OC Blog

Anaheim Council Continues Referendum Vote For Two Weeks

After more than three hours of comments from members of the public, followed by some contentious remarks, debate and some sniping by Anaheim councilmembers, the City Council voted 3-2 to continue to the whole matter of voting on scheduling the referendum until the next council meeting two weeks from now.

Just prior to that vote, a substitute motion by Councilman Harry Sidhu to rescind the zoning ordinance in question was defeated, 3-2.

You can read Sarah Tully's article on the OC Register website. I'm going to bed.

Remember WestCOT? Lots Of People Seem To Have Forgotten

It's going to be a big time at the Anaheim City Council tonight as the council decides -- as the law requires --  on whether to put Disney's referendum on the ballot, or rescind the April 24 residential zoning overlay approval to which Disney objects.

After spending lots of money, time and energy convincing enough Anaheim voters to sign the referendum in order to "Protect Your Right To Vote," Disney and its allies will tonight ask the City Council to forget about all that stuff they promised voters and just rescind the zoning ordinance.

We'll probably hear a lot about how good Disneyland is for Anaheim -- which it is -- and gauzy encomiums to Disney's role in forming the Resort District.

But there's been an outbreak of amnesia about what Disney was promising to build in return for hundreds of millions in taxpayer goodies and neighboring property owners accepting use restrictions.  Disney didn't promise California Adventure -- they promised WestCOT.

And WestCOT would have been a glorious thing indeed. Here are some informational links -- such as this one about the Anaheim hotels Disney was going to build as part of WestCOT, and this transcript of Imagineer Tony Baxter describing WestCOT at the 1994 (the year the Resort District was formed) NFFC Convention. These two links -- here and here -- give more details on WestCOT.

Something to keep in mind next time Disney/SOAR start chanting "A deal's a deal."

[Full disclosure: I'm part of the consultant team on the SunCal project Disney is trying to kill]

OC Register's Resort District Editorial Off-The-Mark

I posted this over at the Protect Anaheim Blog:

Today's OC Register's editorial on the Anaheim Resort District fight boils down to "a pox on both your houses," with an extra-heavy helping of pox tossed at SunCal.

But the Register seems to have bought into the Resort District mythology created by the myth-makers at Disney, and the editorial paints an inaccurate picture.

For example:

"Disney made good on its promise to build a second theme park, California Adventure, along with Downtown Disney and the Grand Californian Hotel."

But Disney didn't promise Anaheim city government and affected property owners California Adventure. Disney promised the far-more ambitious WestCOT.

You can read the rest over there -- and Part 2 over here.

[full disclosure: I'm a consultant to the SunCal project Disney is trying to kill).

Disneyspeak: "Protect Your Right To Vote" Doesn't Mean We Actually Want People To Vote!

'When I use a word,' Humpty Dumpty said, in a rather scornful tone,' it means just what I choose it to mean, neither more nor less.'

'The question is,' said Alice, 'whether you can make words mean so many different things.'

'The question is,' said Humpty Dumpty, 'which is to be master - that's all.'

-- Through The Looking Glass

I was reminded of that passage by Disney's latest action in its campaign to control Resort District property it doesn't not own.

As readers know, Disney/SOAR narrowly qualified a referendum on the Anaheim Council's 3-2 approval of wholly-residential zoning overlay of a 26-acre site on the edge of the Resort District. Expecting this defeat, Disney and its allies immediately went the referendum route (as is their right).

Disney Referendum Qualification: A Near-Run Thing

Disney is a corporate behemoth with a 50-year presence in Anaheim in the form of iconic Disneyland. The conventional wisdom was Disney, given that history and the massive resources it and its allies poured into the referendum effort, would have no problem qualifying it for the ballot.

You'd think. 

Regardless of what side of this battle one is one (and I am a member of the SunCal consulting team), it's interesting to note what a near-run thing the qualification was for Disney/SOAR. They had paid and circulators, supplemented by volunteer circulators, at almost every Anaheim shopping center and walking city neighborhoods to collect them door-to-door.

Anaheim Budget Commissioner's Letter Doesn't Add Up

On Sunday, the OC Register published a letter to the editor from Mr. Patrick Pepper, a member of the Anaehim Budget Adivsory Committee, headlined "Councilwoman's Figures Don't Add Up."

