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

[Chi84]

The way Chapek and Disney did this was messy and unnecessarily bowing to pressure from a small group of people who don't even live in Florida. Much less vote there and send their 2nd graders to public schools there.

We talked earlier about Bob Iger's very public comments about pulling business out of Georgia because the voters there are naughty and don't vote like Californians and they voted in elected leaders who want to limit abortion access. Fast forward 4 years, and all of that talk from Bob Iger pandering to his California peanut gallery was lies and bluster and PR spin. Georgia passed the abortion laws they said they were going to pass, and Disney still makes films in Georgia and has even expanded its business footprint there.

None of the woke Disney employees out in California care about Georgia any more. They happily do business with the state, and have completely forgotten their Instagram Outrage over Georgia from just a few years ago. In a recent employee town hall Bob Iger hosted with hundreds of Burbank staffers, not a single person mentioned Georgia.

The same thing should have been done with Florida and their Parental Rights in Education legislation. Chapek should have said a few vapid statements to please the Official Good Persons who inhabit social media, and then quietly let the whole thing drop. In the news cycles of 2022 with war and inflation and various crises it would have been easy for the wokesters to drop and forget. Just like they forgot about Georgia.

2019: Disney Claims They'll Leave Georgia If Georgia Voters Don't Start Behaving Like Californians

Hollywood threatens to pull productions in Georgia over proposed anti-abortion bill

Major film and media companies from Disney to Netflix are no longer remaining silent about what will happen if Georgia passes its anti-abortion bill.

www.cnbc.com

2022: Georgia Implements Abortion Ban After Baby's Heartbeat Can Be Detected, Georgia Supreme Court Upholds It

Georgia high court reinstates ban on abortions after 6 weeks

The Georgia Supreme Court has reinstated the state’s ban on abortions after roughly six weeks of pregnancy.

apnews.com

2023: Multiple Disney Projects Announce Filming in Georgia. What law? Have you tried their sweet tea? It's delicious!

Two Marvel projects coming to Georgia: Don Cheadleâs âArmor Warsâ and Disney+âs âWonder Manâ

The two latest Marvel projects set to start up this spring in Georgia are a Don Cheadle-led film called “Armor Wars” and a new Disney+ series “Wonder Man.”

www.ajc.com

The MCU's 'Blade' Starts Filming in Atlanta This Summer

The Mahershala Ali-led vampire film suffered several delays in 2022, but it's finally back on track.

collider.com

Disney can pick and choose what to care about and when to no longer care about it. Government cannot pass laws in retaliation for those choices.

 

[Wendy Pleakley]

What do you classify this sort of thing as from a state Governor? Is it "mild authoritarianism", or is it something else?

And if it is something else, what is it called exactly?

Just what exactly do you think he's doing here? A tweet doesn't tell us much. My read is perhaps they won't do direct business with that company but not trying to dictate how that company is run like Florida says they want to do.

And hey, at least he'd be putting his money where his mouth is. Florida needs Disney and they're trying to act tough but won't actually harm their cash cow.

If Florida was truly that disturbed by Disney content, they'd ban the showing of Disney movies or demand they move their theme parks elsewhere.

 

[Chi84]

So intimidation is ok when it’s the side you agree with and wrong when it’s the other side. Pretty much the answer I expect from both sides.

I watched a news story the other day that was covering how western companies (that are boycotting Russia) are opening front companies to bypass sanctions and reopen in Russia without the backlash… sounds like they may need to do the same here. Company A to operate in red states, Comany B to operate in blue states... that way they can avoid retaliation from both sides.

Government retaliation for free speech is wrong no matter what side of an issue you’re on. A governor, like a president, is free to advocate for or against any position. Until action is actually taken, it’s impossible to assess its legality.

 

[Chi84]

There's always the private message feature if you want to talk about yourself with another poster. That way the thread stays about RCID and doesn't center so much about any individual poster.

 

[peter11435]

I’m being somewhat cynical but, ultimately, “legal” is what the Supreme Court says is legal.

I could go into a very long-winded explanation of why I think Disney’s chance of winning a First Amendment case given the makeup of the current Court is only so-so, but I doubt anyone would want to read it.

It is a fact that what Disney did was not illegal. Therefore any government imposed punishment against Disney for their legal action is itself illegal. There’s really no room for debate there. If anyone, especially the Supreme Court thinks otherwise then we have serious consequences for the future of our country.

 

[Figgy1]

 

[lazyboy97o]

Speech has been protected from retaliation via the loss of government business and contracts. And it should not be acceptable to just go terminating contracts for speech. Part of the reason certain executive functions are supposed to be delegated to the bureaucracy is to avoid the known, experienced problems of patronage.

 

[The Mom]

Anyone who continues bickering back and forth, or includes discussion about anything other than RCID's restructuring, will no longer be allowed to participate.

 

[GoofGoof]

The question is not whether what Disney did is legal; the question is whether what the state of Florida did is legal.

Until relatively recently, corporations were granted only limited First Amendment rights. Meanwhile, the current Supreme Court has overruled many earlier decisions. If this case came before the current Supreme Court, there are several ways the conservative majority could rule in Florida’s favor.

It would take a very long post to explain this in detail.

As far as serious consequences, I think the current Supreme Court has shown that this does not stop them when it comes to abortion rights or, soon, affirmative action.

