# Please explain DeSantis and Disneyland to me **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [March 4, 2023, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-desantis-and-disneyland-to-me/980730 "2023-03-04T19:51:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2023, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-desantis-and-disneyland-to-me/980730/41 "2023-03-05T22:50:34Z")
> [@doreen](#): > > But here I am , thinking that Disney shouldn’t have lost the special treatment for this reason. There’s nothing wrong with that. It’s okay to not like when the right thing is done for the wrong reason. In this case, the larger issue of discrimination against LGBTQ+ people outweighs the issue of Disney having an unfair political position in their tiny part of Florida. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Strangelove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.strangelove/32/6613_2.png) [@Dr.Strangelove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Strangelove)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2023, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-desantis-and-disneyland-to-me/980730/42 "2023-03-05T23:33:32Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > It’s not like these “special districts” controlled by some large business are all that special. Florida has about 1900 of them. I don’t know if Florida is special in some way. California has about 3000 “special districts”. However, the majority are single-purpose–the most common type being cemeteries. Others are fire protection districts, water districts, airports, etc. There’s probably some sense in having a special administration for these kinds of things. But Disney’s district is not that. It appears to have almost _all_ the authority that a local government would have. People live there. They have power plants, airports, etc. It’s like they have hundreds of overlapping special purpose districts all assigned to one authority, and covering a fairly vast area. I agree that it’s not being done for any kind of consistent reason, but I doubt that any of those other 1900 districts have remotely close to the same power as Disney’s. ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2023, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-desantis-and-disneyland-to-me/980730/43 "2023-03-05T23:41:29Z")
> [@Dr.Strangelove](#): > > By any reasonable standard, it’s actually Disney’s administrative district itself that’s semi-fascist. Merging of corporate and government power is one of the key pillars of fascism. Why should Disney have the same authority as a government body? It’s undemocratic. There is a credible argument that Disney—a private corporation that is not elected by residents or represents them in any democratic way—should never have been allowed to run what is essentially their own private fiefdom on Florida land, and similarly for other ‘special development districts’. But DeSantis isn’t dissolving the Reedy Creek Improvement District because it is offensive to democratic principles or because no corporation should be able to run a private government the way coal mining companies ran exploitative ‘coal camps’ in Appalachia in a 1950s version of serfdom. He’s doing it to strike out at Disney and show that he has the power to bend them to his will, or at least impact their bottom line. Stranger ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2023, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-desantis-and-disneyland-to-me/980730/44 "2023-03-05T23:53:13Z")
> [@thorny\_locust](#): > > If New York State has any at all, I don’t know about it. (Not to say it doesn’t happen in practice, of course. But I haven’t heard of it as a legal construction.) It does. > **[Administrative divisions of New York (state) | Special purpose units of government](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Administrative_divisions_of_New_York_(state)#Special_purpose_units_of_government)** > > In New York, special purpose units of government provide specialized services only to those who live in the district, and are empowered to tax residents of the district for the services provided in common. Special districts often cross the lines of towns, villages, and hamlets, and occasionally cities or counties. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Strangelove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.strangelove/32/6613_2.png) [@Dr.Strangelove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Strangelove)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2023, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-desantis-and-disneyland-to-me/980730/45 "2023-03-05T23:54:20Z")
> [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](#): > > He’s doing it to strike out at Disney and show that he has the power to bend them to his will, or at least impact their bottom line. Yes, that’s consistent with what I said later in my post. It’s a clever move, in a sense. It turns the argument from “you’re doing the wrong thing” into “you’re doing the right thing for the wrong reasons”, which requires a more subtle and nuanced counterargument. Given the poor state of political discourse, forcing your opponents into more complicated responses, especially ones that can be characterized as hypocrisy, weakens them. ---
**Author:** ![doreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/858c86/32.png) [@doreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doreen)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2023, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-desantis-and-disneyland-to-me/980730/46 "2023-03-06T00:17:37Z")
I think that every state has that type of special district, where the school district boundaries are not exactly the same as the county boundaries or the library district coincide with the town boundaries. Reedy Creek Improvement District was different - it had all the powers of a local government ( city and county) but all of the residents were Disney employees who didn’t own land and therefore couldn’t vote leaving Disney hand-picking the board and running the government. I’d be surprised if there was another set-up like that in the entire country. ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2023, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-desantis-and-disneyland-to-me/980730/47 "2023-03-06T00:23:33Z")
