Yes. They seem to have been frothing at the mouth with grand plans.
They could still do that, but the tools left available to leverage are harder to blatantly use without being obviously wrong.
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News Reedy Creek Improvement District and the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District
- Thread starter castlecake2.0
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This assumes they were not all done on non-government communications systems. Along with that someone isn't out there deleting old communication records with great haste. Both of which would be wrong, but not unheard of.
Smiley/OCD
Well-Known Member
Not in my town…You can erect a fence anywhere you'd like in your backyard without a permit - so long as it's not on the border of the adjacent property.
Just out of curiosity, because of the size of the ECV’s or the batteries?
sullyinMT
Well-Known Member
No, it was more a thought of what TWDC legal team may seek to discover in preparation to defend any charges if they actually arise. Or as a 1A plaintiff if it ever came to that.
I believe Disney has shown they’d rather it not come to that. But Iger did snarl his teeth a little today.
Smiley/OCD
Well-Known Member
4&17 at rush hour…Lol…
If you call that “traffic”…you need to see the world more
mikejs78
Well-Known Member
Ok, Comrade.We'll have to agree to disagree.
You really should read the Federalist papers. You'd find you were very wrong.
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Did Disney actually say that it was the will of the people?
Disstevefan1
Well-Known Member
It was closed for social justice and social justice is the will of the people, right?
Hmmm, but then they would not be lying???
DeSantis and Disney Clash Anew Over Florida Theme Park’s Authority
The Florida governor wants the state inspector general to look into Disney’s efforts to limit oversight of Walt Disney World. The company called his action “anti-business.”
By Brooks Barnes
April 3, 2023Updated 5:59 p.m. ET
Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida and the Walt Disney Company clashed anew on Monday, with the governor requesting an investigation into Disney’s effort to sidestep state oversight of its theme parks and Robert A. Iger, Disney’s chief executive, blasting Mr. DeSantis as “anti-business” and “anti-Florida.”
Shortly before Disney’s annual shareholder meeting, Mr. DeSantis sent a letter to Melinda Miguel, Florida’s chief inspector general, asking for “a thorough review and investigation” into Disney’s effort to circumvent his authority.
Mr. DeSantis and the Florida Legislature restricted Disney’s autonomy in February by appointing a handpicked oversight board for a special tax district, enacted in 1967, that has effectively allowed the company to self-govern Disney World. Previously, Disney selected the board members. But the new appointees — and, apparently, the governor — realized only last week that the Disney-controlled board, as one of its final actions, pushed through a development agreement with the company that would limit the new board’s power for decades to come.
The agreement gave Disney vast control over future construction in the district; the new board doesn’t have any say.
“These collusive and self-dealing arrangements aim to nullify the recently passed legislation, undercut Florida’s legislative process and defy the will of Floridians,” Mr. DeSantis wrote to Ms. Miguel, whom he appointed in 2019. “Any legal or ethical violations should be referred to the proper authorities.” A spokesman for Mr. DeSantis added that “Disney is again fighting to keep its special corporate benefits and dodge Florida law. We are not going to let that happen.”
The new board has hired four law firms to scrutinize the matter and, potentially, take Disney to court.
Mr. DeSantis and Disney — Florida’s largest private employer and corporate taxpayer — have been sparring for more than a year over the tax district. It has long enabled Disney to control fire protection, policing, road maintenance and development planning at the 25,000-acre Disney World resort. The designation has been a crucial tool for Disney in developing the resort, which includes four theme parks, two water parks and 18 Disney-owned hotels.
Speaking at the shareholder meeting, Mr. Iger denounced Mr. DeSantis for moving to restrict Disney’s tax district autonomy — noting that the governor took action only after the company halted political donations in Florida and criticized a contentious state education law. Among many things, the law, called Parents Rights in Education, prohibits classroom discussion of sexual orientation and gender identity for students through the third grade and limits it for older ones. Opponents labeled the legislation “Don’t Say Gay.”
“A company has a right to freedom of speech just like individuals do,” Mr. Iger said. “The governor got very angry over the position Disney took and seems like he’s decided to retaliate against us, including the naming of a new board to oversee the property, in effect to seek to punish a company for its exercise of a constitutional right. And that just seems really wrong to me.”
