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

[Chi84]

This “old news” was reported yesterday.

Former Disney World district board broke no criminal laws, investigation finds

Members of the former Reedy Creek Improvement District board of supervisors broke no criminal laws prior to Gov. Ron DeSantis appointing a new board to oversee Walt Disney World’s special taxing district, newly-released government records reveal.

www.clickorlando.com

The memo is dated June 21. Reporting on it the day after Christmas seems to be the definition of “old news.”

Although it could be that Florida dragged its feet releasing it for some reason.

 

[Unbanshee]

Although it could be that Florida dragged its feet releasing it for some reason.

Lol, you must be new here. The state doesn't like to "live in the sunshine" when it comes to matters that the esteemed governor finds personally difficult

 

[Stripes]

The memo is dated June 21. Reporting on it the day after Christmas seems to be the definition of “old news.”

Although it could be that Florida dragged its feet releasing it for some reason.

WKMG submitted a public records request. That request was just recently fulfilled and the document released. WKMG hasn’t said when they submitted the request.

 

[Chi84]

WKMG submitted a public records request. That request was just recently fulfilled and the document released. WKMG hasn’t said when they submitted the request.

So they had to ferret it out as opposed to the government releasing it to the news agencies. That’s understandable. Those requests can take a surprisingly long time to fulfill.

 

[LAKid53]

That's a distortion of the facts. RCID was a separate entity that gave its employees similar benefits that other third party vendors within WDW gave, which included park tickets. Disney offered this same benefit to any company that operated within the district (e.g. Disney Springs tenants, etc.).

Disney wasn't "paying itself" back. CFTOD wanted to "stick it to Disney" so they made an issue out of it.

Bingo

 

[LAKid53]

WKMG submitted a public records request. That request was just recently fulfilled and the document released. WKMG hasn’t said when they submitted the request.

Florida statute says state records are open to the public. It doesn't say how quickly agencies have to provide the info. When I worked for various state agencies, we tried getting the requested info as quickly as possible. If it was a state legislator or governor's office, yesterday wasn't fast enough.

 

[LAKid53]

So they had to ferret it out as opposed to the government releasing it to the news agencies. That’s understandable. Those requests can take a surprisingly long time to fulfill.

 

[LAKid53]

Lol, you must be new here. The state doesn't like to "live in the sunshine" when it comes to matters that the esteemed governor finds personally difficult

Governor's office receives a FOIA (govt in the Sunshine) request...

"What's sunshine?"

 

[LAKid53]

So they had to ferret it out as opposed to the government releasing it to the news agencies. That’s understandable. Those requests can take a surprisingly long time to fulfill.

It takes little time to release a completed report. Unless that report didn't say exactly what you wanted it to say....

 

[cranbiz]

That's a distortion of the facts. RCID was a separate entity that gave its employees similar benefits that other third party vendors within WDW gave, which included park tickets. Disney offered this same benefit to any company that operated within the district (e.g. Disney Springs tenants, etc.).

Disney wasn't "paying itself" back. CFTOD wanted to "stick it to Disney" so they made an issue out of it.

Not really a distortion of facts. Yes, RCID was a legally a separate entity from TWDC. In reality, it was controlled by WDW, which is why DeSantis had a hard on for getting revenge on TWDC for "don't say gay" and other woke policies by trying to revoke the district. He couldn't do that for many reasons so he got the law changed to appoint his own governing board. As we know, that really did fail miserably and there is now a board that is not antagonistic towards Disney.

There is a charge for those benefits to the third party entities in some way, shape or form. WDW doesn't give anything away for free. RCID (and many third party operating participants) pay for those benefits (usually at a very reduced rate). So, in the case of RCID, Disney paid for those benefits through it's tax assessments because RCID has no income of it's own except for income received from it's taxpayers (of which TWDC is it's largest and majority taxpayer). So, what I said was true. WDW paid for the benefits granted by RCID to it's employees and RCID, by granting those benefits paid WDW back for them. This keeps everything legal.

Yes, CFTOD wanted to stick it to Disney by refusing to pay WDW for those benefits, which in turn stuck it to the employees. RCID and CFTOD employees were never WDW Cast Members, they were employees of RCID or are/were employees of CFTOD.

 

[michmousefan]

 

[flyakite]

Should anyone be interested and would like to attend:

 

[MR.Dis]

Not really a distortion of facts. Yes, RCID was a legally a separate entity from TWDC. In reality, it was controlled by WDW, which is why DeSantis had a hard on for getting revenge on TWDC for "don't say gay" and other woke policies by trying to revoke the district. He couldn't do that for many reasons so he got the law changed to appoint his own governing board. As we know, that really did fail miserably and there is now a board that is not antagonistic towards Disney.

