Imagine a Florida Without Disney
by Kevin Seraaj, OrlandoAdvocate.com
I grew up with two catch-phrases being thrown around the house almost all the time. The first was my grandfather’s favorite: “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” And the second was my mother’s: “Boy, don’t cut off your nose to spite your face.”
There are those who will argue that being satisfied with the status quo runs counter to the twin ideals of creativity and innovation, and I agree without question that improving on “what is” has been the hallmark of scientific achievement. Still, I have myself on more than one occasion felt that pang of regret that hits when I’ve tried to “fix” something and ended up making it much worse.
There is something to the idea expressed by Thomas Bertram Lance (Director of the Office of Management and Budget under Pres. Jimmy Carter), when he said: “That’s the trouble with government: Fixing things that aren’t broken and not fixing things that are.”
Over the last 50 years, Orange and Osceola counties have grown from 370,000 to almost 2 million people. While the counties deal– and struggle– with the offshoots of that surge in population growth, Disney’s Reedy Creek Improvement District has become, in the words of Charles Lee (the Florida Audubon Society), “a model for good growth management and land use.”
Reedy Creek was created by Disney and lawmakers. It has its own police and fire departments, taxing power and building code. So, it is kind of like it’s own city. According to Lee: “If you could take the vision template of how they treated the land and insisted that other people do as good a job as Disney did inside [its] boundaries, a lot of mess you are seeing in Orange and Osceola counties would not have happened.”
Apparently no one ever told Ron.
Disney has been holding Florida down for a lot more years than Ron DeSantis has had a political thought. Before the theme park came to town, Florida was just one big farm land known principally for producing oranges. By the time Ron DeSantis showed up on the scene, and thanks in no small part to Disney, the state had morphed into an economic powerhouse with the 15th largest economy in the world. You’d think the governor of all the people of the state– and especially the 75,000 people employed by Disney– would want to protect the largest jobs contributor the state of Florida has.
You would think.
Disney’s now-former CEO Bob Chapek was under pressure from employees and Disney fans alike to disaffirm DeSantis’ “Don’t Say Gay” legislation. When he did so in March of last year, DeSantis accused the company of being a “woke” corporation. Then he slipped into absurdity, saying Disney was “lining their pockets with their relationship with the Communist Party of China.”
As if that wasn’t far-fetched enough, dug that hole even deeper saying Disney supported “sexualizing kids in kindergarten.”
The only thing “broken” here is DeSantis, and he could fix that problem by resigning from the governorship.
Those 75,000 jobs would have been 77,000 jobs but for Ron DeSantis and his hand-picked crew of political sycophants. A few weeks ago, Disney pulled its most recent proposed $1 billion development after this motley crew of meddling interlopers decided to put their anti-gay agenda ahead of the economic well-being of Central Floridians. When they dissolved Reedy Creek– a move Disney is fighting in court– they effectively transferred the entire Disney property to the state (i.e., Orange and Osceola counties). Guess who’s going to have to pick up the $105 million for police and fire protection and road maintenance that Orange County Tax Collector Scott Randolph tweeted Disney has formerly paid by itself?
Taxpayers, that’s who.
And guess who will end up paying if Disney finds another state willing to let it govern itself in exchange for 75,000 jobs?
DeSantis went after Disney only after the entertainment giant exercised its right to have an independent thought about current political happenings. He didn’t like it, so he decided to get even. Petty, huh? “Boy, don’t cut off your nose to spite your face.”
The thing is, only taxpayers will be the ones taking the big hit for DeSantis’ political reprisal. And what if Disney pulls up stakes and takes its marbles somewhere else? What if 75,000 people were suddenly being phased out of employment? What plan does DeSantis have– other than secretly praying Disney just grins and bears it?
According to Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings, the financial hit if Disney moved out would be “catastrophic.”
Maybe the tax collector’s estimate of a 20% to 25% increase in property taxes for Orange county residents would be enough to shake up the anti-woke crowd and make them see that it’s okay for the largest– or any– employer in the state to have a point of view about DeSantis’ “don’t say gay” policies.
DeSantis backed away from dissolving the Disney tax district because doing so meant the state had to pay the entertainment giant a hefty $1 billion. Instead he appointed an oversight board that replaces Disney’s own board.
Who did he tap for such an important job? Rolling Stone Magazine said it best: “He stocked it with right-wing loyalists, including a man who has claimed chemicals in tap water are turning people gay.”
It’s embarrassing. Perhaps Ron DeSantis– and not Disney– is the one that really needs to go.
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