News Disney power broker at the heart of Anaheim 'cabal' - Los Angeles Times

[el_super]

This story is way overhyped at this point. There isn't sign of anything but normal lobbying here to date.

From the Disney perspective... Yeah there isn't much to see there. I don't think anyone reasonably believes that a company can't (or shouldn't) ask for regulations and/or tax schemes that benefit them. I think the real shock here for Anaheim is how easy it was for the elected officials to say yes to it all.

It's definitely going to have an impact on city negotiations for years to come. If the FBI is watching, the city officials will be far less likely to automatically say yes to planning and zoning changes... Even the simplest ones.

 

[flynnibus]

From the Disney perspective... Yeah there isn't much to see there. I don't think anyone reasonably believes that a company can't (or shouldn't) ask for regulations and/or tax schemes that benefit them. I think the real shock here for Anaheim is how easy it was for the elected officials to say yes to it all.

It's definitely going to have an impact on city negotiations for years to come. If the FBI is watching, the city officials will be far less likely to automatically say yes to planning and zoning changes... Even the simplest ones.

Except the FBI isn't watching this topic - this is just Disney's name being spotted in other case evidence because Disney was working with Anaheim.

This is the LA Time trying to make a story here.because of an investigation into other dealings in Anaheim. The kinds of stuff actually being investigated are night and day from the kinds of influence/lobbying the actual Disney topic covers.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

I think what the Times is doing…and not doing well…is trying to suggest Disney is in a new kinda “cabal” because they have not gotten their way with Anaheim of late as they always did.

Also the timing is again suspect. It’s a small town and it’s pretty obvious knives are out for the Disney management.

 

[TP2000]

On the one hand, my thought on this is...

"She is not accused of any wrongdoing."

So what, exactly, is the story here?

The story is that she's not accused of any wrongdoing... yet.

But, we've got a low level TDA executive in Carrie Nocella who works closely with upper-level executives and who was personally orchestrating secret and smarmy meetings in conference rooms at the JW Marriott to grease the wheels of a sleazy stadium sale for sleazy politicans.

The question to ask now is...

What did Ken Potrock, Josh D'Amaro and Bob Chapek know and when did they know it?

Well, color me shocked that the largest business in a city tries to influence legislation in that city!

I'm in Seattle; you don't suppose Amazon and Boeing lobby local governments here? Where's my fainting couch?

That's the flip side of this, which I also thought of and agree with you about.

What moderately succesful machine shop in a two-bit town doesn't get some extras and a little side hustle thrown their way by the part-time mayor? Or, what giant corporation like Apple doesn't have a direct phone line to the mayor's office in Cupertino?

We all know that Disneyland is the biggest game in town for Anaheim, even if that angers Socialist Councilmen like Dr. Jose Moreno. Back in Walt's day, the Anaheim city council and the Disneyland execs all vacationed and partied together at out-of-town resorts, sometimes with their wives and sometimes without the wives. Wink-wink.

So of course, even in this enlightened age of the 21st century, the TDA executive ranks would be closely intertwined with Anaheim politics. Even if the bar carts have all been retired and the cocktail waitresses are older and wiser now. There's still plenty of greased palms and winks-n-nods among the Disneyland brass and Anaheim city hall. Just like in any company town in America, from Detroit to San Francisco to New York City to Dayton, Ohio.

But... if a TDA exec like Carrie Nocella gets dragged in to a serious FBI investigation, that could get messy and embarassing very quickly. Good thing popcorn is so easy to make now with microwaves!

 

[el_super]

I think what the Times is doing…and not doing well…is trying to suggest Disney is in a new kinda “cabal” because they have not gotten their way with Anaheim of late as they always did.

Haven't they though? The only recent thing that occurred, where Anaheim could be accused of saying no to Disney, was forcing the cancellation of the no name/no theme hotel that Disney wanted to build but would have triggered a wage hike and PR crisis. It's almost as if Disney didn't want to build it and somehow got the city to cancel it so they wouldn't look bad.

Disney has always gotten exactly what they wanted out of the City of Anaheim.

I suspect the Times is trying to make a story out of it, for more personal reasons than anything else. They were shunned by Disney when they brought to light the internal dealings of Disney and Anaheim a few years ago, and are just seeking that big "i told you so" moment, but really we already knew.

 

[Dear Prudence]

A recording artist who shall remain nameless here once referred to a certain music streaming service as "an odious cabal," and while I appreciate the sentiment, like....comeeee onnnnnn

That's what that headline reminds me of.

 

[Phroobar]

Ken Potrock will just fire Fred Flintstone and rehire him after the heat goes away. Oh way, that is Mr. Spacely.

 

[TP2000]

A recording artist who shall remain nameless here once referred to a certain music streaming service as "an odious cabal," and while I appreciate the sentiment, like....comeeee onnnnnn

That's what that headline reminds me of.

Exactly. "Cabal" is a ridiculous word to call this mess. It's just the LA Times (a once-great newspaper desperately slipping further into irrelevance by the day) trying to paint this as something more nefarious than it is for what's left of its dwindling readership.