The headline refers to figures in a city report by Anaheim Budget manager Blaze Bruney requested by Anaheim Councilwoman regarding the impact of Resort District revenues on Anaheim's general fund.

The letter's headline is wrong: they aren't the "Councilwoman's figures" -- they are the City of Anaheim's figures. Galloway asked for them because the Disney/Save Our Anaheim Resort(SOAR) group seeking to squash three residential projects in the resort district (including one by my client SunCal) has been claimed ad nauseum that 5% of the city (the resort district) generates 50% of city revenues. Disney/SOAR provides no provenance for this figure, even though it underpins  the Disney/SOAR campaign to scare Anaheim residents into believing these residential projects will destroy city financnes (in addition to Disney/SOAR spooking residents with the spectre of slums and "unsavory people" by Disneyland). But they "stand by it."

Not Even Close Enough For Government Work

Throughout the spring, as they gathered signatures for for the Disney/SOAR initiative and subsequently for the Disney/SOAR referendum, Disney circulators invariably told voters the Anaheim Resort District was "just 5% percent of Anaheim but generated 50% of city revenue" and that development of SunCal's Platinum Pointe would destroy that (in addition to bringing in icky poor people, drugs, prostitution, frogs, locusts and boils, etc). It's a statistic that's been bruited about for months as gospel.

Sarah Tully has a story in today's OC Register about a memo prepared by City of Anaheim Budget Manager Blaze Bruney, which shows the scare statistic isn't true. It isn't even close enough for government work.

You can read Sarah's story here, and you can read the actual report from Bruney here.

[Full disclosure: I'm a member of the Platinum Pointe consulting team].

Comedy Central Segment on Disney-SunCal Battle Airs Tonight

From the OC Register:

"The Daily Show with Jon Stewart" is set to air Tuesday a segment that pokes fun at Disney's dispute with the city and a developer.

The field segment has been postponed a few times, but a Comedy Central show producer said the piece now is set to air at 11 p.m. Tuesday. Also, commercials on the cable channel promoting "The Daily Show" have been aired today.

Do Anaheim Residents Want To Subsidize More Hotels?

Dave McKibben of the Los Angeles Times wrote a valuable article on Tuesday about the market for luxury hotels in the Anaheim Resort District, focusing on a proposed residential development within the resort district: the site of a closed Toys 'R' Us on Harbor between Orangewood and Chapman.

McKibben quotes Derek Baak, the developer of the project:

"If the city is waiting for a luxury hotel-condo project on that site, who knows how long the land will sit there vacant?" he said. "You just can't build a hotel now without some kind of subsidy." With more condos added in his new plan, "the condos subsidize the hotel."

Thankfully, Hernandez Doesn't Run the IRS

I'll admit it, in any difference of opinion between Mayor Curt Pringle and coucilman Bob Hernandez, I'll tend to come in with a pro-Pringle bias, having watched this business-friendly Mayor from a distance and knowing of his past service in statewide office.  Any self-doubt that my own predispositions might have been clouding my view of the ongoing Disney/Suncal conflict, however, were washed away when a reader gave me a heads-up on the most recent Anaheim city council meeting (I've since watched the video, available at www.anaheim.net).

Near the end of that meeting, Hernandez openly suggested that if Disney wanted to try to overturn the city council's change to Anaheim's General Plan-- a right to referendum afforded it by law-- then perhaps the company ought to face an entertainment tax!

While airing this stunning proposal, Hernandez even admits, "I'm not sure how large of an entertainment tax it should be," showing clearly that his tax-hiking scheme isn't some well thought-out matter of public policy, but merely a hot-headed, off-the-cuff attempt to frighten his opponents into submission.

How big should it be?  Bob Hernandez probably thinks such a tax should be large enough to teach Disney never to disagree with him again.

I suspect readers here would very much like to know if those who side with councilman Hernandez on this issue also agree with him that Disney ought to be penalized with a new tax for simply holding a viewpoint which differs from his.  If not, SunCal and all of its supporters should very publicly issue a rebuke of the councilman's careless, hostile remarks and make it clear that they do not believe in levying new taxes against those with whom they disagree.

There are lot of reasons most visitors to this blog should believe in the principles of limited government; this sort of bullying should be first among them.

What say you, SunCal?!