News Reedy Creek Improvement District and the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District

lazyboy97o

lazyboy97o

Well-Known Member
Tom P. said:
Are you suggesting that RCID was created to cause harm? Or are you saying that the proposed replacement district is being created to cause harm? In either case, I don't think that's true.

In the case of RCID, you can argue that it provided Disney with benefits that it shouldn't have and perhaps led to some negative consequences for Florida taxpayers. That's arguable, though, and even if true, the district was created to help Disney but not specifically to harm anyone.

In the case of the replacement district, as much as I know DeSantis is a favorite boogeyman around here, I in no way believe that he actually wants to harm Disney. Yes, he wants to make a statement about Disney positions he disagrees with and, yes, he wants to look like he's being a tough guy. But he is not stupid. He knows how important Walt Disney World is to Florida's economy and its citizens. And he knows that if he actually causes harm to Florida's tourism industry, it's political suicide. He wants to saber rattle, yes. But he also wants WDW to continue to flourish.
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The openly stated purpose of all of this is to punish Disney.

The new district is even required to undertake unnecessary expenses.

But sure, maybe you’re right and DeSantis is just lying about this and all of the other things he is actively doing and I was wrong to believe him.
 
GoofGoof

GoofGoof

Premium Member
Tom P. said:
Are you suggesting that RCID was created to cause harm? Or are you saying that the proposed replacement district is being created to cause harm? In either case, I don't think that's true.

In the case of RCID, you can argue that it provided Disney with benefits that it shouldn't have and perhaps led to some negative consequences for Florida taxpayers. That's arguable, though, and even if true, the district was created to help Disney but not specifically to harm anyone.

In the case of the replacement district, as much as I know DeSantis is a favorite boogeyman around here, I in no way believe that he actually wants to harm Disney. Yes, he wants to make a statement about Disney positions he disagrees with and, yes, he wants to look like he's being a tough guy. But he is not stupid. He knows how important Walt Disney World is to Florida's economy and its citizens. And he knows that if he actually causes harm to Florida's tourism industry, it's political suicide. He wants to saber rattle, yes. But he also wants WDW to continue to flourish.
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I’m 100% certain he didn’t mean the original RCID.

The change to the district was absolutely done to cause harm. The Governor and the legislature openly told anyone who would listen they were doing it to punish Disney for speaking out. How much actual harm is caused is yet to be determined. I don’t think Disney really needs RCID (in any form) for WDW to remain very profitable and they haven’t lost the district, they just lost complete and total control of the district (for now). It’s still unknown how much this will impact anything. There are certainly many possibilities (talked about here a lot) which could cause real harm to Disney, right now they are just speculation and things that could happen.

As far as your point on whether the Governor wants to hurt Disney, I don’t think he really cares either way. I agree this was all done as a political stunt and in that regard it was very successful. He got what he wanted. I also don’t think he cares much about the long term impact to tourism or the FL economy. His goal is focused solely on another job and he’d do anything to advance that goal. His hope is to not even be Governor of FL in a year so why would he care about any impact to tourism which wouldn’t be evident until after he’s long gone. So to put it another way, if he felt harming Disney would advance his next goal he would absolutely do it even if that meant a severely negative long term impact to FL and the economy of the state.
 
winstongator

winstongator

Well-Known Member
GoofGoof said:
There are hundreds of special districts with Governor appointed boards that act appropriately. The board still has to have a reason to not approve a project or create a burdensome process. If they do take that action the constituents of the district (Disney) can then sue in court and have a judge decide whether the district board is acting in good faith. Again, just because the governor appointed the board does not mean they have absolute power to act as they like. Remember too that there are many judges (especially conservative ones) who would be very reluctant to side with big government, especially if they don’t have a sound and logical reason for their actions.
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I do not expect the new governor appointed board to act in good faith. You're right that this has always been a political stunt, and having a board able to veto things Disney wants to do lets a governor claim to be fighting woke corporations in his culture war. I think Disney needs to use the little leverage it has left. Cancelling Lake Nona is part of that, but they need to cut campaign contributions to politicians that attack it.
 
