Disney made last-minute deal with former Reedy Creek board giving company wide powers, new board says
Category: News & Politics
Via: evilgenius • last year • 23 commentsBy: Carolina Cardona, Brandon Hogan (WKMG)
Hahahahahaha!
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
'This essentially makes Disney the government,' Ron Peri says
Carolina Cardona, Reporter
Brandon Hogan, Digital Editor
Published: March 29, 2023, 4:19 PMUpdated: March 29, 2023, 5:06 PM Tags: DeSantis Versus Disney, Walt Disney World, Reedy Creek, Ron DeSantis, Orange County, Osceola CountyA meeting Wednesday morning of the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District board — held to determine how best to move forward from the board's past life overseeing the former Reedy Creek Improvement District — opened with members' statements that there's not much they're actually allowed to do.
LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. - A meeting Wednesday morning of the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District board — which replaced the former Reedy Creek Improvement District — opened with members' statements that there's not much they're actually allowed to do.
The board announced that a hired special council discovered agreements were made in February between Disney and Reedy Creek, weeks ahead of the signing of HB-9B, which handed over direct control of the district's development rights and privileges to the company.
Board member Ron Peri's said the group of five that Gov. Ron DeSantis appointed to take control of Disney's "corporate kingdom" has very little power to govern.
"I cannot tell you the level of my disappointment in Disney. I thought so much better of them. This essentially makes Disney the government. This board loses, for practical purposes, the majority of its ability to do anything beyond maintain the roads and maintain basic infrastructure," Peri said.
The board was initially given little direction from the state other than to meet at least once a month. The state later clarified that the board may adopt and enforce rules governing the conduct of the board and its members,
The special counsel reported that the development agreement will last for decades and includes approval to build more theme parks. It also bars the new tourism board from making changes to properties without Disney's approval.
Peri described the timetable outlined in the developer agreement between Disney and the Reedy Creek board, which was put into effect on Feb. 8.
"I'm going to read to the term of this restrictive covenant. 'This declaration shall continue in effect until 21 years after the death of the last survivor of the descendants of King Charles III, King of England, living as of the date of this declaration,'" Peri said. "So, I mean, I don't know what else to say. I think these documents are void ab initio, I think they were an extremely aggressive overreach, and I'm very disappointed that they're here."
The board sought to hire legal counsel to potentially challenge Disney in court, members said. According to board member Brian Aungst, Jr., the new board was stripped of most of its power before it ever convened.
"On the day that the legislation was passed by the Florida House, the former board and Disney entered into a development agreement and deed restrictions that essentially stripped most of the governing authority of the district and also made certain promises and concessions to Disney for many, many years out into the future," Aungst said. "They have tried to take that away from this board, the ability to provide that oversight, and we're not gonna let that stand."
Walt Disney World Resort on Wednesday provided News 6 with the following statement:
All agreements signed between Disney and the District were appropriate, and were discussed and approved in open, noticed public forums in compliance with Florida's Government in the Sunshine law.
Walt Disney World Resort
The governor's office provided News 6 with the following statement in response to Disney's actions:
The Executive Office of the Governor is aware of Disney's last-ditch efforts to execute contracts just before ratifying the new law that transfers rights and authorities from the former Reedy Creek Improvement District to Disney. An initial review suggests these agreements may have significant legal infirmities that would render the contracts void as a matter of law. We are pleased the new Governor-appointed board retained multiple financial and legal firms to conduct audits and investigate Disney's past behavior.
Taryn Fenske, Communications Director for the Office of Governor DeSantis
The state's attempt to take over the district began in 2022 after the company spoke out against the "Parental Rights in Education" law restricting classroom instruction on sexual orientation and gender identity, known among its critics as "Don't Say Gay."
Rep. Randy Fine, R-Brevard County, sponsored the bill and said in April 2022 that Disney "chose to kick the hornet's nest."
Revisions of the legislation eventually amounted to a revamping and renaming of the district rather than the total dissolution lawmakers sought to put Disney on a level playing field with other area theme parks. The final bill was approved during a special session and signed by DeSantis during a news conference at a Reedy Creek fire station.
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Well now we know why Disney didn't fight the board take over. Hahahahaha! The lawyers can fight it out in federal court now.
Opps, it wasn't a win before this news and now it looks much more like a loss....