There is a charge for those benefits to the third party entities in some way, shape or form. WDW doesn't give anything away for free. RCID (and many third party operating participants) pay for those benefits (usually at a very reduced rate). So, in the case of RCID, Disney paid for those benefits through it's tax assessments because RCID has no income of it's own except for income received from it's taxpayers (of which TWDC is it's largest and majority taxpayer). So, what I said was true. WDW paid for the benefits granted by RCID to it's employees and RCID, by granting those benefits paid WDW back for them. This keeps everything legal.

Yes, CFTOD wanted to stick it to Disney by refusing to pay WDW for those benefits, which in turn stuck it to the employees. RCID and CFTOD employees were never WDW Cast Members, they were employees of RCID or are/were employees of CFTOD.

To give an example, I am retired from JP Morgan Chase, the provider of Disney Visa charge cards. I was eligible to purchase WDW and Disneyland tickets thru a portal for 20% off the rack rate. I do not know if that is still the case. While I was an annual pass holder purchasing thru DVC, I would purchase tickets for my kids when they visited WDW with their families. It was a significant savings.

 

[JKick95]

Should anyone be interested and would like to attend:
View attachment 836282

Do we have any updates on what this plan entails?

 

[lazyboy97o]

The FCC is investigating Comcast over their internal corporate practices that have nothing to actually do with broadcasting. Make no mistake, this is why Iger capitulated.

 

[DCBaker]

Ron DeSantis has appointed 3 new members to the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District Board of Supervisors:

TALLAHASSEE, Fla.—Today, Governor Ron DeSantis announced the appointment of Alexis Yarbrough as Chair, John Gilbert, and Scott Workman to the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District.

Alexis Yarbrough
Yarbrough is the current Chair of the Broward College District Board of Trustees. She previously served as Chair and Commissioner on the Fourth District Court of Appeal Judicial Nominating Commission. Yarbrough earned her bachelor's degree from the University of Miami and her juris doctor from Nova Southeastern University.

John Gilbert
Gilbert is the Executive Managing Director at Stream Realty Partners. He was recognized as the 2007 and the 2012 Orlando Office Broker of the Year by the National Association of Industrial and Office Parks, Commercial Real Estate Development Association. Gilbert earned his bachelor's degree in real estate from Florida State University.

Scott Workman
Workman is the Owner of Workman Transportation and Owner and President of Workman Travel. He has been active in the transportation industry in Orlando for over 25 years. Workman attended the University of Iowa.

These appointments are subject to confirmation by the Florida Senate.

Governor Ron DeSantis Appoints Three to the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District | Executive Office of the Governor

www.flgov.com

 

[wdwmagic]

DeSantis Reshapes Disney's Central Florida Tourism Oversight District with New Appointments​

DeSantis Reshapes Disney's Central Florida Tourism Oversight District with New Appointments

DeSantis Reshapes Disney's Central Florida Tourism Oversight District with New Appointments

www.wdwmagic.com

 

[Stripes]

DeSantis Reshapes Disney's Central Florida Tourism Oversight District with New Appointments​

DeSantis Reshapes Disney's Central Florida Tourism Oversight District with New Appointments

DeSantis Reshapes Disney's Central Florida Tourism Oversight District with New Appointments

www.wdwmagic.com

These seem like decent appointments. Certainly better than the departing board members.

With these appointments, it would seem to me that the new board will have members that are all qualified to be there. With the showdown over, things have returned to normalcy.

 

[JoeCamel]

These seem like decent appointments. Certainly better than the departing board members.

With these appointments, it would seem to me that the new board will have members that are all qualified to be there. With the showdown over, things have returned to normalcy.

I think I would like to know Gilbert's campaign contribution history he seems to fit the bill of a Florida real estate salesman. Those and car dealers seem to gravitate to being politicians. Oh and lawyers too. I guess I yearn for the days of citizen service where the motives were clear but the money is way too high a bar for most.

 

[lazyboy97o]

These seem like decent appointments. Certainly better than the departing board members.

With these appointments, it would seem to me that the new board will have members that are all qualified to be there. With the showdown over, things have returned to normalcy.

This is not normalcy nor should we lie and pretend it is. Development and building are local concerns and this structure remains abnormal and completely outside the construct of what are supposed to be legal taxing authorities. The threats remain clear, even if they’re just more loudly coming from others at the moment, and Disney is actively complying.