Thread by @rumpfshaker

Conservative Media Cheering DeSantis Crackdown on Disney Are Ignoring What a Catastrophe It Would Be for Florida mediaite.com/a/brvti via @mediaite #sayfie #ReedyCreek #flapol

Let's dig into this. One of the main points = Reedy Creek Improvement District (RCID) is SUPER complicated & has been around for over 50 years. It's a >$100 million annual operating budget to provide services over a 25K+ parcel that stretches across 2 counties. /2

Orange County includes Orlando and several other well-developed suburbs and cities. Osceola remains far more rural outside of the tourist corridor. Both counties are currently facing significant challenges related to skyrocketing housing prices, transportation needs, etc. /3

But let's go back to the 1960s when Walt Disney himself was checking out FL to build a new theme park. We know from Disney records & Walt's own comments that he wanted something very different for Walt Disney World than he had with Disneyland in California. /4

Walt was frustrated by the development that sprung up around Disneyland, both from an aesthetic standpoint & from a financial standpoint. He didn't control Disneyland's neighboring parcels so he couldn't stop tacky shops. And others were raking in that sweet sweet hotel cash. /5

Another major problem with Disneyland: the surrounding development snuggled around all sides meant they couldn't expand without having to pay insanely high prices to buy existing businesses and bulldoze them. That's not economically efficient. /6

You should be able to understand why Walt liked that big empty parcel of land in Central FL. Room to build hotels Disney would control. No worries about competitors building across the street. Can create immersive experience for guests. And! Lots of room to expand! /7

There are numerous books & articles about how Disney bought the land parcels they wanted, using straw purchasers and even reaching a deal with the @orlandosentinel publisher to sit on the story because the development would be a boon for the area. /8 web.archive.org/web/2015091003…

Fun trivia fact: one of those straw purchaser corporate entities would later inspire the name of the #ReedyCreekImprovementDistrict and several others are listed along the Magic Kingdom's Main Street as a tribute to the work by all those realtors, planners, etc. /9

Crucial transportation infrastructure was in place nearby, the Orlando airport and highways, I-4 and the Florida Turnpike both cut thru the area. But the land was otherwise mostly empty. Disney could buy enough land for as many projects as he wanted & maintain a buffer /10

Here's where #ReedyCreek is very important. Even the initial plans Disney had contemplated a radical change for the area. Orange County was not that far removed from being "Mosquito County" (it's true, our original name) and the whole area was remote and rural. /11

#ReedyCreek sprung out of BOTH Disney's desire to control their new property AND the local government agencies saying "oh heck no we cannot handle this." The land was miles from any existing water and electrical lines, as just one issue. /12

Here's a link to a map of RCID. /13 documentcloud.org/documents/2167…

Here's the original statute creating RCID in 1967. It includes a LOT of functions you might normally expect local government to handle. /14 rcid.org/wp-content/upl…

The statutory grant was VERY broad & included a few things that many people find amusing, like granting Disney the right to build a nuclear power plant and their own airport. But again, think of the time period. Florida made a deal with the Mouse to get lucrative development. /15

Two rural counties did not have the staff or funds to manage the water, sewer, roads, electric, drainage, mosquito control, wetlands mitigation, etc. Disney needed. By creating RCID, Florida got the new theme park without having to build infrastructure for it. /16

So, yes, Disney's critics are right that it is an amazing grant of powers BUT Disney wouldn't have developed the land without it. That was the deal, & both sides benefitted. /17

And I must say for the millionth time, RCID is NOT a tax exemption. Details in the article but RCID collects sales taxes like any other FL business & remits those to the local gov't, along with Tourist Development Taxes charged to all FL hotel guests. /18 mediaite.com/opinion/conser…

Disney/RCID also still pays substantial property taxes. The size and value of their property means this is tens of millions of dollars every year, even with the carveouts for the functions that RCID is handling. /19

Pay attention now because this gets a bit tricky. RCID is empowered to levy taxes on Disney properties, Disney pays them, and they use that $ to build the roads, pick up trash, run their (non-nuclear!) power plant, preserve wetlands areas, and so on. /20

Unlike an actual local gov't RCID doesn't have to send out reminder bills, worry about debt collection, combat fraud, etc. They just determine their planned budget, set the millage rate, send Disney entities the bill, collect the funds, & disburse them. /21

