Chi84
Premium Member
But should they have to worry (or even think twice) about unfavorable legislation if they unwisely pick the wrong battle?
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News Reedy Creek Improvement District and the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District
- Thread starter castlecake2.0
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Andrew C
You know what's funny?
I would say no. And our laws seem to say no at least in the general sense. But all companies do still worry about this. Whether you’re a social media platform, an oil and gas company, or a baker.
In a nutshell, politicians are pretty sleazy.
I do not think anyone is arguing RCID as-is is a bad deal for the company. I also have yet to see anyone bring any convincing evidence it's a bad deal for the state in its current form. If the state is not initiating a change to the status quo for a tangible and realizable economic benefit, what are we left to assume is the reason other than for the governor to extract a pound of flesh? I am dying for an answer to this that makes sense.
mikejs78
Premium Member
You're missing the point. The PRC isn't a free country. They don't hold the freedom of speech to high regard. Cross the PRC, even a little, and they'll nationalize your business, kick you out, arrest your employees, etc.
That's not the way we are supposed to do things in the United States of America. Yet here we are.
This is why huge companies like Disney have huge PR firms and a ton of lawyers and everything gets run by everyone before the make a statement. This did not happen here. You stand on bad legislation which it is, but back to cause and effect. Was it wise to both speak against it ( a position) and say you will try to overturn it ( an action). You did say unwisely. People like you and I do unwise things. Multi billion dollar companies usually think it through first.
mikejs78
Premium Member
Of course it benefits them. What's wrong with that?
It also benefits the state and the taxpayers.
Now I'll ask you - other than "Big evil corporation", what about RCID is problematic in any way? And what does this bill specifically do that addresses those supposed problems?
Brian
Well-Known Member
You won't catch an argument from me on that one. It does strike me as a revenge move based on the company's politics. That said, similar, and in some cases, worse retaliations have happened against conservative companies and individuals, so I guess I shrug my shoulders and accept this is the kind of country we live in now, unfortunately.
lazyboy97o
Well-Known Member
Of course it’s beneficial! Nobody is saying it’s not beneficial. But it’s not beneficial in ways people assume. Most people don’t consider having to deal with your own sewage a benefit. Most people don’t consider higher costs to be beneficial. Not everything is zero sum, things can be mutually beneficial. This issue didn’t come up because the legislature did some serious study on the issue and found that it was no longer working to the benefit of the local community and/state.
Universal is now seeking a community development district to support the new rail station near the convention center. They’re proposing it because they want the benefits of improved transit in and to the area. The district gives them and the other landowners in the area a way to finance those desired services while Volusia and Osceola counties do not.
Andrew C
You know what's funny?
I hope this is a joke/sarcastic comparison. Otherwise you lost me.
Dranth
Well-Known Member
Sure, the benefit is the control, but they are paying extra for that. Also, let’s look at the other side of that coin, if this is such a sweet deal for Disney why aren’t all these other companies lining up, begging for a special district. Nothing is stopping them.
Both leaders were elected in a sea of a red party which has a lock on the government, if you catch my drift. If not... just a throw-away line.
I would love to ask for a real counter, where a Democratic state trifecta crafts legislation that takes mutually financially and logistically damaging action against a business espousing conservative speech because I can't think of one myself, but that would probably get nuked, so feel free to just go ahead and think that I guess.
lazyboy97o
Well-Known Member
You’re describing tribalism of the worst sort.
But here we are. They had every right to challenge the PRC. They are an a American company. Why did they not? You make a choice based on the possible outcome. It probably didn't look good. You are the one missing the point. You roll the dice and look at your odds. I was a police officer for 20 years in Chicago. I can tell you a lot about how we are "supposed to do things". That and reality are not always the same. What should be and what is are 2 different things.
Brian
Well-Known Member
Well, I'm told that a new draft of the RCID legislation coming tomorrow will require that they bring back Food Rocks. So that's one thing.
Kidding aside, I'm not suggesting that dissolution was the right move. RCID ceasing to exist without a replacement would have deleterious effects on the Central FL economy. However, as others have pointed out, Disney can exert control and powers usually delegated to a local government, something which other competitors in the space currently cannot say the same. Notwithstanding the benefit to the taxpayers, that is a bargain worth studying and scrutinizing.
Unfortunately, that was not the catalyst for the dissolution in the first place. Political revenge was. The aforementioned "level playing field" argument was used, rather poorly, as an attempt to masquerade the reality, diminishing what I see as a legitimate concern by alienating those smart enough to see through the rather transparent attempt at making it seem like it's not retribution.
One of the major things I take issue with is RCID being able to issue tax-free bonds for projects which directly benefit Disney. Classic example are the Disney Springs parking garages. Disney should absolutely have had to pay for those themselves. Did they pay for them by way of taxes to RCID? At the end of the day, yes, but they still realized tax savings since they were paid for using government bonds. Universal had to pay taxes to build their parking garages.
ETA: What could have been a fruitful, thoughtful and possibly bi-partisan conversation about how to address the "level playing field" quandary was instead turned into a laughing stock by using it as an excuse to exact political revenge.
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Vegas Disney Fan
Well-Known Member
What Chapek did wasn’t wrong, just stupid. It was stupid to step into a political fire but he had every right to do it.
In his defense I don’t think anyone could have dreamed a state would completely ignore 200 years of precedence and would retaliate against a company over a political stance and withholding political donations. We’re off the map here. It’s never happened in America before, not at this extreme level anyway.
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flynnibus
Premium Member
They also didn’t start at the same time… nor were they the same build. So… could there possibly be other factors that caused their timelines to differ??
lazyboy97o
Well-Known Member
And let’s completely ignore the decade or so that Universal’s Florida project spent in development hell because Universal didn’t want to pay the whole bill themselves, with Universal Orlando Resort only becoming fully owned by Universal within the past decade when Comcast bought out Blackstone’s 50% ownership stake.
flynnibus
Premium Member
Congrats on equating operating in America with operating under communist china dictatorship.
You really aren’t helping your cause - you should lose zero sleep over the gov punishing you for this. The fact you even entertain it as something they have to balance is disturbing.
We aren’t talking customers- we are talking your government