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

[CaptainAmerica]

Classe is in these meetings. Not putting forth evidence for consideration is a really bad posture for a record.

They pretty strongly implied that he's about to be canned.

Anyone else shocked Trump is more on Disney’s side of this. That should tell you everything you need to know about DeSantis overreaching here in a big way

Nah, Trump is just reflexively combative and does everything the opposite of whomever he perceives to be his main rival. Anything DeSantis says is good, Trump will say is bad.

 

[flynnibus]

Anyone else shocked Trump is more on Disney’s side of this.

No - because DeSantis is Trump's competition. You can expect 12months from now Trump to completely ignore anything he says now and say something completely different if it serves him at that moment.

There is nothing to be read into those posts except for Trump wanting no one else on top of the mountain but him.

 

[Mr. Stay Puft]

I think the scary part is that they are trying to do these things. The law figuring out what's right isn't always inevitable. You can see why people are worried, right?

..

Lunatics rioted, and lost, and now they're being convicted and sent to prison.

The system worked.

You can't legislate away crazy people.

But on a state level, states have been able to get away with all kinds of crazy things because SCOTUS has taken a hands off approach to states doing obviously illegal and unconstitutional acts. Such as issues pertaining to voting rights and fair districting.

 

[vikescaper]

As fast as this thread moves we may need another thread for cliff notes lol

I concur!

 

[drnilescrane]

Uhh.. sorry but no. "lawyering up" is pretty much the de facto here for people that are more focused on results then press.

Especially because results = no press in Disney's mind.

Can you imagine the circus of Disney being some case study for a first amendment lawsuit? It'd be worse than Fox v Dominion.

Meanwhile, handling things this way, the drip feed of news has won most people strongly over to their side. Including the entire left hand side of the chamber *and* Mar A Lago, which would be unthinkable 12 months ago.

 

[Vegas Disney Fan]

View attachment 711218

Probably this.

This letter should be more damning to the Governor than Disney… not wanting their name on it because they do work for the Governor, they are essentially saying “we don’t want to upset him because we know we’ll be punished“... People should not fear a politician like this in America.

 

[GoofGoof]

WDW chief council drafting agreements and then asking for his name to be taken off the header and replaced with a third party.

I'm watching without audio while I half pay attention to a Zoom so I only saw it, I didn't hear the commentary.

He didn’t draft the agreement. Read the e-mail. He said to the guy who forwarded the agreement to him for review that he saw his name was down as the drafter…..if he drafted the agreement why would he put his own name as drafter and then ask for it to be removed. Obviously the law firm he referenced drafted the document and used his name as drafter because as he said they didn’t want their name on the agreement for fear of retribution from the Governor.

Geez….if this is the great smoking gun than every company in America is guilty.

 

[Chi84]

Classe is in these meetings. Not putting forth evidence for consideration is a really bad posture for a record.

They’re taking evidence?

 

[Mr. Stay Puft]

This letter should be more damning to the Governor than Disney… not wanting their name on it because they do work for the Governor, they are essentially saying “we don’t want to upset him because we know we’ll be punished“... People should not have to fear a politician like this in America.

But it is new reality here in the US when one party is captured by authoritarian reactionaries.

 

[GBAB1973]

It’s only proof that disney was involved- which was already known

The point about optics is not in itself anything actionable. Even the presenter noted this and was only using it to support another argument.

Lobbyists write most bills which are rebranded in the same way by staff.

My biggest take away was they outlined several vectors they would attack the soundness of the deal… but without much ranking of which are actually winnable.

But now disney lawyers have a nice list of points to prepare for

A lawyer on twitter was saying if this is the best the state and new board has, they are in a tough spot if this goes to court. All they've really done is try to poke some holes in procedures and then try to inject a concept of "self dealing" with no real attacks on the legality of the agreement itself. And the self dealing angle he said is a tough case to make because by their very nature, special districts are set up for the benefit of the underlying entity that wanted the special district created. In other words, if Universal gets a special district, it would obviously be set up to benefit Universal.

 

[drnilescrane]

Obviously the law firm he referenced drafted the document and used his name as drafter because as he said they didn’t want their name on the agreement for fear of retribution from the Governor.

https://vogelgroupdc.com/florida-office/

As Florida’s favorable climate and economic opportunities continue to attract growth, the development community faces an evolving suite of state and local regulations that affects their ability to service the needs of a growing population. We have helped developers confront and overcome anti-growth policies at the state level through preemption legislation, achieve their long-term visions through the use of sector plans and infrastructure special taxing districts, and cut through federal red tape by removing the Corps of Engineers from most wetland permitting decisions in the state. We are proud of our results for our development and land use clients.