I don’t disagree with any of this. IMHO this goes beyond what’s legal and illegal. There are many, many things that our government does and doesn’t do that are not based in codified law but in precedent and historical best practice. So could Disney prove that their first amendment rights were violated? Maybe so, maybe not, but in the end I am not comfortable with the actions of the government either way. This is not the way the government is supposed to act. It’s fundamentally wrong and I think almost everyone agrees with that. Some who support the Governor because of his party or his politics want to look the other way and try to justify his actions but if we are all being honest, nobody really thinks this is a good thing (almost nobody).

 

[peter11435]

Anyone who continues bickering back and forth, or includes discussion about anything other than RCID's restructuring, will no longer be allowed to participate.

My post wasn’t bickering and was very much about RCID. Is calling out the state for impropriety prohibited now?

I’m not trying to be argumentative. This
is obviously a topic that is hugely important to Disney and WDW so it needs to be discussed here but it’s also impossible to seperate this discussion from politics because the entire situation from beginning to end is political. So I understand the difficult position the moderators are faced with.

 

[mkt]

So, let's take bets as to what's discussed at tomorrow's RCID Meeting.

Since the Bay Lake and Lake Buena Vista meetings were canceled, and the RCID meeting was expanded with new topics... I'm placing bets on some RCID responsibilities and employees being transferred over to LBV and Bay Lake before the new board is confirmed.

 

[Chip Chipperson]

So, let's take bets as to what's discussed at tomorrow's RCID Meeting.

Since the Bay Lake and Lake Buena Vista meetings were canceled, and the RCID meeting was expanded with new topics... I'm placing bets on some RCID responsibilities and employees being transferred over to LBV and Bay Lake before the new board is confirmed.

You may be right. That would certainly throw a wrench into the government's plans. The new RCID would still exist and have a need to collect taxes for bond payments and maintenance of the associated projects, but it could push the state to try to fight it in court and then that would open the door to fight the entire change - and thus shift shift narrative from "Disney sues to maintain its own government and tax breaks (that don't really exist)" to "government sues for the right to violate Home Rule clause FL Constitution."

 

[lazyboy97o]

So, let's take bets as to what's discussed at tomorrow's RCID Meeting.

Since the Bay Lake and Lake Buena Vista meetings were canceled, and the RCID meeting was expanded with new topics... I'm placing bets on some RCID responsibilities and employees being transferred over to LBV and Bay Lake before the new board is confirmed.

I have no idea what is going on.

The Reedy Creek Improvement District website now lists the state appointed board.

Board of Supervisors - Central Florida Tourism Oversight District

The District is governed by a five-member Board of Supervisors, appointed by the Governor, who hold office for staggered terms of two or four years. The unique issues brought before […]

www.rcid.org

The reconstituted District basically has authority over the municipalities. It’s not really possible to transfer assets or responsibilities back to the cities under the new framework.

 

[mkt]

I have no idea what is going on.

The Reedy Creek Improvement District website now lists the state appointed board.

Board of Supervisors - Central Florida Tourism Oversight District

The District is governed by a five-member Board of Supervisors, appointed by the Governor, who hold office for staggered terms of two or four years. The unique issues brought before […]

www.rcid.org

The reconstituted District basically has authority over the municipalities. It’s not really possible to transfer assets or responsibilities back to the cities under the new framework.

I didn't think they had been confirmed yet.
Well that threw a wrench into my idea.

 

[lazyboy97o]

I didn't think they had been confirmed yet.
Well that threw a wrench into my idea.

I don’t think they have either which is why their end of terms are all listed as TBD. They’d all have an end date if they were official. The rest of the website also still talks about elections and that page doesn’t acknowledge that the board is appointed even though it’s been updated. Can the governor do absentee appointments the week before a session starts?

The 2023 Meetings agenda item would make sense for a new board to review, alter and confirm. But why would they need to speak to a special counsel? Of the two agenda items, one makes obvious sense for each board.

 

[Riviera Rita]

It's all very silly and childish.

 

[mkt]

It's all very silly and childish.

That's politics.

 

[mkt]

I don’t think they have either which is why their end of terms are all listed as TBD. They’d all have an end date if they were official. The rest of the website also still talks about elections and that page doesn’t acknowledge that the board is appointed even though it’s been updated. Can the governor do absentee appointments the week before a session starts?

The 2023 Meetings agenda item would make sense for a new board to review, alter and confirm. But why would they need to speak to a special counsel? Of the two agenda items, one makes obvious sense for each board.

The special counsel bit I find the most interesting.

 

[GoofGoof]

So, let's take bets as to what's discussed at tomorrow's RCID Meeting.

Since the Bay Lake and Lake Buena Vista meetings were canceled, and the RCID meeting was expanded with new topics... I'm placing bets on some RCID responsibilities and employees being transferred over to LBV and Bay Lake before the new board is confirmed.

I’m thinking the exact opposite is happening. Disney/RCID is cooperating. They aren’t looking to fight this. They are attempting to take the high road and facilitate a smooth transition of power to the new board. The board isn’t technically approved yet but that’s just a rubber stamp so RCID could legally hold out until formal approval but that would just make things more chaotic at transition and would delay the inevitable.

 

[Riviera Rita]

That's politics.

It's modern politics.