Mr. Iger noted that Disney employs 75,000 people at Disney World, which is about 20 miles south of Orlando, and annually attracts 50 million visitors. Mr. Iger added that Disney was “currently planning” to invest more than $17 billion in the resort over the next decade, creating an estimated 13,000 new Disney jobs and thousands of indirect jobs. He said the unspecified expansion plans would attract more visitors to Florida and “generate more taxes.”
“And so our premise is that any action that thwarts those efforts simply to retaliate for a position the company took sounds not just anti-business, but it sounds anti-Florida,” Mr. Iger concluded.
In 2021, Disney World paid more than $780 million in state and local taxes, according to a Disney disclosure.
In a statement, Taryn Fenske, a spokeswoman for Mr. DeSantis, acknowledged Disney’s First Amendment rights but questioned the company’s longtime autonomy as it related to development at Disney World. “The Florida Legislature and Gov. DeSantis worked to put Disney on an even playing field, and Disney got caught attempting to undermine Florida’s duly enacted legislation in the 11th hour,” she said.
Disney contends that the previous tax-district board acted in accordance with applicable laws when it passed the development agreement last month.
“All agreements signed between Disney and the district were appropriate and were discussed and approved in open, noticed public forums in compliance with Florida’s Government-in-the-Sunshine law,” Disney said in a statement last week.
Notice of a hearing on Disney’s action was made in The Orlando Sentinel on Jan. 18, according to tax district disclosures. The matter was discussed at a short public meeting on Jan. 25. After a second notice in The Sentinel on Jan. 27, it was approved at a second public meeting on Feb. 8.
Mr. DeSantis named five appointees to the oversight board on Feb. 27. Three are lawyers who have donated campaign money to Mr. DeSantis. Another is a founder of Moms for Liberty, a group that backed Florida’s law restricting the discussion of sexuality and gender identity in classrooms. The fifth is the chief executive of a Christian ministry who is known for spreading a baseless theory that tap water could turn people gay.
Disney’s annual shareholder meeting, which was held virtually on Monday, seemed planned with Mr. DeSantis in mind. After a brief introduction by Susan E. Arnold, who is retiring as Disney’s chairwoman, Mr. Iger opened the meeting with a video from a sunny Disney World. “We are so proud of Disney’s legacy here in Central Florida,” Mr. Iger said with a smile, with Cinderella’s castle rising in the background.
Mr. Iger went on to highlight expansion of the resort, including a new “Tron”-themed roller coaster that will open on Tuesday and a new “Guardians of the Galaxy”-themed roller coaster that opened last year as part of an continuing overhaul of the Epcot park.
Just over a year ago, Disney’s response to the Florida education law overtook the company’s shareholder meeting. Bob Chapek, who was Disney’s chief executive, tried to explain the company’s shifting response to the legislation — silence followed by soft disapproval followed by more aggressive condemnation. He ended up making things worse. Before the day was over, Disney employees were in open revolt, Mr. DeSantis had gone on attack, and the company had been drawn into a humiliating tit for tat with the Human Rights Campaign, an L.G.B.T.Q. advocacy group.
Much has changed since then. Mr. Chapek was fired. Mr. Iger came out of retirement to retake Disney’s helm. Most of the outraged employees have been calmed. Disney and the Human Rights Campaign made up.
But L.G.B.T.Q. issues continue to be a tricky matter for Disney to navigate. In this hyperpartisan moment, one side of the political divide has been pushing Disney to include same-sex relationships in animated movies; the other has ardently opposed that. One shareholder thanked Mr. Iger on Monday for L.G.B.T.Q. inclusion in films like “Lightyear” and “Strange World.” Another, in a homophobic tirade, begged him to “turn Disney back to the apolitical, family-friendly place that it used to be.”
“We’ve recently gotten criticism, as you just expressed, for what some perceive to be agenda-driven content,” Mr. Iger said in response to the latter. “And I’m sensitive to that, actually. Our primary mission needs to be to entertain.”
But he indicated that Disney content would remain inclusive. The company, Mr. Iger said, would continue to tell “age-appropriate” stories “that reflect the world around us and that foster a greater understanding, greater perspective, greater acceptance of all people.”
Tony the Tigger
Well-Known Member
Apologies if this has already been posted.
Iger has spoken.
amp.cnn.com
Iger has spoken.