> [@Dr.Strangelove](#): > > It’s a clever move, in a sense. It turns the argument from “you’re doing the wrong thing” into “you’re doing the right thing for the wrong reasons”, which requires a more subtle and nuanced counterargument. Given the poor state of political discourse, forcing your opponents into more complicated responses, especially ones that can be characterized as hypocrisy, weakens them. I’m not sure DeSantis is really that nuanced, or needs to be. To the extent that he needs some kind of plausible rationale beyond striking out at ‘woke’ corporations for defying his edicts, he could certainly make the argument that it is time to end special protections and entitlements for large corporations. But honestly, he wants his base to know that he will strike out at ‘wokeness’ using all of the authority he has, and this has gotten him more publicity that a whirlwind campaign of MAGA-type rallies would. Stranger ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2023, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-desantis-and-disneyland-to-me/980730/48 "2023-03-06T00:26:38Z")
> [@doreen](#): > > I think that every state has that type of special district, where the school district boundaries are not exactly the same as the county boundaries or the library district coincide with the town boundaries. You’re correct. > [@doreen](#): > > I’d be surprised if there was another set-up like that in the entire country. Probably not, including Florida. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2023, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-desantis-and-disneyland-to-me/980730/49 "2023-03-06T00:37:19Z")
In one of the earlier threads on this topic, someone listed a bunch of other districts of this same sort, controlled by a company and inhabited, in Florida. IIRC, The Villages is one of them. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Strangelove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.strangelove/32/6613_2.png) [@Dr.Strangelove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Strangelove)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2023, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-desantis-and-disneyland-to-me/980730/50 "2023-03-06T01:10:24Z")
> [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](#): > > I’m not sure DeSantis is really that nuanced, or needs to be. Hard to say, but DeSantis doesn’t strike me as a drooling idiot, unlike some other members of the GOP. To win an election, he needs the MAGA base plus some fence-sitters. Anti-wokeness itself has _some_ appeal to the center, so as long as he doesn’t do anything _too_ extreme, he might win some of those. Giving his moves some kind of political cover helps with that. ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2023, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-desantis-and-disneyland-to-me/980730/51 "2023-03-06T01:13:42Z")
> [@Dr.Strangelove](#): > > California has about 3000 “special districts”. However, the majority are single-purpose–the most common type being cemeteries. Others are fire protection districts, water districts, airports, etc. > [@Atamasama](#): > > [Administrative divisions of New York (state) - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Administrative_divisions_of_New_York_(state)#Special_purpose_units_of_government) I don’t think those are the same thing, though. The areas they cover are also under the jurisdiction of a municipality. AIUI, Disney’s isn’t: the private business has been given all the authority of a municipality, without any of the electoral controls over municipal governments. > [@Dr.Strangelove](#): > > It’s a clever move, in a sense. It turns the argument from “you’re doing the wrong thing” into “you’re doing the right thing for the wrong reasons”, which requires a more subtle and nuanced counterargument. He’s not doing the right thing. He’s not turning the local powers back over to the local municipalities, with decisions relevant to them to be voted on locally. He’s just taking the whole thing over on the state level. They didn’t hold local elections for that board – I don’t think they held any elections at all for that board. I think DeSantis just appointed them. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Strangelove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.strangelove/32/6613_2.png) [@Dr.Strangelove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Strangelove)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2023, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-desantis-and-disneyland-to-me/980730/52 "2023-03-06T01:16:48Z")
> [@thorny\_locust](#): > > He’s not turning the local powers back over to the local municipalities, with decisions relevant to them to be voted on locally. He’s just taking the whole thing over on the state level. That’s fair, but again: that’s just the kind of nuance that you want to force your opponents into explaining. The more complicated their arguments get, the less trustworthy they seem (from the perspective of an average voter). ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2023, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-desantis-and-disneyland-to-me/980730/53 "2023-03-06T01:45:32Z")
> [@Dr.Strangelove](#): > > But Disney’s district is not that. It appears to have almost _all_ the authority that a local government would have. People live there. They have power plants, airports, etc. It’s like they have hundreds of overlapping special purpose districts all assigned to one authority, and covering a fairly vast area. My understanding is that very few people live in the Reedy Creek Improvement District (because that’s what Disney wanted) and while they had the authority to build airport and power plants (even a nuclear one), they never actually did. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Strangelove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.strangelove/32/6613_2.png) [@Dr.Strangelove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Strangelove)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2023, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-desantis-and-disneyland-to-me/980730/54 "2023-03-06T02:04:11Z")
