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Florida puts a state commission in charge of the Disney World district
Florida puts a state commission in charge of the Disney World district
#1
First, way to slant the story with the headline, CBC: Florida governor signs bill giving state control of Walt Disney World district

On one hand, Florida is resolving an issue that has existed for decades: Disney received a special tax arrangement because they were going to "build a futuristic city that would include a transit system and urban planning innovations", but they built a theme park instead. Now the special tax arrangement is being changed to match.

On the other hand, Florida just picked a fight with one of the largest media corporations on the planet.
--
Rob Kelk

Sticks and stones can break your bones,
But words can break your heart.
- unknown
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RE: Florida puts a state commission in charge of the Disney World district
#2
This is a fight Florida might just win, however. Media corporation or not, Florida has the tax authority.
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RE: Florida puts a state commission in charge of the Disney World district
#3
(02-28-2023, 02:37 PM)hazard Wrote: This is a fight Florida might just win, however. Media corporation or not, Florida has the tax authority.

Yeah, and they might just end up regretting it. Disney's been paying for a whole bunch of what would normally be municipal services and doing a better job with them than many communities. There was quite a bit of discussion about how revoking Disney's special tax status could affect the taxes in neighboring communities when the subject first came up last year.
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RE: Florida puts a state commission in charge of the Disney World district
#4
Also, if Disney decides to be petty, they can make Florida look bad in a whole bunch of stories... and not just in a blatant "take that" of having Man-Thing fight an evil government intent on despoiling the Everglades in an MCU movie.

But Florida's used to getting bad press (ref. "hanging chads"), so the state government might not care.
--
Rob Kelk

Sticks and stones can break your bones,
But words can break your heart.
- unknown
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RE: Florida puts a state commission in charge of the Disney World district
#5
Heck, the governor might take it as a badge of pride.
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RE: Florida puts a state commission in charge of the Disney World district
#6
(02-28-2023, 04:32 PM)Inquisitive Raven Wrote:
(02-28-2023, 02:37 PM)hazard Wrote: This is a fight Florida might just win, however. Media corporation or not, Florida has the tax authority.

Yeah, and they might just end up regretting it. Disney's been paying for a whole bunch of what would normally be municipal services and doing a better job with them than many communities. There was quite a bit of discussion about how revoking Disney's special tax status could affect the taxes in neighboring communities when the subject first came up last year.

But would it be Florida regretting it?

For DeSantis this is basically an ideal situation; he gets all the positive press, but the problems that follow aren't a state government issue, they're a county or municipal government issue. All he has to do is blame the lower ranked governments.
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RE: Florida puts a state commission in charge of the Disney World district
#7
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023...g-district

What he has done is put a board of right wing culture warriors (seriously, just look at the list of members) in a position to annoy Disney.
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RE: Florida puts a state commission in charge of the Disney World district
#8
Looks like this isn't going away any time soon.

Variety: Disney Scraps $1 Billion Office Complex in Orlando Amid DeSantis Feud

Quote:Disney had planned to move 2,000 employees to the Lake Nona complex once it was complete, mostly from the Imagineering division. The company announced the project in 2021, and reports indicated it could have benefited from as much as $500 million in state tax incentives.

Must be nice to be able to throw away that many jobs and that much tax money on a point of politics.
--
Rob Kelk

Sticks and stones can break your bones,
But words can break your heart.
- unknown
Reply
RE: Florida puts a state commission in charge of the Disney World district
#9
Instead of thousand of wok jobs the people of florida will be living like real self-reliant republican men.

On welfare and foodstamps.

I love the smell of rotaries in the morning. You know one time, I got to work early, before the rush hour. I walked through the empty carpark, I didn't see one bloody Prius or Golf. And that smell, you know that gasoline smell, the whole carpark, smelled like.... ....speed.

One day they're going to ban them.
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RE: Florida puts a state commission in charge of the Disney World district
#10
Disney's also finally gotten fed up and filed a lawsuit basically accusing DeSantis of using government power to punish them for exercising their First Amendment rights.