Bob Iger calls Florida actions against Disney World 'anti-business'
Disney CEO Bob Iger fought back against Florida Governor Ron DeSantis' actions against his company, telling Disney shareholders on Monday that recent actions by the state were "anti-business."
amp.cnn.com
LittleBuford
Well-Known Member
Disney has never claimed such a thing.
BuddyThomas
Well-Known Member
It would probably be best if DeSatan decided to shut the hell up already.DeSantis and Disney Clash Anew Over Florida Theme Park’s Authority
The Florida governor wants the state inspector general to look into Disney’s efforts to limit oversight of Walt Disney World. The company called his action “anti-business.”www.nytimes.com
By Brooks Barnes
April 3, 2023Updated 5:59 p.m. ET
Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida and the Walt Disney Company clashed anew on Monday, with the governor requesting an investigation into Disney’s effort to sidestep state oversight of its theme parks and Robert A. Iger, Disney’s chief executive, blasting Mr. DeSantis as “anti-business” and “anti-Florida.”
Shortly before Disney’s annual shareholder meeting, Mr. DeSantis sent a letter to Melinda Miguel, Florida’s chief inspector general, asking for “a thorough review and investigation” into Disney’s effort to circumvent his authority.
Mr. DeSantis and the Florida Legislature restricted Disney’s autonomy in February by appointing a handpicked oversight board for a special tax district, enacted in 1967, that has effectively allowed the company to self-govern Disney World. Previously, Disney selected the board members. But the new appointees — and, apparently, the governor — realized only last week that the Disney-controlled board, as one of its final actions, pushed through a development agreement with the company that would limit the new board’s power for decades to come.
The agreement gave Disney vast control over future construction in the district; the new board doesn’t have any say.
“These collusive and self-dealing arrangements aim to nullify the recently passed legislation, undercut Florida’s legislative process and defy the will of Floridians,” Mr. DeSantis wrote to Ms. Miguel, whom he appointed in 2019. “Any legal or ethical violations should be referred to the proper authorities.” A spokesman for Mr. DeSantis added that “Disney is again fighting to keep its special corporate benefits and dodge Florida law. We are not going to let that happen.”
The new board has hired four law firms to scrutinize the matter and, potentially, take Disney to court.
Mr. DeSantis and Disney — Florida’s largest private employer and corporate taxpayer — have been sparring for more than a year over the tax district. It has long enabled Disney to control fire protection, policing, road maintenance and development planning at the 25,000-acre Disney World resort. The designation has been a crucial tool for Disney in developing the resort, which includes four theme parks, two water parks and 18 Disney-owned hotels.
Speaking at the shareholder meeting, Mr. Iger denounced Mr. DeSantis for moving to restrict Disney’s tax district autonomy — noting that the governor took action only after the company halted political donations in Florida and criticized a contentious state education law. Among many things, the law, called Parents Rights in Education, prohibits classroom discussion of sexual orientation and gender identity for students through the third grade and limits it for older ones. Opponents labeled the legislation “Don’t Say Gay.”
“A company has a right to freedom of speech just like individuals do,” Mr. Iger said. “The governor got very angry over the position Disney took and seems like he’s decided to retaliate against us, including the naming of a new board to oversee the property, in effect to seek to punish a company for its exercise of a constitutional right. And that just seems really wrong to me.”
Mr. Iger noted that Disney employs 75,000 people at Disney World, which is about 20 miles south of Orlando, and annually attracts 50 million visitors. Mr. Iger added that Disney was “currently planning” to invest more than $17 billion in the resort over the next decade, creating an estimated 13,000 new Disney jobs and thousands of indirect jobs. He said the unspecified expansion plans would attract more visitors to Florida and “generate more taxes.”
“And so our premise is that any action that thwarts those efforts simply to retaliate for a position the company took sounds not just anti-business, but it sounds anti-Florida,” Mr. Iger concluded.
In 2021, Disney World paid more than $780 million in state and local taxes, according to a Disney disclosure.
In a statement, Taryn Fenske, a spokeswoman for Mr. DeSantis, acknowledged Disney’s First Amendment rights but questioned the company’s longtime autonomy as it related to development at Disney World. “The Florida Legislature and Gov. DeSantis worked to put Disney on an even playing field, and Disney got caught attempting to undermine Florida’s duly enacted legislation in the 11th hour,” she said.