M

mmascari

Well-Known Member
JohnD said:
Governor's Press Conference is now live: https://thefloridachannel.org/
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Everyone from the site must have joined the stream, it crashed. 😂

We'll need some actual good reporting and fact checking on the statements when it's over. Before it crashed, there were clearly false statements. Also an explicit statement that this was to control a California company working in FL. It feels pretty clear that he doesn't care if Disney succeeds or not and any impact to the rest of FL just be ignored.

I don't expect that actual reporting to happen because our media is so bad.
 
JohnD

JohnD

Well-Known Member
mmascari said:
Everyone from the site must have joined the stream, it crashed. 😂

We'll need some actual good reporting and fact checking on the statements when it's over. Before it crashed, there were clearly false statements. Also an explicit statement that this was to control a California company working in FL. It feels pretty clear that he doesn't care if Disney succeeds or not and any impact to the rest of FL just be ignored.

I don't expect that actual reporting to happen because our media is so bad.
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They switched over to local WESH. There is a full video one way or the other.
 
sedati

sedati

Well-Known Member
I don’t see how any kind of harmonious existence is possible when the Governor has rebranded FLA from “The Sunshine State” to the place “Where Woke Goes To Die” while simultaneously branding Disney as “Woke”. This is a literal death sentence. Imagine Hershey’s relationship with PA if their governor declared the state to be “ A Chocolate-Free State.”
 
D

DCBaker

Premium Member
mmascari said:
Everyone from the site must have joined the stream, it crashed. 😂

We'll need some actual good reporting and fact checking on the statements when it's over. Before it crashed, there were clearly false statements. Also an explicit statement that this was to control a California company working in FL. It feels pretty clear that he doesn't care if Disney succeeds or not and any impact to the rest of FL just be ignored.

I don't expect that actual reporting to happen because our media is so bad.
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If you wish to continue watching, you can also catch it here -

 
G

GimpYancIent

Well-Known Member
The "Central Florida Tourism Oversight District" CFTOD for short is the new reality, its here so time to adapt and keep on going with the business of providing entertainment, and Oh yea, making money. Just ask B.I.
 
Surferboy567

Surferboy567

Well-Known Member
DCBaker said:
DeSantis is having a press conference at Reedy Creek Fire Station #4 at 9:45am this morning.
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DeSantis is definitely sending a message signing this on WDW property.

I still think they are making a huge mistake just letting this go though. Hope that backend deal was good enough assuming there even was one.
 
GoofGoof

GoofGoof

Premium Member
sedati said:
I don’t see how any kind of harmonious existence is possible when the Governor has rebranded FLA from “The Sunshine State” to the place “Where Woke Goes To Die” while simultaneously branding Disney as “Woke”. This is a literal death sentence. Imagine Hershey’s relationship with PA if their governor declared the state to be “ A Chocolate-Free State.”
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Disney is playing the long game. DeSantis could be gone as soon as a year from now. Disney has deep pockets, has been a major player in FL politics for decades and has no way to move WDW from the state. It is in their best interest as a business to make the best of a bad situation. If they wait out this situation it’s possible they re-gain some advantages with FL politicians. Remember that DeSantis has national money pouring in and doesn’t need to worry about losing Disney’s “support”, most other politicians in the state are not as flush with cash. It would take very little for the legislature and/or a future Governor to amend the structure of the board again to give Disney more control of seats or more likely Disney could lobby for the state to appoint board members they favor.
 
GoofGoof

GoofGoof

Premium Member
mkt said:
Sadly, as potential potus.
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He probably won’t step down as Governor unless he wins the primary so likely a little over a year from now. I can’t see him stepping down before that and it won’t take much to pass a bill allowing him to run and keep office. If he wins the primary I don’t see how he continues to act as Governor too. I guess they could make that legal but he really won’t be capable of doing both. If he loses the primary then Disney has to wait out 3 more years but he’d be a lame duck and wounded so maybe less problematic.
 

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