'Out-negotiated by Mickey Mouse': Trump team taunts DeSantis as Disney gambit blows up in his face
Get out the jumbo size popcorn.
looks like disney copied a few pages from the rwnj playbook. too bad...
Boy, they sure are taking it to those jerks at Disney, aren’t they? That’ll teach ’em to run their mouths!
An awesome burn right there.
When I read that in the article I almost fell on the floor laughing.
Classic.
The whole thing should give any person or entity pause before taking on a multi billion dollar global conglomerate.
With DeSantis pounding his chest and claiming to have bested Disney shows what amatures and not ready for prime time they really are.
I think Disney's response to the board is the best burn.
Pat, your quote is referring to the use of Disney's name and characters. The other agreements are for 30 years.
I liked the wording, lol.
Me too!
Outsmarted by a mouse!
Remember when Democrats and leftists were against corporations getting tax breaks and special consideration; much the less acting as governments?
Guess if the corporation is "woke" enough that goes right out the window.
Disney will still need to pay their taxes to Florida at least; regardless of their "control" over everything else that occurs in their domain Reedy Creek. Hope the people dwelling in Reedy Creek agree with all of Disney's decisions- including potential expansion into where their homes are.
More of your nonsensical ''woke'' bullshit.
Disney has always paid taxes to the state of Florida and the people have always been happy with the way Disney makes their decisions as it saves the property taxpayers billions of dollars. The ''first'' new agreement that DeSantis reached with Disney didn't do one damn thing to change the existing agreement that dates back to the 1960s.
The bottom line is that DeSantis and the Florida legislature look like fools and instead of keeping the original Reedy Creek agreement they ended up with one that is even more in favor of Disney. Fricking amateurs and not ready for prime time is the bottom line for DeSantis and the Florida legislature.
Remember when Republicans and MAGA Populists were for corporations getting tax breaks and special consideration? They actually passed a huge corporate tax break under their last administration promising us all a 3% increase in GDP. We all knew they were fucking lying, but they did it anyway.
I guess if the corporation wants to make money off an evolving demographic the populists get all hair on fire about it.
Disney pays upwards of $750M in state taxes to Florida annually. Nothing in these deals changes that.
The people of Reedy Creek are workers and retirees of Disney. The workers of the Disney World park have voted to unionize and signed a deal with Disney to significantly increase their hourly pay.
oooo...that's gonna leave a mark...especially about the union
Before becoming full blown cheerleaders for corporations, progressives would have been upset by this. But since Disney supports gay rights, they are bullet proof, no matter how Many workers they exploit or how much self dealing they engage into avoid governmental oversight.
maybe Iger will give you all a wave from his private jet for being such good little minions.
Oh come on! The governor of a state went after one of the most important employers in his state because on one issue they disagreed with him. And it wasn’t just a little extra oversight scrutiny. They passed a law aimed at this one company to try to take something from them as punishment. Do you really need to be Republican or Democrat to have a problem with that kind of abuse of power?
It’s ironic justice that the state government burned itself in this case.
That's pretty much everyone's non-partisan take on this issue.
Not the case at all, but as usual you make assumptions that fit your ideology. DeSantis and the Florida legislature were pulling their usual ''woke'' BS. There was nothing wrong or illegal with Disney's Reedy Creek Special Tax District. What DeSantis told the public and what was really happening are two very different things. His bragging about putting Disney in their place and that they will now pay their share of taxes was total BS. Two weeks before the new district went into effect the Florida legislature changed the wording so they did not dissolve Reedy Creek because they were told for a year that the property owners in Orange and Osceola counties would be on the hook for over $1 billion in bond debt and other costs.
I'm sure that the citizens of Florida that would be stuck with that debt are quite happy that DeSantis didn't know what the hell he was doing.
Maybe Iger will wave to you from his private plane for prattling on about something that you have no idea of or what you're talking about.
BTW, there are over 1,000 special tax districts in Florida and DeSantis singled out Disney and got his ass handed to him.
Most people can support more than one idea at a time. They can support diversity in corporations at the same time as condemning corporate greed. The two ideas aren't mutually exclusive. People can also appreciate the irony of the situation without really truly supporting either side.
Maybe Perlmutter can wave to you on his way to Mar-A-Lago as he looks for a new job.