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

[lazyboy97o]

The new board is about to find out that RCID's fire and building codes are more stringent than the state of Florida's. In fact, the EPCOT building code is what the new FL building code is modeled after.

This is not true. The Florida Building Code’s model code is the International Building Code.

 

[flynnibus]

The 5 people were usually executives or higher management, so they at least had some experience in operating a tourist destination, or at least as a competent administrator.

In the past some were even former RCID management.

I didn't bother researching the current board as they don't provide bios in a simple spot I found (maybe in the annual reports there will be some)... but the ones I saw were mainly people with relevant experience mixed in with hold-overs from the initial process (dependents of people who originated the original WDW deal, etc).

We all should remember that the board is basically the 'boss' - while the actual work is done by staff. The reason qualifications are significant here now is, if the boss is going to create conflicts, they better have good standing.

Rubber stamp bosses don't need a ton of experience - you are relying on the staff
Conflicting bosses assert their power in CONFLICT with the experienced staff - so their reasoning is more scrutinized.

 

[Disstevefan1]

Exactly! The Central Florida Tourism Oversight District or CFTOD for short is here and the term RCID is obsolete. Time to work with the reality.

Totally Agree! The point is, CFTOD is no longer part of WDW like RCID was.

I wish they called the new special district Florida Administration of Recreation and Tourism

 

[Andrew C]

Genuine question… was the previous board qualified?

I always got the impression RcID was just an extension of Disney, comprised of 5 people Disney hand picked to rent some mobile homes on Disney property and then appointed to the board.

Were they highly trained infrastructure specialists or just random people that would look at the plans the Disney lawyers and engineers handed them and be a rubber stamp?

Ron Peri's background before The Gathering is interesting. Electrical Engineering degree. Time at IBM where he worked on mainframes. Airline industry background including CEO for an airline software company and CTO at AirTran. Lot of tech background.

 

[TP2000]

You marvel at it because it's NOT TRUE. WDW is not some autonomous state - it's still regulated by the county and state. Just some local concepts that usually were defined at the city and county level have been managed by the district.

Wouldn't those local cities and counties then want to take over the concepts once controlled by the RCID? Or are they prevented from doing so with this new setup?

Your whole tangent about attraction regulation has nothing to do with RCID in the past - but everything to do with how states regulate amusements.. which is a topic across all 50 states. You (should) know that California is a standout when it comes to how they regulate amusements.

I find it the most valid example because almost all deaths at Disney theme parks have been due to attraction operations.

Theme park rides can kill people, the CM's and/or the riders. Two visitors even died at Disneyland just standing in a dock loading area waiting for the Sailing Ship Columbia to arrive. They weren't even on the ride yet, and the ride and its CM operation killed them.

Other than alligators in Florida, or suicides off the Disneyland parking structure, most Disney deaths of the last 65 years have involved an attraction. Which is why California regulates them so strictly. And why it's humorous when a few folks online try to claim that Florida is going to put WDW out of business, or at least make it too hard for WDW to operate.

The folks making that silly claim should ask Disneyland about that.

But don't you worry, in the new district charter they have catch-all phrases to add amusement regulation too if the gov appointees want. The difference is in California the regulations apply to all operators - not just a single one like they would here.

If I were Universal or Sea World, I wouldn't want it to be known that Disney World has stricter government safety regulations than I have at my parks up the road.

If safety regulations do change for WDW under this new government setup, it will be interesting to see how the other theme park operators respond to that.

If the changes to RCID just come down to stuff like county tax rates and costs of ambulance services or fire departments, then I imagine Universal will not bother to get involved.

 

[Disstevefan1]

Those technicalities matter. They're not just some hand waiving. They're contract and legal structures that the entire structure functions under and according to. If Disney had screwed up under those technical matters and sold off a bunch of land kept within the district boundaries for housing, that would have create an entire new voting block. The details matter.



Nothing went away. Only control. Possibly a worse outcome than the district being eliminated.

It's exactly the same as if the governor replaced the mayor of Miami with an appointee.

We can agree to disagree.

What WDW has now IS NOT THE SAME AS RCID in my opinion.

 

[Tha Realest]

In the past some were even former RCID management.

I didn't bother researching the current board as they don't provide bios in a simple spot I found (maybe in the annual reports there will be some)... but the ones I saw were mainly people with relevant experience mixed in with hold-overs from the initial process (dependents of people who originated the original WDW deal, etc).

We all should remember that the board is basically the 'boss' - while the actual work is done by staff. The reason qualifications are significant here now is, if the boss is going to create conflicts, they better have good standing.

Rubber stamp bosses don't need a ton of experience - you are relying on the staff
Conflicting bosses assert their power in CONFLICT with the experienced staff - so their reasoning is more scrutinized.

We already know more about the new board than the current iteration, so that’s a start

 

[mkt]

Ron Peri's background before The Gathering is interesting. Electrical Engineering degree. Time at IBM where he worked on mainframes. Airline industry background including CEO for an airline software company and CTO at AirTran. Lot of tech background.

He's the one that I see as the wildcard.

I see the 3 attorneys as mostly harmless political donors who will rubber stamp whatever is in front of them, and Bridget Ziegler as the potential nightmare for Disney - but if Ron Peri is able to ignore his religious/political convictions and be a fair administrator, he could be good.

 

[Disstevefan1]

We already know more about the new board than the current iteration, so that’s a start

Thats a good point.

 

[Andrew C]

@Vegas Disney Fan
Background on all 5 members, according to the gov website. In case you were interested,.

Martin Garcia
Garcia, of Tampa, has practiced law and served as partner in two premier law firms. Additionally, Garcia owned and operated a successful private equity investment firm and served on the board of a NASDAQ and three New York Stock Exchange companies.

