Latest on Reedy Creek, Tourism Board and Disney Developer Agreement

[bcla]

Thanks, I like the DFB blog. She does a really professional job with her vlogs.

She did get one detail wrong, but it would be a minor quibble. The law didn’t eliminate all special districts with taxing authority, but all special districts that were established before a certain date in the 1960s and that hadn’t been reestablished by legislation after that date. I think there were five other districts that were eliminated. But obviously the target was RCID.

 

[DisDad2001]

There have been several statements by the members of the new district’s board. I’ll just leave it at that.

I'm sure the replacements have a lot to say but the rubber will hit the road in court.

 

[wabbott]

There are several local/national news stories on today's developments.

https://www.cnbc.com/2023/04/03/ron-desantis-calls-for-probe-into-disney-royal-clause-move.html
Ron DeSantis calls for Florida probe into Disney’s crafty legal maneuver

https://www.clickorlando.com/news/l...strips-power-from-his-special-district-board/
DeSantis fires back after Disney strips power from his special district board

https://www.wesh.com/article/desantis-investigation-reedy-creek-disney/43496110
Gov. Ron DeSantis orders investigation into Reedy Creek Improvement District agreement with Disney

https://www.nbcnews.com/business/bu...eedy-creek-florida-tourism-district-rcna77937
DeSantis orders investigation into previous leadership of Disney's special Florida district

https://floridapolitics.com/archive...on-into-disney-worlds-former-governing-board/
Gov. DeSantis seeks investigation into Disney World’s former governing board

 

[jerry557]

It is and we're fully in the legal realm.

Based on that statement from the Governor's office the public narrative has now turned from Florida saying it wanted to level the playing field and eliminate Disney's "special" privileges to a personal attack by the Governor against The Walt Disney Corporation and the previous RCID board members.

But does it really matter? It is a fact Disney has special powers and privileges that the competition does not have. And it is now the will of the legislature, for whatever reasons, to remove those privileges. Disney is a corporation that must operate under Florida laws, and it is not entitled to competitive advantages.

What Disney is doing here is using the board that it controlled, with members on it who were employed by the company, to transfer powers to the corporation for the purpose of undercutting an elected-democratic government. That’s the type of shady stuff you expect from an evil corporation that has too much power.

I’m not sure it’s a good thing to have a corporation ran by rich executives having more power than an elected state legislature.

 

[SuzErwin]

But does it really matter? It is a fact Disney has special powers and privileges that the competition does not have. And it is now the will of the legislature, for whatever reasons, to remove those privileges. Disney is a corporation that must operate under Florida laws, and it is not entitled to competitive advantages.

What Disney is doing here is using the board that it controlled, with members on it who were employed by the company, to transfer powers to the corporation for the purpose of undercutting an elected-democratic government. That’s the type of shady stuff you expect from an evil corporation that has too much power.

I’m not sure it’s a good thing to have a corporation ran by rich executives having more power than an elected state legislature.

The new board is wholly appointed, not elected.

I suggest you take a look at who was selected to be on the board and then discuss qualifications.

 

[tom1944]

But does it really matter? It is a fact Disney has special powers and privileges that the competition does not have. And it is now the will of the legislature, for whatever reasons, to remove those privileges. Disney is a corporation that must operate under Florida laws, and it is not entitled to competitive advantages.

What Disney is doing here is using the board that it controlled, with members on it who were employed by the company, to transfer powers to the corporation for the purpose of undercutting an elected-democratic government. That’s the type of shady stuff you expect from an evil corporation that has too much power.

I’m not sure it’s a good thing to have a corporation ran by rich executives having more power than an elected state legislature.

Or it’s Disney being concerned that political appointees are trying to influence the operation of their corporation.

If you want to end special privileges for Disney end Reedy Creek but do not take over the board.

 

[SuzErwin]

Or it’s Disney being concerned that political appointees are trying to influence the operation of their corporation.

If you want to end special privileges for Disney end Reedy Creek but do not take over the board.

Exactly. If you want elected officials to administer the district, let the counties take over the district.

Of course, that would mean the local counties and cities would have to take on over $100 million in annual expenses and over $1 billion in outstanding debt.

