Remember WestCOT? Lots Of People Seem To Have Forgotten
Posted by: Jubal | 07/17/2007 2:06 PM
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]
Mr. Ayer registered as a Republican to be electable in an interim election with no incumbents. He did...
Nice one Matt! Diggin deep!
Of course, Westcot's downsizing into California Adventure didn't happen in a context-free zone:
Here's an interesting article on the Westcot-to-California-Adventure endgame.
So while Disney didn't live up to its initial Westcot promises, it's not as if Michael Eisner woke up one morning and decided to cancel the thing out of spite.
And of course, this has nothing to do with whether or not SunCal and its promises can be trusted ...
Matt,
I think you forgot to include your full disclosure at the bottom of this post.
Paul:
You're right -- I did. Thanks for the reminder. All fixed now.
Let's face it folks, on this issue all we're going to see is Jubal spinning and grave robbing to dig up the skeletons for his client. (Except, of course, Chip Hanlon's thoughtful insights and counter-point.)
We've all come to expect the spin--heck it's nice to see him play the part of the gadfly for once. What's troubling to me are posts like this, bashing the mouse from out of nowhere with some material that's about a decade old. Comment on the news if you must, but please spare us the skeletons . . . Thanks
Matt,
You have performed a great public service even if you are a hired gun. I keep hearing from the Soaries that a deal is a deal is a deal. Well, the deal was broken coming out of the gate which you have conclusively exposed. Thanks for setting the record straight.