subvert it in either direction. Just follow the law and leave it at that.

 

[monothingie]

I'm an investor and executive officer (on paper) of a reasonably well-known business back home. We're being investigated for noise complaints from our sound system after a new law was passed. Here's the problem: our sound system is both software and physically blocked from being too loud (we provided proof of this), no decibel meter was present during the inspection, and most importantly: no citizens or neighbors ever filed a noise complaint. However, myself and other owners have been openly critical of the governor there and the mayor of the city in which it happened in (both from the same party), as well as on our social media. Now we're in court over this crap.

Except unlike Disney that has seemingly endless money to fight this, we're a small business whose owners all have other jobs (or no job in my case), who need to call out favors and borrow from friends and family to pay for the legal defense.

So no, I'm not speaking from knowledge of FDOT. I'm speaking from experience dealing with retaliatory government actions.

FDOT is performing safety inspections as they were obligated to do by legislation. This entire discussion is the equivalent of arguing with the cop over the speeding ticket you got. He didn’t make the law he’s just enforcing it.

I would suggest if you want to affect change, you change the legislators, but clearly the majority of Floridians feel differently. And that’s why there’s so much whining and screaming in this thread.

 

[lazyboy97o]

You make a good point. From the employees' perspectives I would hope they carry out the law fairly no matter the intentions of creating it. It would be in their best interests not to subvert it in either direction. Just follow the law and leave it at that.

The problem though is that a good employee can be a huge benefit to the coercive intent. If you want to disrupt operations then you send the guy who is going to do a thorough job because they are going to take time and maintain the veneer of oversight.

 

[Brian]

The problem though is that a good employee can be a huge benefit to the coercive intent. If you want to disrupt operations then you send the guy who is going to do a thorough job because they are going to take time and maintain the veneer of oversight.

I'm just a bit confused. Are we to believe that DeSantis is ignorant enough to think that the mere threat of shutting down the WDW monorail system for a few random hours on 4th of July would be enough for Disney to back away from their entire company-wide global DEI program?

If not, what is the 'coercive intent' you are referencing?

I'm not of the mind that this is some kind of altruistic endeavor where they suddenly care deeply about the safety of monorail systems that operate in a "special district spanning two counties," but I fail to see how it can be effectively coercive.

 

[lazyboy97o]

I'm just a bit confused. Are we to believe that DeSantis is ignorant enough to think that the mere threat of shutting down the WDW monorail system for a few random hours on 4th of July would be enough for Disney to back away from their entire company-wide global DEI program?

If not, what is the 'coercive intent' you are referencing?

I'm not of the mind that this is some kind of altruistic endeavor where they suddenly care deeply about the safety of monorail systems that operate in a "special district spanning two counties," but I fail to see how it can be effectively coercive.

You know full well that it’s about inflicting pain on one’s enemies. It’s retribution.