Not nuclear, but they do have a power plant: > **[Reedy Creek Energy Services](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reedy_Creek_Energy_Services)** > > Reedy Creek Energy Services (RCES) is a wholly owned subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company. It operates the electric and other utility transmission and distribution systems of the Reedy Creek Improvement District (RCID) on behalf of the district which specifically covers Walt Disney World outside Orlando, Florida. Some power is produced by the district-owned power plant north of the Magic Kingdom with the remainder purchased from the public power grid. Officially the utility systems are ow In ad... I assumed they at least operated a small airstrip for their own use, but apparently not. I thought Celebration was part of the RCID, but it’s not; it’s just entirely surrounded by it. Still, the RCID provides a number of services to them, so they aren’t entirely disconnected. Lake Buena Vista is a part of the RCID, and only has a population of 24. Curiously, Wikipedia says their population in 1990 was 1,776. I wonder what happened. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2023, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-desantis-and-disneyland-to-me/980730/55 "2023-03-06T02:10:06Z")
> [@Dr.Strangelove](#): > > Lake Buena Vista is a part of the RCID, and only has a population of 24. Curiously, Wikipedia says their population in 1990 was 1,776. I wonder what happened. Wikipedia sez; “The spike in the 1990 population reflects the temporary inclusion of residents of the Vista Way apartments, which began operation in 1988. They were de-annexed after the 1990 census.” I’m guessing the 24 official residents today are probably all Disney employees. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2023, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-desantis-and-disneyland-to-me/980730/56 "2023-03-06T02:52:11Z")
Ah, here we go: The category is “[Community Development Districts](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Community_development_district)”, and the local government is run by a board elected by the landowners (with number of votes proportional to the area of land). So to get a district run entirely by a corporation, all you need is for the corporation to own over 50% of the land in the district. There are over 600 of these in Florida, and yes, it does include The Villages. ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2023, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-desantis-and-disneyland-to-me/980730/57 "2023-03-06T03:09:57Z")
> [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](#): > > even if it hurts the economy of the state he governs, decided to attack Disney as a public spectacle to demonstrate what a fine little fascist he is. It really isn’t any deeper or more sensible than that. If the theme park wasn’t such a license to print money, if I were the ‘owner’ of Disney ,I would tell DeSantis and the rest of them FUCK YOU and close it down, and move it somewhere less assholey. How much does Disney bring in to Florida? What would they do without the tourist money and the tax money coming in from the resort itself? [I know we did Universal one trip to Florida when mrAru had a job interview in Key West and it was 2 motel room nights, 1 non Universal Dinner and 2 non Universal breakfasts, and 1 lunch/1 dinner and snacks at Universal, and 1 wheelchair rental. Maybe $500-600 or so. Multiply that by how many people?] ---
**Author:** ![doreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/858c86/32.png) [@doreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doreen)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2023, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-desantis-and-disneyland-to-me/980730/58 "2023-03-06T03:19:36Z")
> [@Dr.Strangelove](#): > > I thought Celebration was part of the RCID, but it’s not; it’s just entirely surrounded by it. Still, the RCID provides a number of services to them, so they aren’t entirely disconnected. IIRC, Celebration was carved out from the RCID specifically so the Celebration landowners couldn’t outvote Disney. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Strangelove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.strangelove/32/6613_2.png) [@Dr.Strangelove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Strangelove)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2023, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-desantis-and-disneyland-to-me/980730/59 "2023-03-06T03:23:58Z")
Yeah, I see now what you meant in your first response to me–I had missed that detail. While it takes away some of the “undemocratic” argument, I agree that it probably makes things worse. It’s just a way for Disney to exert greater control with even less oversight. ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2023, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-desantis-and-disneyland-to-me/980730/60 "2023-03-06T03:30:58Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > The category is “[Community Development Districts](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Community_development_district)”, and the local government is run by a board elected by the landowners (with number of votes proportional to the area of land). Yikes! Pretty much plutocracy enacted into law, isn’t that? (Yes, I know wealth doesn’t always line up neatly with amount of land owned; but in a situation like that, wealth’s going to buy enough land to take charge.) I suppose ‘one person, one vote’ can only be enforced on the federal level (and obviously is only blurrily so there.) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-desantis-and-disneyland-to-me/980730.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-desantis-and-disneyland-to-me/980730.md?page=4)