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

[lazyboy97o]

We have another response:

'Buckle up': DeSantis escalates Disney dispute, eyes hotel taxes and road tolls

The DeSantis administration is also examining if a recent agreement approved between a Central Florida board that had been controlled by Disney and the company runs afoul of the state’s growth laws, according to senior administration officials.

www.politico.com

Edit: tagging in @lazyboy97o to get their take on it.

More lies and promises to engage in blatantly illegal activity.

The simple fact is that is about consolidating power. That’s it. There is no way to cool things down or “compromise”. It’s about subjugating.

 

[Drdcm]

Bridge gate 2.0

 

[saxamoophone]

He’s such a Bully. I really have no idea how anyone could vote for that guy.

 

[LAKid53]

The comments were filmed.

He starts by saying ”Disney is a joke.” I presume he hasn’t met their lawyers yet.

DeSantis says legislature will repeal agreements (Hello Article 1, Clause 10, Section 1) and go further including looking at taxes on the hotels, tolls on the roads, and developing property that the district owns.

He also mentions being reelected after this issue began and therefore the voters approved of this action. However, the RCID change in governance bill was not being discussed at that time only the dissolution bill which are fundamentally different not that it matters whatsoever. This is a republic, Ronald. The majority doesn’t get to do whatever it wants, although it can certainly try.

He is giving Disney so much ammo for a First Amendment lawsuit as well!

Disney comments at 1:16:30.

- YouTube

Enjoy the videos and music you love, upload original content, and share it all with friends, family, and the world on YouTube.

www.youtube.com

Not just the US Constitution in Article 1, Section 10, Clause 1. But the Florida Constitution in Article I, Section 10 also prohibits ex post facto law:

"SECTION 10. Prohibited laws.—No bill of attainder, ex post facto law or law impairing the obligation of contracts shall be passed."

One would think a Harvard law graduate would remember some of the pertinent lessons from his constitutional law course.

Ant attempts by the Florida Legislature, under the direction of the governor, to set aside the development agreement will be met by litigation. Iger isn't Chapek. He's already hinted in the shareholder meeting that Disney won't back down.

And the threat to tax the hotels, on TOP of the 6% bed tax the county charges will be met with stuff opposition...by all hoteliers. You CANNOT impose such a tax on one company and ignore the remaining companies in the county. That's in violation of the Florida Constitution.

Toll roads aren't popular in the state. And adding new ones, especially ones that affect local residents commuting to their homes or jobs, will be highly unpopular.

Imagine how Disney PR will play this.

 

[LAKid53]

Does DeSantis really think taxing the public instead of Disney to pay for Disney’s roads is politically smart?

Especially after he very publicly stated "Disney will pay". And Disney's PR machine will remind Floridians and tourists of this. Frankly, the opposition party will also.

 

[LAKid53]

Ya know, if the new board hadn’t of thrown a temper tantrum and just quietly went about their business they could have made it look like they “won” and saved the governors face and lots of money, no one would have known better.

If a certain board member hadn't run his mouth about the Board telling Disney what content it can produce (NOT within the Board's purview), things could have happened differently.

 

[GimpYancIent]

Universal, Sea World, LEGO are staying back, progressing, entertaining, growing while watching the drama.

 

[Tha Realest]

Especially after he very publicly stated "Disney will pay". And Disney's PR machine will remind Floridians and tourists of this. Frankly, the opposition party will also.

Disney’s legal and PR teams are formidable, no doubt. The “opposition party” that went all in with Rebekah Jones and Charlie Crist is unserious.

 

[ewensell3]

But seriously though, will he ever drop it and shift his focus to the more pressing issues?

I suspect the only thing that will take his attention off Disney is his presidental run and the changes to Florida law which are needed to let him do so. If he wants to remain governor while running and continue being governor in the event he loses, then they need to change Florida statute 99.012 4(a). Supposedly this has been quietly happening since his reelection and we are reaching a point where if he is serious about running, then some very official voting sessions and signatures will have to take place very soon.

Thinking out loud, how much of this Disney spectacle is a distraction from what is really happening in the background?

 

[GimpYancIent]

Disney’s legal and PR teams are formidable, no doubt. The “opposition party” that went all in with Rebekah Jones and Charlie Crist is unserious.

Disney's legal department IS formidable, but the PR team will shoot in the foot anything the Legal folks accomplish.

 

[THEMEPARKPIONEER]

I agree with Desantis on quite a few things but this toll thing has put Desantis down to the same level now, there both at a low and this now needs to stop

 

[LAKid53]

What a sad, petty, man. Someone needs to tell him to just let this go already. Our state’s insurance system, by his own admission, is “no longer solvent”, (seriously…the next major hurricane will cause the whole thing to collapse) but instead of tackling that problem he’s continuing to drag this manufactured issue on.

Does he really think slapping a toll on World Drive is going to get him a “win”?

Good point about property insurance. If that market collapses, it will have a rippling effect on the housing market. Then banks. Banks won't write a mortgage if you can't get homeowner's insurance. Lending grinds to a halt, so eventually will new home construction. Property values begin to decline. Don't think I need to remind my fellow Floridians what happened the last time the state had something like this occur.