 

[tom1944]

But does it really matter? It is a fact Disney has special powers and privileges that the competition does not have. And it is now the will of the legislature, for whatever reasons, to remove those privileges. Disney is a corporation that must operate under Florida laws, and it is not entitled to competitive advantages.

What Disney is doing here is using the board that it controlled, with members on it who were employed by the company, to transfer powers to the corporation for the purpose of undercutting an elected-democratic government. That’s the type of shady stuff you expect from an evil corporation that has too much power.

I’m not sure it’s a good thing to have a corporation ran by rich executives having more power than an elected state legislature.

By the way since you dislike special treatment are you advocating for the board to have oversight of Universal and Sea World?

 

[john7994]

But does it really matter? It is a fact Disney has special powers and privileges that the competition does not have. And it is now the will of the legislature, for whatever reasons, to remove those privileges. Disney is a corporation that must operate under Florida laws, and it is not entitled to competitive advantages.

What Disney is doing here is using the board that it controlled, with members on it who were employed by the company, to transfer powers to the corporation for the purpose of undercutting an elected-democratic government. That’s the type of shady stuff you expect from an evil corporation that has too much power.

I’m not sure it’s a good thing to have a corporation ran by rich executives having more power than an elected state legislature.

So when Universal proposed yet another taxing district in January to pay for the proposed Orlando Convention Center Sunrail station - then that should also be a no right? If unfair competition is the main concern, what about those special districts in the Villages - seems like that should be fair game - if again - we are talking about unfair competitive advantages and evilness and having too much power and all that stuff ...

 

[dioxide45]

From what I've read, it was done entirely consistent with Florida law. Including 2 open meetings with discussion of this before the vote. If true, it could make over turning it, very difficult.

I don't know how much actual discussion there was on the development agreement. Yes, proper nitices were put out for the meetings. But that isn't out of the ordinary. Looking at the meeting minutes, the agreement was brought up and they asked if there was any public comment or questions, and there were none. So it seems that even though there were media present, none of them had a clue what this development agreement contained. If media were present 9they were noted as present in the minutes), none of them mentioned it or reported on it until after the new board brought up the agreement. A development agreement in and of itself is something rather routine for RCID. So I am sure no one thought anything of it.

What probably happened is Disney wrote up the agreement on their own (they can't discuss details with the board unless it is in public) and handed it off to the board. Perhaps some board members read it, perhaps some didn't. I don't think Disney could provide them a synopsis of the agreement without that synopsys also being public. Disney couldn't negotiate the agreement with the board unless it was in public (in a noticed meeting). If there was more discussion about the agreement and what it entailed, someone would have picked up on it before now.

From what I understand from reading the other thread that has been deleted, the new agreement is a 30 year development agreement, which is different than one filed with the state last year that was for 10 years. The new agreement also has restrictions on what the board can approve to be built on RCID property (not Disney property). The board must accept and approve permits as long as they are within the current guidelines and rules. The board can't get picky over stupid stuff is what I take from it and if the board wants to do something with their own RCID land, it must fit within the restrictions outlined in the agreement.

 

[glamdring269]

But does it really matter? It is a fact Disney has special powers and privileges that the competition does not have. And it is now the will of the legislature, for whatever reasons, to remove those privileges. Disney is a corporation that must operate under Florida laws, and it is not entitled to competitive advantages.

What Disney is doing here is using the board that it controlled, with members on it who were employed by the company, to transfer powers to the corporation for the purpose of undercutting an elected-democratic government. That’s the type of shady stuff you expect from an evil corporation that has too much power.

I’m not sure it’s a good thing to have a corporation ran by rich executives having more power than an elected state legislature.

What was the competitive advantage?

If this is was such an advantageous setup then why not simply offer it to the competition as opposed to taking over the Reedy Creek board with political appointees?

 

[dioxide45]

So when Universal proposed yet another taxing district in January to pay for the proposed Orlando Convention Center Sunrail station - then that should also be a no right? If unfair competition is the main concern, what about those special districts in the Villages - seems like that should be fair game - if again - we are talking about unfair competitive advantages and evilness and having too much power and all that stuff ...

