Morale and trust within the Walt Disney World government has deteriorated since allies of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis took it over earlier this year, according to many employees who have departed in recent months saying the governing district has been politicized and cronyism now permeates the organization.
More than 40 out of about 370 employees have left the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District since it was taken over in February, raising concerns that decades of institutional knowledge is departing with them, along with a reputation for a well-run government.
“When I first joined the District, I found an organization that strived to be the very best at serving our community, sought the very best employees and valued those employees above all else,” a former facilities manager with three years of experience said in an employee exit survey last week. “I find myself leaving a completely different District. A District that prioritizes politics above all else and will gladly sacrifice its employees, its community and its work if there’s an opportunity to score political points.”
Picking Disney as your hill to die on is so stupid. Especially when Disney is one of Florida’s big money makers. Like, I don’t think the government should be beholden to corporations obviously, but actively antagonizing one just cause you hate gay people is a dumb move all around. Not to mention all of Disney’s “support” for the lgbt community isn’t exactly…sincere.
I rather insincere support over open hostility
Amen. At least insincere support normalizes supporting those groups as opposed to normalizing hate. :(
Not to mention all of Disney’s “support” for the lgbt community isn’t exactly…sincere.
For most companies being “woke” is just marketing to get more people buying their products. To wit: Pride Month for several companies.
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As I see it, this whole debacle is as much proof as I or anyone should need that DeSantis is unfit to be president.
When the state’s largest employer, one who had supported him in the past on many issues, dared oppose him on one single issue that had taken the national stage (where they could do nothing other than oppose or be seen as discriminatory), he decided to punish them. Not in any way that was even a little bit effective, but in a punitive and immature and ineffective way that has replaced an effective good government agency with a politicized useless committee.
His actions say to me that he is neither a good representative of Florida’s people, nor a wise leader, nor even an effective politician. He is a child who had a temper tantrum when he didn’t get his way, so he tried to smash his favorite toy and didn’t even break it.
We can do better. We have to do better than that, for the good of the nation.Disney and Florida taking an L? Pop the champagne!
This is a horrible take that’s shared by DeSantis and his cronies. It doesn’t matter how many people lose, as long as “the right” people lose.
A multibillion dollar media conglomerate getting to run its own local government is bad actually.
I mean, yes. Corporations owning towns is problematic. But the way in which this was handled is significantly worse.
While having their own government generated huge potential for abuse, all signs point toward Disney actually being a pretty good steward. So it’s not like this was some emergency. The takeover of the government could have happened slowly, deliberately, and in a way that did not destroy the district in the process. But that was not the point here. The point was to cause damage to Disney because they dared to disagree with DeSantis.
Notice that none of the other privately-owned towns in Florida are being stripped out. It’s just Disney, and it’s just because of revenge.
Due to the way this was done, an awful lot of people are going to needlessly suffer. Not just Disney employees, either. Disney attracts massive tourism to Florida, and that tourism money ends up all over the state. This is a self-own of absolutely epic proportions on DeSantis’ part, and all of Florida is going to pay for it.
True, but a state full of people isn’t. I’m not here to defend a business. I’m here to remind that the point should be about the people.
We should celebrate people winning, not someone losing.
I think they’ve always had one.
Yes, but we are actually at the point where we have to ask if the alternative is better? In this case… It’s close.
Okay, I agree with DeSantis then. Disney shouldn’t own a town. His reasons are shitty and my reasons are anticapitalist.
Only at the cost of people’s livelihoods.
I don’t care.
Ron DeSantis: I don’t care who suffers as long as the people I don’t like also suffer!
Sneptaur: I don’t care who suffers as long as the people I don’t like also suffer!
No I just don’t really care when people lose their jobs
Most self centered people don’t, until it effects them. Society requires a level of empathy to remain in tact, and not everyone has it.
They’ll find new jobs. Again: I do not fucking care. I hope they find new employment quickly and that they have savings enough to support themselves and any dependents. If they don’t, they will have unemployment. I don’t expect privileged Floridian government officials to be living paycheck to paycheck, so again: I don’t fucking care.
Okay
This is like watching two people you fucking hate beat the ever loving shit out of each other. Love it.
It really isn’t. Disney are a big corporation, and corpos gonna corpo, but Disney does at least pull its weight in some ways that most modern politicians seem incapable of. Meanwhile, the whole region, perhaps even the whole state, is circling the drain taking innocent people with them.
It’s not like Disney is any sort of a malicious actor in this.
This is what happens when you can’t help but use the apparatus of the state for your petty business squabbles. Florida is becoming unlivable, and this is where the state government’s priorities lie.
“Florida is becoming unlivable.”
I mean, yeah, sure, but there are Trans people out there! We have priorities! Florida has alligators though and they’ve survived for millions of years so Florida will be fine. The United States has only been around 200 years, those Trans people are the True Threat!™©®
Still wild to me that a company can just own a town. This isn’t the 20s or South Korea.
There’s hundreds of special districts in Florida.
And the law that was written was very carefully drafted to affect only Disney. DeSantis wouldn’t want to piss off The Villages.
Damn, never thought of that!
This is the best summary I could come up with:
More than 40 out of about 370 employees have left the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District since it was taken over in February, raising concerns that decades of institutional knowledge is departing with them, along with a reputation for a well-run government.
The Republican governor and GOP-dominated Florida Legislature took control of the district in retaliation after Disney publicly opposed a state law banning classroom lessons on sexual orientation and gender identity in early grades.
It previously was named the Reedy Creek Improvement District when it was established in 1967 to provide municipal services like road repairs, waste collection and firefighting on the 25,000 acres (10,117 hectares) that make up Disney’s theme park resort in central Florida.
The new board members, though, have been accusing the previous administration of cronyism while at the same time hiring politically-connected associates to positions in the district or awarding them contracts, the former facilities manager said in his exit interview last week.
Last month, the district authorized a $242,500 no-bid contract to update its emergency-calls network with a company whose chief executive had served with Gilzean on the Florida Commission on Ethics, where both were DeSantis appointees.
Disney has sued DeSantis and the members of the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District board in federal court in Tallahassee over the takeover, claiming its free speech rights were violated.
The original article contains 970 words, the summary contains 223 words. Saved 77%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!
Gators
Poor guys have low morale and getting paid for doing nothing.
Reddthat user having a bad take what a shocker
Disney deranged the commission authority before they left, so they really don’t have any authority, yet are still paid by the state.
Disney gave free gifts to RCID employees totalling near 0.5 million USD which is same as bribery of govt officials.
Special district laws DID NOT apply to RCID since Walt negotiated for Disney few months before his death in 1967 or whenever for a special special agreement with Florida that was untouched by later Special District laws that DID apply to all Non-Disney projects! Disney was abusing their power granted by the govt of Florida …
Republicans saw the weakness of Disney’s special privileges and as usual waved a stick at Disney … bait which Disney took …
All Disney had to do was focus on making movies and making money.
“put a chick in it and make her lame and gay!” is what has sunk their entire business.
Edit: Disney LOST their Court-case against Florida. The downvoters and Naysayers are WRONG :-D Corporations ARE NOT PEOPLE. Legal Entities need to be DELETED from Existence if they commit crimes. :-D