 

[Mr. Stay Puft]

Ya know, if the new board hadn’t of thrown a temper tantrum and just quietly went about their business they could have made it look like they “won” and saved the governors face and lots of money, no one would have known better.

The thing is, DeSantis and the new board really did plan to control Disney by using the district as an extortion racket tool to extract concessions from Disney. They wanted to use the threat of disrupting functionality of the district and the theme parks, to force Disney as a company into subjugation under their will.

People misunderstand how far DeSantis is willing to go with this and how he could force change to a company like Disney whose main operations are in California. By having the power to disrupt operations in the district, they planned to take the district hostage by forcing Disney to cooperate with their demands. Which could be anything from pushing Disney to remove any and all presence of LGBTQ support in the parks and in its content, to allowing guests to bring guns on property. The plan was to use the theme parks as leverage to force change upon Disney as a company to conform with conservative views about how they believe things should be, from what Disney produces with its content (including owning ABC as a network and news outlet), to what Disney can produce in its theme parks.

Most people I've talked to about this say "Disney is private property, the state can't do x or y." Completely negating the fact that DeSantis, the FL Legislature, and his appointed cronies regularly operate outside of what's legal in our states laws and constitution, and he has the legislature and the courts to make what was once illegal and unthinkable, to become legal and our new reality.

 

[LAKid53]

I suspect the only thing that will take his attention off Disney is his presidental run and the changes to Florida law which are needed to let him do so. If he wants to remain governor while running and continue being governor in the event he loses, then they need to change Florida statute 99.012 4(a). Supposedly this has been quietly happening since his reelection and we are reaching a point where if he is serious about running, then some very official voting sessions and signatures will have to take place very soon.

Thinking out loud, how much of this Disney spectacle is a distraction from what is really happening in the background?

If the Florida Legislature is going to either modify or repeal Section 99.012, 4(a), F.S., then it needs to get cracking. Session ends May 5th. And it still has its ONLY constitutional function to complete...the FY 2023-24 budget.

This proposed legislation won't pass in the dark, like some others. Too much attention is on this particular section of the Florida Statutes by state media.

 

[mightynine]

Whole lotta lookin’ by DeSantis, doesn’t seem like a whole lot of doin’.

 

[LAKid53]

The thing is, DeSantis and the new board really did plan to control Disney by using the district as an extortion racket tool to extract concessions from Disney. They wanted to use the threat of disrupting functionality of the district and the theme parks, to force Disney as a company into subjugation under their will.

People misunderstand how far DeSantis is willing to go with this and how he could force change to a company like Disney whose main operations are in California. By having the power to disrupt operations in the district, they planned to take the district hostage by forcing Disney to cooperate with their demands. Which could be anything from pushing Disney to remove any and all presence of LGBTQ support in the parks and in its content, to allowing guests to bring guns on property. The plan was to use the theme parks as leverage to force change upon Disney as a company to comform with conservative views about how they believe things should be, from what Disney produces with its content (including owning ABC as a network and news outlet), to what Disney can produce in its theme parks.

Most people I've talked to about this say "Disney is private property, the state can't do x or y." Completely negating the fact that DeSantis, the FL Legislature, and his appointed cronies regularly operate outside of what's legal in our states laws and constitution, and he has the legislature and the courts to make what was once illegal and unthinkable, to become legal and our new reality.

Except neither he nor state courts control the US Constitution.

 

[Mr. Stay Puft]

Except neither he nor state courts control the US Constitution.

DeSantis has connections on the Supreme Court, he and Clarence Thomas regularly discuss issues and DeSantis I'm sure gets feedback about how he can best use his executive power and how to get the legislature and courts to pass and uphold laws. So far some of his laws have been struck down or put in hold, but we haven't yet seen any of his laws put to test at the SCOTUS. We'll see how far DeSantis can try to get away with as far federal courts are concerned. He has pretty much captured the state courts here, as evidenced by the FL Supreme Court allowing his blatantly illegal Congressional redistracting map to pass despite it violating both state and federal law.

 

[LAKid53]

Disney’s legal and PR teams are formidable, no doubt. The “opposition party” that went all in with Rebekah Jones and Charlie Crist is unserious.

They'll still make hay about it. And if it effects enough people, they may listen.

The last time the Legislature even broached creating new toll roads was met with public outcry.

 

[Tha Realest]

They'll still make hay about it. And if it effects enough people, they may listen.

The last time the Legislature even broached creating new toll roads was met with public outcry.

Maybe. The thing about hotel or tourism taxes is that they’re paid by a lot of non-Floridians, and there are deep red parts of the state that aren’t affected day to day by a toll road or two in Orlando.

 

[Alanzo]

Maybe. The thing about hotel or tourism taxes is that they’re paid by a lot of non-Floridians, and there are deep red parts of the state that aren’t affected day to day by a toll road or two in Orlando.

Deep red parts of anywhere aren't going to care about how insane their governor's actions might be as long as he is also deep red.