Disney contends that the previous tax-district board acted in accordance with applicable laws when it passed the development agreement last month.
“All agreements signed between Disney and the district were appropriate and were discussed and approved in open, noticed public forums in compliance with Florida’s Government-in-the-Sunshine law,” Disney said in a statement last week.
Notice of a hearing on Disney’s action was made in The Orlando Sentinel on Jan. 18, according to tax district disclosures. The matter was discussed at a short public meeting on Jan. 25. After a second notice in The Sentinel on Jan. 27, it was approved at a second public meeting on Feb. 8.
Mr. DeSantis named five appointees to the oversight board on Feb. 27. Three are lawyers who have donated campaign money to Mr. DeSantis. Another is a founder of Moms for Liberty, a group that backed Florida’s law restricting the discussion of sexuality and gender identity in classrooms. The fifth is the chief executive of a Christian ministry who is known for spreading a baseless theory that tap water could turn people gay.
Disney’s annual shareholder meeting, which was held virtually on Monday, seemed planned with Mr. DeSantis in mind. After a brief introduction by Susan E. Arnold, who is retiring as Disney’s chairwoman, Mr. Iger opened the meeting with a video from a sunny Disney World. “We are so proud of Disney’s legacy here in Central Florida,” Mr. Iger said with a smile, with Cinderella’s castle rising in the background.
Mr. Iger went on to highlight expansion of the resort, including a new “Tron”-themed roller coaster that will open on Tuesday and a new “Guardians of the Galaxy”-themed roller coaster that opened last year as part of an continuing overhaul of the Epcot park.
Just over a year ago, Disney’s response to the Florida education law overtook the company’s shareholder meeting. Bob Chapek, who was Disney’s chief executive, tried to explain the company’s shifting response to the legislation — silence followed by soft disapproval followed by more aggressive condemnation. He ended up making things worse. Before the day was over, Disney employees were in open revolt, Mr. DeSantis had gone on attack, and the company had been drawn into a humiliating tit for tat with the Human Rights Campaign, an L.G.B.T.Q. advocacy group.
Much has changed since then. Mr. Chapek was fired. Mr. Iger came out of retirement to retake Disney’s helm. Most of the outraged employees have been calmed. Disney and the Human Rights Campaign made up.
But L.G.B.T.Q. issues continue to be a tricky matter for Disney to navigate. In this hyperpartisan moment, one side of the political divide has been pushing Disney to include same-sex relationships in animated movies; the other has ardently opposed that. One shareholder thanked Mr. Iger on Monday for L.G.B.T.Q. inclusion in films like “Lightyear” and “Strange World.” Another, in a homophobic tirade, begged him to “turn Disney back to the apolitical, family-friendly place that it used to be.”
“We’ve recently gotten criticism, as you just expressed, for what some perceive to be agenda-driven content,” Mr. Iger said in response to the latter. “And I’m sensitive to that, actually. Our primary mission needs to be to entertain.”
But he indicated that Disney content would remain inclusive. The company, Mr. Iger said, would continue to tell “age-appropriate” stories “that reflect the world around us and that foster a greater understanding, greater perspective, greater acceptance of all people.”
So, Disney never said it. Gotcha. That means accusing them of saying it is the lie. It’s not Disney who’s lying here.
Chi84
Premium Member
I don’t know what you think is wrong. Disney has no power to overturn legislation. The only way Disney can have the legislation either repealed or overturned in court is to support the state and national organizations that are working to achieve that goal and that’s exactly what it said it would do.
That is appropriate political free speech for corporations under our constitution. It’s the holding of the Supreme Court in the Citizens United decision, which means more than your opinion.
Were you suggesting that Disney was threatening to do something illegal?
Ghost93
Well-Known Member
No matter what Disney does, Ron DeSantis will try to keep the feud going and public to appease his base, who think he's on some holy crusade against evil woke corporations. Unfortunately, DeSantis won't let this go.
BuddyThomas
Well-Known Member
He’s going to have a very rude awakening very soon.
lazyboy97o
Well-Known Member
And even if Disney did announce an intention to engage in illegal activity, that too would likely be protected speech.
Chi84
Premium Member
But definitely not recommended lol.
Disney Glimpses
Well-Known Member
In fact, the opposite.