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

[Zummi Gummi]

Meanwhile, the legislative session here in Florida ends in less than two weeks, and they haven’t even started on the budget yet (which, as has been pointed out in this thread, is the one constitutional obligation the legislature has in the state).

We are almost assuredly moving to a special session, which would be of great expense to the taxpayers.

 

[Brian]

I admire the stamina of the posters in here arguing on a Saturday. Maybe we all should head to the parks?

Good idea! I'll meet you all at the France pavilion at 8pm and we'll argue in person.

 

[GoofGoof]

I admire the stamina of the posters in here arguing on a Saturday. Maybe we all should head to the parks?

I was sitting outside on my deck for the last few hours enjoying the sunshine…..then the sky grew dark and the hail started. I’m back here now

 

[Lilofan]

Meanwhile, the legislative session here in Florida ends in less than two weeks, and they haven’t even started on the budget yet (which, as has been pointed out in this thread, is the one constitutional obligation the legislature has in the state).

We are almost assuredly moving to a special session, which would be of great expense to the taxpayers.

FL is still part of the laid back more chill - South where it is not exactly Northeast- high stress , faster paced lifestyle , always in a hurry , and getting items done at a quicker pace.

 

[GoofGoof]

Just my personal beliefs. Government needs to be controlled by the people.

Something as simple as replacing the Disney board with a 5 person elected board comprised of 3 Orange County, 1 Osceola County, and 1 Disney rep would've been good to me.

A very reasonable and sensible proposition.

I think Disney would actually have been fine with that approach. They could have still negotiated a development agreement like most of the major players have but it would have been more arms length and the board would be set to the task of overseeing the actual responsibilities of the district (roads, infrastructure and EMS) instead of boasting about building prisons, hiring endless consultants and lawyers (surely all friends of the program), enacting bogus Covid policies and looking for ways to charge Disney more in taxes.

 

[Brian]

Meanwhile, the legislative session here in Florida ends in less than two weeks, and they haven’t even started on the budget yet (which, as has been pointed out in this thread, is the one constitutional obligation the legislature has in the state).

We are almost assuredly moving to a special session, which would be of great expense to the taxpayers.

I'm confident the budget will be taken care of just fine. Because of Florida's fiscal responsibility, growing tax base (of which Disney is a big contributor), and prior years' surplus, it should be an easy one to draft and pass.

 

[GoofGoof]

In Disney's case, RCID does represent preferential treatment. With the "one vote per acre" election, Disney 100% determined who was on the RCID board. Disney controlled its local government. Corporate Disney was receiving a special consideration.

Those of us who follow this closely know that this benefited Disney, the State of Florida, and its residents. We know that RCID worked, and it worked well.

I mostly agree with the original point of your post too, but taking this section out of context a bit to make a point and it’s not really directed at you. I agree most people are skeptical of big corporations and worry they are greedy. If someone proposed the full RCID setup today it would likely not receive positive public sentiment. But with that being said we have 50+ years of history to look at. As you said RCID worked well and benefited not just Disney but the state of FL and especially the local residents. During those 50+ years Disney didn’t wield their “quasi-government control” to turn a quick profit at the detriment of FL residents. They didn’t cut corners on building codes. They didn’t over develop and cause harm to the environment. I think even supporters of the Governor would have a hard time pointing out what harm RCID has done. So why the need to change now? I know the real answer, but just food for thought to those attempting to justify what’s happening. I could see if Disney began to abuse the relationship saying it’s time to kill the district and move on.

 

[castlecake2.0]

I am at Epcot but I am looking forward to the week ahead and visiting my representatives local offices. I hope they really understand that I will be now be making contributions to their Democratic opposition if they vote against RCID.

Will you be able to come to the RCID meeting Wednesday?

 

[Joe S.]

You're missing the point.

How does the average person answering the poll view this?

Can they get their own special district? Can their parents get their own special district? Can their neighbor get a special district? Does the ordinary person working a regular job have a realistic chance of creating their very own special district?

Another mega-corporation (i.e. Universal/Comcast) is just another example of a huge corporation getting special treatment.

RCID was created by Walt Disney himself buddying up with Governor Burns. How many get to shmooze with a governor? How many get to have the legislature create a law just for them?

That's the point. It typically takes means far beyond the average person to get a special district. To the average person, any corporation getting a special district is preferential treatment.

There aren't any average people that I know who own 40+ sq. miles of property over two counties, built and maintained all of their own road systems and cared for waterways, built and maintained their own water and wastewater systems, maintained fire and security service along with paying the Orange & Oseola County Sheriff's Offices a fortune to patrol that 40+ sq. miles. In a word this resulted in 50 years of 'efficiency' and has a great way contributed to 50 years of joy for a lot of people.

