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Chapter Seven - Abuse
Presents Disney as abusive and taking advantage of being able to present itself as a
corporation when convenient, and alternately as a government when convenient. Further
discusses the mag-lev system, discusses in detail an incident in which Disney beat
surrounding counties to collecting benefits and then suffered negative publicity as a
result. Also discusses Disney using its own security team instead of an actual police
force.
The author insists that Disney should either behave like a government or a company, but not both.
Chapter Eight - Negotiation
Discusses some of the effects of Disney’s labor force on the surrounding area.
This is the chapter with a heavy focus on Celebration. Almost all of Disney’s development was in Orange County, and Osceola was getting very little tax revenue directly from Disney. Disney figured that it really didn’t need its property in Osceola for guest attractions, so that’s where Celebration went.
Of course, building a real community for autonomous residents presented challenges to Disney. Ironically, some of the problems were solved by de-annexing the property for Celebration from the RDIC, which was supposedly created primarily to facilitate the development of a community.
Celebration was designed to make introverts miserable, or rather to encourage people to interact with the rest of their community. The author points out that the vast majority of Disney’s workforce couldn’t afford to live in Celebration, and briefly mentions that Disney once considered building a town for cast members.
The rules governing Celebration are detailed, including how Disney still maintains control over the town. Problems that have come up in the community are discussed.
There is some more technical stuff, such as discussion of concurrency law, the addition of another parkway, and the particulars of affordable housing.
Chapter Nine - Therapy
Begins with particulars about how Orange County, which had received the vast majority of
tax revenues generated by Disney (as opposed to Osceola), ended up paying for a road
interchange that was mostly outside of the county and primarily of benefit to Disney.
There are more details about taxes, wages, and labor relations.
Seeks to wrap things up by finally spelling out Foglesong's true agenda. He offers suggestions for local leaders, including charging impact fees, adopting a "living wage" policy, "ending imbalances favoring tourism", and ending subsidies of private-sector "competition" with downtown Orlando.
About the Reviewer
Ken Pellman is a Disney shareholder who is somewhat familiar with county government,
public works projects and systems, and environmental design. He also is a serial Walt
Disney World tourist, has experience as a Disneyland Park cast member and annual
passholder, and writes Kenversations(tm), a column that appears at LaughingPlace.com the
fourth Wednesday of every month. He can be reached directly at [email protected] and on the web at http://www.Pellman.com
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-- Posted August 27, 2001
-- Review by Ken Pellman