Welcome to Anaheim, California. As you read this column, there are professional signature gatherers who have been hired by a coalition headed up by the Walt Disney Corporation to qualify a ballot measure in this central Orange County city. No, the measure is not to name Mickey the official mouse of the Anaheim (I would be surprised if that wasn’t the case already!). Actually, the measure they are circulating is a very bad one — which actually is the reason for me spending some time on this local issue.
The measure, in a nutshell, would institute an extreme form of what is called ‘ballot-box zoning’ in this city of well over 300,000 residents. Specifically, Disney is pushing a measure that would set into stone the current city zoning ordinances (the ones that dictate the ‘acceptable uses’ on property) in the Disney Resort Area around the Magic Kingdom. It would do so by requiring that ANY changes (like if you own a coffee shop and want to convert the use into an apartment building) would have to go through a citywide vote for approval at the next regularly scheduled municipal election. Normally you would pursue this through the City Council.
Over the past year or longer, the Walt Disney Company has been having some ‘issues’ with the local City Council in Anaheim, some of which may come to a head tonight at a contentious meeting, and we’ll talk a little bit more about that in a moment. But let me tell you how profoundly disappointing it is that Disney (along with a co-opted group of ‘business leaders’ under the auspices of the local Chamber of Commerce) would resort to a heinous ballot-box zoning measure.
From time to time I have played a computer game called Sim City — you may be familiar with it. It’s very popular. In this game, you actually get to play "God" over a city, controlling literally every facet of its development including, of course, what gets built where and when. In the game there is no ‘City Council’ to deal with — as the player you call all of the shots. Well, in looking into the qualification of this draconian ballot measure (they call it the SOAR Plan – "Save Our Anaheim Resort), which is about half of the way towards being placed on the ballot, it is clear that Disney is ready to perform an end-run on the elected leaders of the city at the expense of the important American institution of representative democracy, which is defined by Wikopedia as:
"…a form of government founded on the exercise of popular sovereignty by the people’s representatives. The representatives are charged with the responsibility of acting in the people’s interest, but not as their proxy representatives—i.e., not necessarily always according to their wishes, but with enough authority to exercise swift and resolute initiative in the face of changing circumstances."
When I heard about this measure, I decided that more people need to speak out and tell the Disney Corporation to stop. I appreciate their frustration if things at the City Council level are not going ‘their way’ — but they need to work out their issues at that level. If they really don’t feel that they can resolve issues favorably with the city, then they should consider a referendum on the individual council decision in question. Or if they think that there was something wrong done by a councilmember, then they should consider a recall campaign against them. Then the voters can decide that issue but either recalling their elected leader, or not. But in pursuing this ballot-box zoning "SOAR" measure, Disney is acting childish, and seems to be saying, “the rules for everyone else do not apply to the Disneyland Resort.”
The whole point of having a City Council is so that these folks can immerse themselves in complex policy issues, and truly make informed decisions on behalf of those that the represent. There is simply no realistic way to wage public information campaigns through the ballot box to bring city voters totally up to speed on complicated land use decisions.
The underlying issue is too complex to pen in this column (I am still trying to understand it all myself) but suffice it to say that some time last decade, the Disney Corporation and the City of Anaheim made some deals designed to reinvigorate the downtown area into a more charismatic tourism district for the Disney Resort area. This deal involved imposing a pretty strict set of regulations on what can be built in the vicinity of the sprawling Disney property. Now there are some discussions about making some what I would characterize as relatively modest changes to those plans, and they way Disney is acting, you would think that the city was preparing to pass a $10 per patron ‘gate tax’ on the park.
Frankly, if I were a member of the City Council, I would be extremely resentful of what I see as the bully tactics of Disney. By putting this "SOAR" plan out there, they are basically telling the elected City Councilmembers — "Vote our way, or we are going to go around you to the voters, and forever reign in your power or the power of any future councils to make planning decisions that directly impact our theme park or the surrounding area.”
It’s a good thing for Mickey Mouse that I am not on the Council — because if I had a vote on this, it would be very difficult for me to vote in favor of people that would push this kind of ballot measure.
I guess I will roll up my sleeves and delve deeper into some of these local Anahiem issues with the idea of keeping our statewide and national readership apprised. But you can be sure that I will go into this with a very healthy skepticism of the Walt Disney Corporation. After all, if they are willing to treat Anaheim like a big game of "Sim City" — then they are probably forgetting that while they are the biggest business and employer in the Anaheim, that doesn’t give them the right act as if possess some sort of divine right to run the city.
(I’ve attached a copy of the proposed SOAR ballot-box zoning measure for interested readers… Thanks to Kevin O’Neill for the outstanding drawing above.)
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