 

[GBAB1973]

At what point will Disney and the new District Board start to work behind the scenes on crafting a compromise package between both sides? Surely this has already started?

Ligation is an option, but wouldn't both sides prefer to try to work out their issues to get this out of the news cycle? The RCID was boring for 50 years, I like to go back to that.

Maybe but knowing who is on the board and who the board is really working for, it's quite possible they have no desire to settle with Disney and negotiate a fair agreement. They want to lay waste and try to control what Disney is doing.

 

[CaptainAmerica]

Such as issues pertaining to voting rights and fair districting.

The only voting rights issues that have come up have been the rollback of some 2020 measures that were always meant to be temporary due to COVID. Putting voting procedures back to where they were pre-pandemic was not the gutting of voting rights that opponents framed it as.

Your claim about district maps is just false.

Supreme Court Turns Away GOP Challenges to Congressional Maps in North Carolina, Pennsylvania

Justices let stand congressional maps expected to be more favorable to Democrats than Republican proposals.

www.wsj.com

 

[Dan Deesnee]

There is no freedom of speech in Florida. Not for individuals, not even for corporations.

These are dark times in my native state that I have multigenerational roots in. DeSantis is turning Florida into his own personal fiefdom. As if we're now a country separate from the US.

And there are millions who think the complete opposite of what you just said. That's the beauty of America, actually. Sometimes the people in power do things you agree with, sometimes they don't. He won't be Florida's governor forever.

Corporations have free speech in every state, including Florida. However, free speech has consequences sometimes. Corporations should probably just stay out of politics in general, like they used to. The average person just wants to enjoy what the company produces, not hear all about their political leanings...

 

[peter11435]

Corporations have free speech in every state, including Florida. However, free speech has consequences sometimes.

again….. those consequences can not come from the government. If they do, then you never had free speech.

 

[lentesta]

A lawyer on twitter was saying if this is the best the state and new board has, they are in a tough spot if this goes to court. All they've really done is try to poke some holes in procedures and then try to inject a concept of "self dealing" with no real attacks on the legality of the agreement itself. And the self dealing angle he said is a tough case to make because by their very nature, special districts are set up for the benefit of the underlying entity that wanted the special district created. In other words, if Universal gets a special district, it would obviously be set up to benefit Universal.

This seems to be the consensus from the lawyers I've talked to, too.

 

[GoofGoof]

It's probably minor. I think @ParentsOf4 said the common remedy is to send out the letters as soon as is practicable.

And that's without looking at the original RCID charter, which may have given the BoS the abiltity to skip some steps.

I think you also need one of the landowners who didn’t properly receive the notice to claim a grievance. If a landowner comes forward and says they didn’t know about this and therefore didn’t have the opportunity to provide public comment then that could be a problem. If nobody was harmed then there’s no issue. The mailing is only done to protect affected parties.

 

[GBAB1973]

Anyone else shocked Trump is more on Disney’s side of this. That should tell you everything you need to know about DeSantis overreaching here in a big way

I don't think Trump is on Disney's side here. He's just trying to argue that Big Bad Disney is beating up DeSantis and we can't have that kind of loser as President. At some point, as this drags on, Trump will brag that he, and only he, could have taken on Disney and beaten them.

 

[CentralFLlife]

No. The rule of law is robust. Our former president attempted a coup to steal the 2020 election. He filed over 50 lawsuits attempting to overturn legitimate election results and he lost every single one of those cases, many of which were decided by judges and justices that he had appointed.

I see why people don't like these things, and there are many of them that I don't like either. But I don't think "worry" is justified.

The worry is absolutely justified. Its borderline irresponsible to say otherwise.

If a government is willing to single out and retaliate a major corporation for something that was said, they will do the same to you someday.

Yes, the rule of law is robust. But the government so blatantly going against the rule of law is absolutely concerning. If need be, they’ll happily change the law to get their way.

 

[Chi84]

And there are millions who think the complete opposite of what you just said. That's the beauty of America, actually. Sometimes the people in power do things you agree with, sometimes they don't. He won't be Florida's governor forever.

Corporations have free speech in every state, including Florida. However, free speech has consequences sometimes. Corporations should probably just stay out of politics in general, like they used to. The average person just wants to enjoy what the company produces, not hear all about their political leanings...

True. If people don’t like what Disney is saying or doing, they can vote with their wallets.

The issue in this thread, though, is whether a corporation’s decision to say something political can result in being punished by the government.