Bridget Ziegler
Ziegler, of Sarasota, serves on the Sarasota School Board and is the Director of School Board Programs at The Leadership Institute. Prior to her current role, Ziegler has over a decade of experience in commercial insurance working with two of the largest global risk and insurance brokerage firms.

Brian Aungst Jr.
Aungst, of Clearwater, is an attorney and shareholder at the law firm of Macfarlane Ferguson and McMullen, P.A. Aungst has previously served as the Chairman of the Pinellas County Commission Redistricting Committee and has a growing land use law practice where he has gotten approval for hotels, condominiums, affordable housing developments, and the redevelopment of the Clearwater Marine Aquarium.

Michael A. Sasso
Sasso, of Orlando, is the Managing Partner of Sasso and Sasso, P.A. His practice focuses on election law and complex business and construction litigation. Sasso was also appointed to the Ninth Circuit Judicial Nominating Commission, was subsequently elected its chair, and now serves on the Sixth District Court of Appeal Judicial Nominating Commission. He also serves as a commissioner of the Public Employees Relations Commission and as a trustee of Valencia State College.

Ron Peri
Peri, of Orlando, is the Chairman and CEO of The Gathering USA. Peri was also founder, Chairman, and CEO of the airline software company Radixx International, Inc. after serving as Vice President and CTO of AirTran Airways.

 

[Vegas Disney Fan]

The 5 people were usually executives or higher management, so they at least had some experience in operating a tourist destination, or at least as a competent administrator.

Good to know and not what I was expecting to be honest, I was thinking a cheap house near Disney was the big perk of being the rubber stamp, now I’m wondering if any of them has ever spent a night in their RcID mobile home.

 

[mkt]

Good to know and not what I was expecting to be honest, I was thinking a cheap house near Disney was the big perk of being the rubber stamp, now I’m wondering if any of them has ever spent a night in their RcID mobile home.

That's a valid question. I went to high school with the kids of at least two of the people who were in the RCID board and one former "mayor" - all were pretty well off kids whose parents were Disney executives/senior management, and were zoned for Windermere/Winter Garden schools. Let's assume they owned houses elsewhere but lived during their terms within RCID.

 

[mkt]

Brian Aungst Jr.
Aungst, of Clearwater, is an attorney and shareholder at the law firm of Macfarlane Ferguson and McMullen, P.A. Aungst has previously served as the Chairman of the Pinellas County Commission Redistricting Committee and has a growing land use law practice where he has gotten approval for hotels, condominiums, affordable housing developments, and the redevelopment of the Clearwater Marine Aquarium.

Ok, he might be useful.

 

[lazyboy97o]

I present to you the Village of Key Biscayne, FL.

Village of Key Biscayne, FL

keybiscayne.fl.gov

Touché. Although it is still a municipality like all others in the state. Florida is not like some other states where city, town, village, borough, etc. have a distinct legal meaning.

 

[mkt]

Disney was here long before him and will be here long after him.

Disney has been in Florida since 1971 (technically since before for the years of planning and construction.
DeSantis was only born in 1978.

I'd argue that Disney is more a part of Florida than DeSantis.

 

[flynnibus]

Wouldn't those local cities and counties then want to take over the concepts once controlled by the RCID? Or are they prevented from doing so with this new setup?

If your neighbor knocked on your door and said "Hey, I got a few million acres over here I need someone to develop, maintain, and service.. I know your busy and all with your ongoing stuff, but will you just take care of it for me?" What would you say?

Simply handing the old stuff over to someone else (the counties) is buried in complications in everything form different taxing abilities, splitting it up, and the big issue that there are bonds tied up in many elements.

The counties wouldn't want to take on all that new burden without ample ways to pay for it.. and the district had taxing powers the county didn't have.

I find it the most valid example because almost all deaths at Disney theme parks have been due to attraction operations.

Again, all this is completely unrelated. RCID didn't regulate the amusements and that responsibility (and lack of tighter oversight) falls to the State of Florida as it always did.

If I were Universal or Sea World, I wouldn't want it to be known that Disney World has stricter government safety regulations than I have at my parks up the road.

If safety regulations do change for WDW under this new government setup, it will be interesting to see how the other theme park operators respond to that.

The concern isn't oversight that will actually lead to better safety - it's oversight that will lead to restrictions or gating that is unnecessary or potentially politically connected.

 

[lentesta]

What I don't understand is so many people including those on this board and other like @lentesta said last year that this was all for show and nothing could really come of legally it similar to Trump's announcement in 2015. Now it seems like this can really cause some issues for Disney in Florida. Was this a similar underestimating of DeSantis' ability to push through what he wants or is this still just a big show without any teeth? Just kind of confused how exactly this affects WDW.

Yep. I assumed Disney was going to fight it in court. They decided not to.

 

[flynnibus]

We already know more about the new board than the current iteration, so that’s a start

ehh.. the old board wasn't a secret. We're simply talking about who has done the simple reporting so far. One group is news worthy, the other hasn't been. No shocker here that it's easier to find one group in seconds than the other.

This is not transparency - this is simple relevance for reporters.

 

[mkt]

Yep. I assumed Disney was going to fight it in court. They decided not to.

They've likely done the same level of consumer research that many companies have at the moment and determined that given how polarized their customer base is, ing off half of them more than they already are might not be a good idea. Especially not against an adversary that will seemingly be willing to bankrupt the state in legal fees to prove a point.

Be quiet, ride it out, and lobby his successor to get what you want.

 

[Vegas Disney Fan]

Yep. I assumed Disney was going to fight it in court. They decided not to.

I was one of those people saying nothing would change because I thought the bill would be quietly repealed, which they kind of did, they just did it loudly and the repeal included changing who appoints the board. The district remains, it’s just got a different board and name. Only time will tell if that actually changes how anything is ran at WDW.