I find it quite ironic... Disney only made a half-hearted little comment about the "Don't Say Gay" law because its customers online basically demanded it say something. If DeSantis had ignored it, it would have vanished down the drain of history. Instead, he got a bug up his ass and tried to punish Disney for expressing an opinion he didn't like. He can't afford to back down because he's tied his entire political career to thwarting anyone whose politics dates from after 1910, but there's no way he can make Florida outspend Disney when it comes to lawyers. He also can't completely take over their special district because it will dump a billion dollars of tax liability on the middle of Florida. There's also the reputation hit the State of Florida is already taking for reneging on a contract made with a private entity, something the state is forbidden from doing by its own laws -- if Florida does that with Disney, of all companies, who's to say they won't stiff J. Random Contractor for some trivial reason? He's put himself and the state into a corner, and it can only get worse from here, no matter what he and his shills claim to the press.
-- Bob

I have been Roland, Beowulf, Achilles, Gilgamesh, Clark Kent, Mary Sue, DJ Croft, Skysaber.  I have been 
called a hundred names and will be called a thousand more before the sun grows dim and cold....
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RE: Florida puts a state commission in charge of the Disney World district
#11
Somewhat related...

Forbes: NAACP Issues Travel Advisory For Black Tourists: Do Not Visit Florida

Quote:“Under the leadership of Governor DeSantis, the state of Florida has become hostile to Black Americans and in direct conflict with the democratic ideals that our union was founded upon,” said NAACP president and CEO Derrick Johnson.

“Please understand that the state of Florida devalues and marginalizes the contributions of, and the challenges faced by African Americans and other communities of color,” continues the NAACP statement.

The NAACP advisory comes on the heels of a similar Florida travel warning last week from the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC), which has called Florida’s new immigration policies “hostile and dangerous” for Latino travelers.


And an anecdotal bit: Before the Disney/Florida kerfuffle started, almost every bottle of orange juice available for sale in Ottawa had one or another product-of-Florida sticker on it. Now, I can't find those stickers attached to juice here. (Not that I've been hunting for them -- I've switched to apple juice -- but the stickers used to be unmissable.)
--
Rob Kelk

Sticks and stones can break your bones,
But words can break your heart.
- unknown
Reply
RE: Florida puts a state commission in charge of the Disney World district
#12
This thing has become such an own-goal for DeSantis that it boggles the mind. Disney leadership never wanted this fight, but was essentially forced to take a stand by its own employees. You know, lots of creative types that believe in equality and whatnot. So they did eventually oppose the bill, say a few things against it to satisfy their own people. And then the law passed anyway. That would have been the end of it, had Ron DeSantis not wanted to pick a fight.

And what a weird choice of a target, too. The Walt Disney Co. has pretty much always been center-right. Was it supposed to be a warning to other companies that do something woke for a day or two? Stay in line? Or is it just because they're the only media company with a significant presence in Florida that little Ronny thought he held all the cards? Either way, this is a company renowned for its lobbying that routinely deals with foreign governments, including China.

And he wrote a whole chapter in his book about how he beat Disney. It came out about a week before they found out that Reedy Creek had signed that contract that delegated most powers to Disney, which is to say about six months after the contract was publicly approved. This is the point where Trump says that Ron shouldn't have started this fight. Like, no shit. Trump, for all his myriad flaws, is not stupid -- and he's very media savvy. He has a symbiotic (parasitic?) relationship with CNN, where they hate each other but still love to give each other air time -- and never went so far as use the government to inflict financial harm on them. On the other hand, Disney is now in a position where they'd do a whole lot just to sabotage DeSantis' campaign, because why on earth would they want an avowed enemy to become US President?

Ron DeSantis will launch his presidential bid with Elon Musk on Wednesday. Can't to see what Disney does on Thursday.

Tangentially related: ‘We have offended a nation’: Miami zoo’s treatment of kiwi bird enrages New Zealand
"Kitto daijoubu da yo." - Sakura Kinomoto
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