RCID also operates with stricter/higher standards than most local gov'ts AND their workers get better pay/benefits than their county counterparts. You'll never see a pothole on an RCID-maintained road. Trash pickup is more frequent. Building codes are state-of-the-art. /22

This bill the legislature just RUSHED THRU IN 3 DAYS neglects to take these huge differences between RCID and county standards and operations into account. /23

https://twitter.com/CarlosGSmith/status/1516618686135685128?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

As I point out in the article, the House staff analysis is "demonstrative bullshit," as one of my sources said. How can they logically argue there's no requirement the counties spend funds if they have to take over RCID? That is obvious nonsense. /24 myfloridahouse.gov/Sections/Docum…

Disney specifically negotiated for RCID before a shovel hit the dirt in Florida, and the local gov't agreed to it. RCID has spent the past 50 years investing in this infrastructure and protecting it, and Disney has made major business decisions in reliance on it. /25

Conservatives justifiably howled when the IRS during the Obama administration targeted tea party groups. This is the shoe on the other ideological foot. Read the article, I have some smart law profs discussing the #1A issues. /26

The town of Celebration was deannexed in 1993 from RCID & is now a part of unincorporated Osceola County. RCID still provides telecommunications, electricity, and other utilities services to Celebration through contractual arrangements. What happens to that? /27

Again, lots of other examples in the article, but RCID is a big complex bundle that our governor and state lawmakers are ludicrously pretending can just be turned over to the counties. That's wildly inaccurate -- and the counties STILL DO NOT WANT THIS RESPONSIBILITY. /28

The system has worked fine for 50 years and RCID is a big part of why there are still huge green spaces in this highly valuable tourist corridor. Had Disney built their park without buying up all that surrounding land, it would be developed by now. /29

Capitalism requires the #RuleOfLaw in order to function. We need predictable and stable rules. You show up to work, you boss gives you a paycheck. You buy a house, you get the deed showing you have title. You can enforce these rights in court. /30

What #DeSantis & the FL legislature did this week is tell businesses, you can be here for half a century, you can invest billions of $ here, generate trillions in economic growth, but screw you, we might wipe out a substantial portion of your business on a vengeful whim. /31

Again, the Rule of Law means you draft laws anticipating that sometimes you will like the people executing them & sometimes you won't. You wouldn't grant Obama a power you wouldn't trust Trump to have & vice versa, depending on your personal politics. /32

It is a HORRIFICALLY DUMB & BAD precedent to toss out RCID because Florida Republicans don't like what Disney said about one bill. (it's a free speech violation too, #ReadTheArticle, but OMG IT IS DUMB AND BAD TOO.) /33

Flip this around politically. Let's say a Democratic governor and legislature threaten to rezone a church that has been donating money to pro-life causes and protesting outside an abortion clinic. Don't cheer the GOP attacking Disney if you don't like this example. /34

The FL GOP has been so blatant about targeting Disney, they've made it almost too easy to make the legal case. I have links & tweets in the article and the Tallahassee Democrat has a few more quotes. They aren't hiding the retaliatory intention. /35 tallahassee.com/story/news/pol…

Here's where I get very cynical: I suspect this might be intentional. DeSantis gets to brag to the Fox News audience & his email fundraising lists that he fought the "woke corporation" but then he waits for the court to clean up his unconstitutional mess. /36

My fellow Floridian, National Review's @charlescwcooke, has generally been a fan of DeSantis but blasted the idea of repealing RCID. Read his well-written and logically reasoned article here. /37 nationalreview.com/2022/04/ron-de…

TL;DR: RCID isn't a simple crony capitalist tax break. It was enacted for good reason that benefitted Disney AND Orange & Osceola County. Repealing it is unconstitutional and DUMB and the counties don't want to take over. It's a cynical political ploy to launch DeSantis 2024. /38

Call your legislators and demand they pledge to repeal this stupid and unconstitutional law next session (if a court doesn't smash it dead before then). /39

#ReadTheArticle and have a good night. 40/40 (whew that got a bit rambling, sorry, I'm tired after a long day)
mediaite.com/opinion/conser…

One thought before 😴… I have NEVER in my life heard a Florida politician call Disney a “California corporation” until this past month. In saner times, they claimed Disney as local. It’s very weird to hear them talk like they want to shut down Florida’s largest employer.

https://twitter.com/rumpfshaker/status/1517495378706415616?s=20&t=ymgZToujsc133gbFjzTkSA