A broad coalition of elected and local Democrats and labor groups are coming out in strong support to urge the Anaheim City Council to approve an agreement that would extend an existing tax policy in Anaheim for another 30 years. In exchange, Disney will invest a minimum of $1 Billion for a third major expansion of the Disneyland Resort.
During public comments at tonight’s council meeting, we expect to see Labor leaders urge the council to adopt the deal. And given Mayor Tait’s terrible record with unions on city contracts, it’s going to be interesting to watch.
For LA/OC’s building trades, the proposed $1 billion expansion by Disney in the Anaheim Resort means thousands of good jobs at good wages for workers here in Orange County instead of trekking to the far reaches of Southern California.
The Liberal OC has learned that both the Anaheim Fire Association and Anaheim Police Association have come out in support of the proposed Entertainment Tax Policy because as the Resort grows, tax revenue derived from guests will go to the City’s General fund, helping Anaheim cover it’s wage and pension obligations for public safety workers.
There’s no breakdown on the types of jobs that will be created by Disney’s proposed expansion, but construction jobs almost always are above living wage guidelines. Disney’s not perfect, as their recent outsourcing of IT jobs goes, but there are a few thousand permanent jobs that will be created from their expansion that will cross the spectrum of compensation from generous to entry level.
While there are some loud voices on the right, Mayor Tait — who supported the original 1996 agreement — and CATER president Cynthia Ward are against the plan as is Dr. Jose Moreno on the left. But some Democrats are speaking up and making their voice heard in support of the deal.
Democratic leadership for this agreement includes Assemblyman Tom Daly, who was also Mayor of Anaheim when the original agreement was passed nearly 20 years ago. Others include: OUSD Trustee Diane Quezada-Singer, ACSD Trustee DR Heywood, Centralia School Board member Connor Trout, Anaheim Planning Commissioners Bill Dalati, Mitch Caldwell, Grant Henninger, and Michelle Lieberman, retired Anaheim school teachers and community leaders Alden and Linda Esping to name a few.
While an entertainment tax would add to Anaheim’s coffers, it’s an admission tax that Disney or any other provider won’t pay — customers will. A greater economic benefit for the city and its residents ate good jobs at good wages that help Anaheim’s working families gain a higher standard of living while adding to the local economy in significantly greater ways.
good wages for construction workers? not sure if Disney has a new policy but back in the day when I worked construction Disney paid considerably less for union jobs that’s why a lot of us stayed away from those jobs. and by not paying this tax they promise to spend a billion on their own park? so they can charge more? something just doesn’t sound right about this.
Surely this will be described as “Your Wing” of the DPOC Dan C.
In reality Greg’s wing is so OUT OF TOUCH with the political realities in OC it’s almost as if HE, not ME (according to his accusations) is working as a “Political Ninja…Whatever”.
The dude does more to oppress PROGRESS than anyone we’ve seen in 15 years. Loretta, Daly, Correa, Vandimeir and many others want nothing to do with this rabble rouser. I wonder how serious is SQS about being elected (again) to that post. She is going to have to extend her arm (meaning “arms length) to keep this guy and his GOP cronies at bay.
The measure will pass and we’ll see an 18 part Sonnet on Garden Groves (over) use of water. the guy is nut’s. Just read his foolish stuff.
I don’t know what’s so hard to understand that Disney won’t pay a dollar of taxes. Any taxes paid are paid by the customer. They just don’t seem to get it
Welcome to the GOP Dan.
Finally, skallywag has a comment worth reading.
Don’t have all the facts on the Disneyland issue. Logic dictates if Disneyland grows, so will the Police, Fire and other City calls for service. With a tax exemption, taxpayers will be asked to pick up the cost instead of the user, Disneyland. While I generally am opposed to government taxes, I am also flexible enough to understand that those who are getting additional benefits, need to be the ones to pay for them. Disney continues to raise their rates with no regard to customers and the people keep on coming. It seems reasonable to keep in place a process where a user tax could be added to pay for the additional services if and when it is needed. It would appear to the uninformed public (me) that the Anaheim Council is catering to the desires of Disneyland as opposed to the people who elected them. Voters should remember this in the next election.
Disney pays well for construction jobs, but they also benefit from police and fire services. This is a question of whether or not government should subsidize the already successful company. It’s not an easy decision, because Disney is offering something in return, but it’s clearly not a left/right issue.
ted lawrence, so Disney changed their policy? if I remember correctly Disney paid 10 dollars less per hour than any other union construction jobs.
well, if you stayed away from the jobs, how would you know what it pays?
I’m reminded of the words of Oscar Wilde, “A pessimist is somebody who complains about the noise when opportunity knocks.”
Welcome to your proper online home, Mr. Clark. Enjoy your next briefing.
You’re so bitter Diamond. I pity you
I was against it since Anaheim has way too many Leisure and Hospitality jobs. Granted, construction benefits but most of the jobs are low skilled and part time plus they already had to Downtown Anaheim problem of little professional skilled employment except for some management and technicians. In Anaheim most of the good paying jobs are on the East side since they have engineering, finance and so forth while Downtown has service jobs that mainly young adults and lower skilled immigrants do Instead of using for another ride which might not be that popular in 30 years, heard of Virtual Reality, it is happening now which means you can experience Disneyland without being there in person. It might caused Disneyland to lose thousands of jobs by 2030, if people prefer Virtual Reality than going to Disney in person. In fact both Google and Oculus are going to release their headsets in a year and by 2030, you may not need a headset. Also, other places in the US could create a theme park based upon virtual reality.
well cheminowski lots of us stayed away because we were told before hand that Disney paid about 10 bucks less per hour on these jobs at the time I was an apprentice not making a lot of money to begin with our cut wasn’t as big of a cut the journeymen we being gouged but it was enough to keep many of us from working at disney. in other words, Disney has always been a bunch of cheap bastards. got it brainiac?
That’s true, and Burbank does the tech work for Disney while Anaheim offers the low paying rides jobs. Anaheim once was according tot the Brookings institute a high income city in 1990 and ahead of San Diego now its behind San Diego and just ahead of LA. Disney has pushed its agenda and Republicans support any tax cut even if its a L and H type jobs. In fact OC is not that bad for a large county the main problem is expense but both the left and right don’t see that. The Register runs constant negative stories on the County which for a large county is in the middle on education. In Jobs creation about average and in the bad stats not as worst as many large counties in Texas or LA and so forth. Anaheim and Santa Ana had 182 for violent crime compared to Houston Texas of 512 in 2013. I have suggested that to keep companies crime rates should help it helped New York City but the Register complains about cost of housing which is more complex. Until 3-d printing happens in housing its going to be more expensive. Emphasized the positives, low crime, fair educational level and so forth. Companies would head less to Maricopia in Arizona or Harris in Texas if the Register did that.
Yeah, it sounds like you took someone’s word for it rather than check it out yourself
yeah I took my union reps word for it and later one of my best friends who was a journeyman in the trade for years confirmed to me that Disney paid a lot less an hour for union labor. like I said before it was a long time ago I don’t know exactly but it was around 10 bucks an hour which is why my friend who had a family to support declined all Disney jobs. got that cheminowski? aren’t you going to comic con this weekend? because if you are I think you should go right now.
Yep, I was at Comic Con Thursday and Friday. I have a client there. I was also spending someone else’s money there. My client hosted Stan Lee for a photo shoot with fans today so my kids and I got our photo taken with Stan The Man.