I was the director of a special improvement district corporation in another state. It served all of the businesses in one section of the town in which I lived. It certainly wasn't as big a RCID but the concept is the same. The benefit to the businesses in the district is getting improvements and repairs done more quickly and efficiently and they're willing to pay for that. The benefit to the government agency is that they don't have to spend resources doing those improvements and repairs within the district and they don't have to set aside part of their budget for that. It's a win-win for everybody.

 

[mkt]

I admire the stamina of the posters in here arguing on a Saturday. Maybe we all should head to the parks?

I was there earlier today and will be back tomorrow.

 

[scottieRoss]

I'm pretty surprised that a reputable polling company would ask a question like that. It's terribly written and almost sounds like something from a push poll.

I have a friend who used to be involved in polling in DC (not as a pollster but in a position that used polling data) and that kind of question would generally be thrown out before the poll was even put into the field. If it made it in, the results would likely be ignored by experts unless they wanted to use them specifically for PR. As an example, although I don't remember the specifics of the issues, he told me more than once about results that looked great for them but were marked it out as worthless because of serious concerns about the reliability of the data due to the question asked.

That doesn't mean it's automatically wrong -- they could have inadvertently stumbled over accurate data even with a bad question -- just that it's hard to draw any solid conclusions from it.

Or, and this is probably more likely, the pollsters have no clue about the issue and just used headlines and a few media stories to create the question.

 

[MickeyCB]

I have mentioned here previously - Disney does not have a lot of fans out there, aside from, well, fans.

Have to beg to differ.
Millions visiting Disney parks per year. Bazillions spent on merch, movies, etc. worldwide.
Are they all rabid fans like us, of course not.
Are there absolute 'Disney is a blood sucking corporation we hate them' people out there, yes.
But yes, Disney has fans.

 

[scottieRoss]

You're missing the point.

How does the average person answering the poll view this?

Can they get their own special district? Can their parents get their own special district? Can their neighbor get a special district? Does the ordinary person working a regular job have a realistic chance of creating their very own special district?

Another mega-corporation (i.e. Universal/Comcast) is just another example of a huge corporation getting special treatment.

RCID was created by Walt Disney himself buddying up with Governor Burns. How many get to shmooze with a governor? How many get to have the legislature create a law just for them?

That's the point. It typically takes means far beyond the average person to get a special district. To the average person, any corporation getting a special district is preferential treatment.

Now it is not exactly the same, because I live in Texas, not Florida. But i live in 2 special districts. 1 is a Crime Control District, where we pay additional taxes (.25% sales and also property taxes) and the district buys equipment for law enforcement and security items in our local district like fences and lighting for schools, playgrounds and the dog park. We also have an economic development one where we have an additional .5% sales tax that is used to encourage businesses and give grants for business exteriors. They were voted into existence by the residents and then have elected boards from the citizens that live here.

 

[mikejs78]

I admire the stamina of the posters in here arguing on a Saturday. Maybe we all should head to the parks?

I'm here now, on vacation this week.

Good idea! I'll meet you all at the France pavilion at 8pm and we'll argue in person.

Funny thing is I was at the France pavilion at about 8...

 

[Chi84]

You're missing the point.

How does the average person answering the poll view this?

Can they get their own special district? Can their parents get their own special district? Can their neighbor get a special district? Does the ordinary person working a regular job have a realistic chance of creating their very own special district?

Another mega-corporation (i.e. Universal/Comcast) is just another example of a huge corporation getting special treatment.

RCID was created by Walt Disney himself buddying up with Governor Burns. How many get to shmooze with a governor? How many get to have the legislature create a law just for them?

That's the point. It typically takes means far beyond the average person to get a special district. To the average person, any corporation getting a special district is preferential treatment.

I think you’ve established your point that if someone doesn’t know why RCID was created or what it is and does they would be against it based on uninformed beliefs.

 

[mkt]

AK tomorrow. Beers, margs, and chicken nommers.

Keep it polite around my son, and we can argue for hours about DeSantis v Disney.

 

[LittleBuford]

Have to beg to differ.
Millions visiting Disney parks per year. Bazillions spent on merch, movies, etc. worldwide.
Are they all rabid fans like us, of course not.
Are there absolute 'Disney is a blood sucking corporation we hate them' people out there, yes.
But yes, Disney has fans.

I was likewise puzzled by that claim. Thank you for articulating a robust response to it.

 

[Disstevefan1]

- Disney does not have a lot of fans out there, aside from, well, fans.

The Disney brand ranks 23 in the top 500 in 2023.

Some of the top 23 I did not recognize.

Disney did move down from 19 in 2022.

 

[GoofGoof]

AK tomorrow. Beers, margs, and chicken nommers.

Keep it polite around my son, and we can argue for hours about DeSantis v Disney.

If I hop in the car right now and start driving I can be there for happy hour Only question is how long until my wife realizes I’m gone

 

[Touchdown]

Last day for me tomorrow, MK in the morning, Epcot in the afternoon.