That said, it's still a trashy local political mess.

To review, here are the players that have been forced to resign from their jobs or elected positions in the last week after being publicly named as part of the FBI's ongoing investigation of this Angel Stadium sale:

Harry Sidhu, Resigned from Anaheim Mayor 2018-2022
Melahat Rafei, Resigned from Secretary of California Democrat Party, and resigned from California Representative to Democratic National Committee
Todd Ament, Resigned from CEO of Anaheim Chamber of Commerce
Jeff Flint, Resigned from CEO of FSB Public Affairs (consulting firm contracted by Disneyland for years)

And not resigned, but now publicly named as a person under investigation by the FBI:

Carrie Nocela, Disneyland Resort Director of External Affairs

It's an odd gaggle of names and titles, isn't it?

 

[Phroobar]

Pretty soon the only city council member left will be Dr. Jose Moreno. He will then try to raise maid service workers to $50 an hour and add $100 ticket tax and no special Disney tax breaks.

 

[TheDisneyParksfanC8]

Does anyone here know how this drama could impact the timing for Disneyland Forward? Are talks for DL forward still going on and do you think they could possibly get things ironed out before D23 in September? DL forward is a very rewarding project in term of return on investment and I don't think they would want to ax this altogether.

 

[el_super]

Does anyone here know how this drama could impact the timing for Disneyland Forward? Are talks for DL forward still going on and do you think they could possibly get things ironed out before D23 in September? DL forward is a very rewarding project in term of return on investment and I don't think they would want to ax this altogether.

There is no chance it will be ironed out by Sept. Please remember that Disneyland Forward is a zoning/special district renegotiation, and that Disney has not committed to build anything further in Anaheim.

 

[TheDisneyParksfanC8]

There is no chance it will be ironed out by Sept. Please remember that Disneyland Forward is a zoning/special district renegotiation, and that Disney has not committed to build anything further in Anaheim.

Good point. I though for a while that if it got approved Disney could crack down and start building a Hollywood Land revamp. But other rumors have said Tomorrowland in the bigger priority and that will be announced at D23. How long do you think it will be before Disney can revive DL forward but maybe do it under a different banner?

 

[el_super]

Good point. I though for a while that if it got approved Disney could crack down and start building a Hollywood Land revamp. But other rumors have said Tomorrowland in the bigger priority and that will be announced at D23. How long do you think it will be before Disney can revive DL forward but maybe do it under a different banner?

They're still pitching for it right now. They've been doing a roadshow at some community events and passing out info on the proposal.

In theory, and at a basic level: They'd pitch the idea of Disneyland Forward to the city, and if there is significant public approval, the City would agree to enter a re-negotiation period with Disney and there would be a few years of back and forth between what Disney wants and what the city wants (assuming Harry Sidhu isn't around to just roll over on the demands). Maybe best case scenario they can get some form of changes to the Disneyland Resort Specific Plan (DRSP) sometime next year (23) or the year after (24). Once the ink is dry on the new DRSP, they can announce something.

What that will be, even if they get all the DisneylandForward changes through, will be highly dependent on the state of tourism and the economy in general, and their long term goals.

If we go on assuming that their long term goals are focused on the Eastern Gateway and building an expansion to Hollywoodland, we would probably be looking at a few years after DisneylandForward being done, for anything to be done in Hollywoodland. The Eastern Gateway, to clear the land and move around some of the backstage support areas would probably take two to three years in its own right, before they begin work in Hollywoodland (probably around 25 or 26).

So maybe something could be done in 2028? Maybe 2030. Most of this is just crazy speculation though.

 

[TheDisneyParksfanC8]

They're still pitching for it right now. They've been doing a roadshow at some community events and passing out info on the proposal.

In theory, and at a basic level: They'd pitch the idea of Disneyland Forward to the city, and if there is significant public approval, the City would agree to enter a re-negotiation period with Disney and there would be a few years of back and forth between what Disney wants and what the city wants (assuming Harry Sidhu isn't around to just roll over on the demands). Maybe best case scenario they can get some form of changes to the Disneyland Resort Specific Plan (DRSP) sometime next year (23) or the year after (24). Once the ink is dry on the new DRSP, they can announce something.

What that will be, even if they get all the DisneylandForward changes through, will be highly dependent on the state of tourism and the economy in general, and their long term goals.

If we go on assuming that their long term goals are focused on the Eastern Gateway and building an expansion to Hollywoodland, we would probably be looking at a few years after DisneylandForward being done, for anything to be done in Hollywoodland. The Eastern Gateway, to clear the land and move around some of the backstage support areas would probably take two to three years in its own right, before they begin work in Hollywoodland (probably around 25 or 26).

So maybe something could be done in 2028? Maybe 2030. Most of this is just crazy speculation though.

2028 is the year LA is hosting the olympics. I would imagine DLR would to have a new land of sorts as a tourist spot. A Hollywood land replacement (that at one point pre-covid, apparently had an 800 million budget) would fit the bill. This has the ability to create a lot of new jobs. Maybe the new mayor will approve if will pull new tourism and create those precious jobs.