Florida's DeSantis Suggests Building State Prison At Disney World In ‘Woke' Battle

By Chris Jennewein, Times of San Diego

April 18, 2023

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Monday fired another shot in his battle with California’s Disney, suggesting his state build a new prison adjacent to Walt Disney World.

DeSantis, a likely Republican presidential candidate who has made attacking “woke Disney” a common theme, said the legislature would revoke a development agreement Disney struck with an oversight board.

“They thought they could create some type of development agreement that would render everything that we did null and void,” DeSantis said. “That’s not gonna fly.”

The ongoing tussle between DeSantis and Florida’s largest employer began in March 2022 when Disney’s then-Chief Executive Bob Chapek spoke out against a bill limiting discussion of sexuality and gender identity in Florida elementary school classrooms.

Republicans named the bill the Parental Rights in Education Act, while opponents criticized it as the “Don’t say gay” law.

DeSantis said the new bill, announced on Monday, would return control of the special district that is home to Disney World to a state oversight board run by the governor’s appointees.

Among other things, the new law would give the board the power to decide how to develop land adjacent to Disney’s theme parks. DeSantis said the possibilities included a state park, other amusement parks or a state prison.

DeSantis and the Florida legislature have been working to eliminate the virtual autonomy the company enjoyed over Disney World for more than 50 years, saying that constitutes an “unfair advantage” even though the entertainment company employs 75,000 people in the state.

Florida lawmakers passed a bill in February giving DeSantis effective control over a board that oversees municipal services and development in a special district in central Florida that encompasses Walt Disney World resort.

Current Disney CEO Bob Iger called the move a retaliation, “anti-business” and “anti-Florida.” The company had no comment on DeSantis remarks on Monday.

Before the takeover by DeSantis appointees, Disney pushed through changes to the special tax district agreement that limit the board’s action for decades.

An attorney for the newly constituted Central Florida Tourism Oversight District last month described what he called the “shocking” revelation that the agreement had been reached three weeks before DeSantis signed legislation granting the state authority over the district.

The pact cements a 10-year comprehensive plan, adopted on July 15, 2022, that serves as a blueprint to guide future development. It gives Disney the option to add a fifth major theme park, two minor parks, 1 million square feet of retail space and some 14,000 hotel rooms.

It also ensures that future boards would honor a commitment to $527 million in planned capital improvements to support Walt Disney World’s growth over the next decade.

“We are a government of laws, not a government of individual men or even a government of ‘woke’ corporations based in California,” DeSantis said.

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