I don't necessarily see the issue with Universal's proposal. Not sure what they really have to gain from an extension of the Sunrail between MCO and the convention center. Though I am sure they had their reasons. As fort the Villages, I think you need to look at what is in its immediate vicinity. Are there are other large projects that it is competing against like there is in Orlando between the three major theme park groups? Does the villages have an advantage over something of the same scale? No one was proposing a special district for Universal, but rather complete dissolution of RCID.

 

[dioxide45]

What was the competitive advantage?

If this is was such an advantageous setup then why not simply offer it to the competition as opposed to taking over the Reedy Creek board with political appointees?

The thought was to dissolve RCID all together and put the responsibilities of it on Orange and Osceola Counties. There are obviously some advantages that Disney sees with RCID or they wouldn't have taken the steps they did to protect their stake in it.

 

[GoingSince1990]

I'm actually fairly favorably inclined towards DeSantis, but his Captain Ahab-like pursuit of Disney is starting to not reflect very well upon him.

 

[mdmost]

Iger just said this on the shareholder meeting call:

https://twitter.com/x/status/1642948285546520576

 

[glamdring269]

The thought was to dissolve RCID all together and put the responsibilities of it on Orange and Osceola Counties. There are obviously some advantages that Disney sees with RCID or they wouldn't have taken the steps they did to protect their stake in it.

The thought was to dissolve it altogether until it was realized what this would mean from a taxation perspective. Instead of dissolving they basically rebranded RCID and made political appointments to the board. Disney did what they did in order to avoid being controlled in this way.

Seems like a reasonable counter by Disney in my opinion, especially if one is using "competitive advantage" (or similar language) as the reason that RCID needed to go.

 

[tom1944]

And complete dissolution of Reedy Creek would be the way to go.

 

[john7994]

I don't necessarily see the issue with Universal's proposal. Not sure what they really have to gain from an extension of the Sunrail between MCO and the convention center. Though I am sure they had their reasons. As fort the Villages, I think you need to look at what is in its immediate vicinity. Are there are other large projects that it is competing against like there is in Orlando between the three major theme park groups? Does the villages have an advantage over something of the same scale? No one was proposing a special district for Universal, but rather complete dissolution of RCID.

I think a rail line from MCO to Universal's back-door isn't a bad thing is it? Certainly Universal isn't doing it because they are civic minded In context to what I was responding too, if its all about fairness and eliminating evilness and companies having too much power... I know that its possible that Universal is civic minded - didn't they get all those tax credits from the Orlando Urban High-Crime program - is that still going on - all that high crime around Universal?

Seems like Florida is rife with retirement communities, and Del Webb Spruce and Stone Creek are down the road from said Villages ... don't know who is getting all the special treatment and special districts- seems kinda of coincidental though- again - if we are worried about fairness, competition and certain companies having too much power and all that stuff ...

 

[SuzErwin]

The thought was to dissolve RCID all together and put the responsibilities of it on Orange and Osceola Counties. There are obviously some advantages that Disney sees with RCID or they wouldn't have taken the steps they did to protect their stake in it.

Actually, taxpayers sued DeSantis for the unfair burden dissolving Reedy Creek would place on the local governments.

And dissolving the district would trigger payment of the bond debt, some one billion dollars.

It would also violate US Constitutional law and the Florida constitution because it would impair contracts. SCOTUS has held that once a local government issues a bond based on an authorized taxing power, the state is contract-bound and cannot eliminate the taxing power supporting the bond. The Florida Constitution provides even greater protection from impairment of contracts.

So, no, it's not just Disney.The State of Florida is bound by US law and its own state law.

 

[dioxide45]

Actually, taxpayers sued DeSantis for the unfair burden dissolving Reedy Creek would place on the local governments.

And dissolving the district would trigger payment of the bond debt, some one billion dollars.

It would also violate US Constitutional law and the Florida constitution because it would impair contracts. SCOTUS has held that once a local government issues a bond based on an authorized taxing power, the state is contract-bound and cannot eliminate the taxing power supporting the bond. The Florida Constitution provides even greater protection from impairment of contracts.

So, no, it's not just Disney.The State of Florida is bound by US law and its own state law.

I wonder if Disney was so responsible, why is RCID saddled with so much debt?