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GOVERNOR RON DESANTIS Ron DeSantis’ war against Disney just hit a major snag 
The entrance to Disney World in Florida in December 2005, Wikimedia Commons Original article: https://www.alternet.org/2022/04/disney-issued-a-statement-saying-that-florida-cannot-dissolve-its-special-district-unless-debt-is-paid/ Burgess COMMENTARY This story has reminded me of a multitue ofr problems that are diminishing the outcomes that we ought to be achieving in our modern times. I find many of the actions of Governor Ron DeSantos to be all about politics and little about the substance of governing and benefit for people and society. The Governor's attack on the arrangements that Disney has been getting benefit from for many decades is convenient current politics, but also seriously disruptive to the functioning a big part of the economy of Florida. But the matter of Disney and development in this part of Florida several decades ago is also problematic. The fact that Disney was able to negotiate the arrangements that are now being talked about is a reminder of how economic power was wielded in the past, and in many ways continues to be how business is transacted. I do not have deep expertise in 'development' as it happens in the United States, but what I see does not make me feel at all comfortable. People from Europe have observed for decades that America has a throw-away consumer society and economy, but my observations are that the economic story of America is actually even more dysfunctional. Massive areas of once wealthy urban cities have been abandonned ... essentially thrown away ... because it became more profitable to investment to be done somewhere else. The tragedy is that the abandonned place is not merely valueless, but requires substantial investment to clean it up and get it back to having zero value!!!!!!!!! The American system is the biggest generator of waste the world has ever seen ... and we do little to hold responsible parties to account. I am glad DeSantos seems to have hit a road block ... but it bothers me that Disney has been sitting on top of a sweetheart deal for decades. Peter Burgess | ||
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Ron DeSantis’ war against Disney just hit a major snag
Written by Alex Henderson April 27, 2022 For 55 years, Disney had a special tax/business arrangement in Florida. But that arrangement has been ended by Gov. Ron DeSantis, who was determined to get back at Disney for voicing its opposition to the controversial Parental Rights in Education Act of 2022, a.k.a. the “Don’t Say Gay” law. And according to Miami Herald reporter Mary Ellen Klas, Disney addressed its investors in a statement posted on April 21. Disney, Klas reports, has told its investors “that it would continue to go about business as usual.” Klas explains, “The statement, posted on the website of the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board on April 21 by the Reedy Creek Improvement District, is the only public statement Disney has supplied since lawmakers unleashed their fury over the company’s vocal opposition to the Parental Rights in Education law, also known as the ‘Don’t Say Gay’ bill. The statement, first reported by WESH 2, quotes the statute, which says, in part, that the ‘State of Florida pledges.... it will not limit or alter the rights of the District.... until all such bonds together with interest thereon.... are fully met and discharged.’” In its April 21 statement, Disney writes, “In light of the State of Florida’s pledge to the District’s bondholders, Reedy Creek expects to explore its options while continuing its present operations, including levying and collecting its ad valorem taxes and collecting its utility revenues, paying debt service on its ad valorem tax bonds and utility revenue bonds, complying with its bond covenants and operating and maintaining its properties.’’ Attorney Jake Schumer has said that the State of Florida has a contractual obligation not to interfere with the Reedy Creek Improvement District until the bond debt is paid off. Schumer told the Herald that the State of Florida “simply can’t go forward under the contract clause” and “would have to pass something to address this.” According to Klas, Scott Randolph — tax collector for Orange County, Florida — “agrees with Schumer that the only way for the state to dissolve Disney’s special district is for the debt to be assumed by the county government.” Randolph told the Herald, “Orange County gets Reedy Creek’s assets, debts and obligations…. Unless they want to cut services and cut spending elsewhere, they’re going to have to find a way to absorb $163 million.” FROM YOUR SITE ARTICLES
| The text being discussed is available at | https://www.alternet.org/2022/04/disney-issued-a-statement-saying-that-florida-cannot-dissolve-its-special-district-unless-debt-is-paid/ and |