DisneylandForward Wins the Vote, Nears the Finish Line
On March 11th, 2024, more than 100 dedicated Anaheim citizens appeared at a Planning Commission meeting.
After more than six hours filled with strange tangents, glowing praise, and a fair bit of pushback, Disney cleared a major hurdle.
A group of six members of the Planning Council voted in favor of the DisneylandForward proposal.
Now, Disney only needs to win one more vote as DisneylandForward nears the finish line.
Here’s what just happened and what it means.
A Weirdly Disjointed Meeting
Attorneys and political officials swear that the best way to experience America is by doing one of two things.
You either sit through a municipal board meeting, or you spend one day in a courtroom.
By taking either approach, you’ll experience more local flavor and oddball characters than you ever would in your regular daily life.
That reality was on full display during the Anaheim Planning Commission.
The publicly announced meeting attracted many Anaheim residents and Disney officials, including Disneyland President Ken Potrock.
Before Potrock could comment, a weird scenario unfolded during an often confrontational meeting.
The Chair for this meeting, Commissioner Lucille Kring of District 4, publicly feuded with Commissioner LuisAndres Perez. Repeatedly.
The latter individual effectively highjacked this meeting and dominated the body of the six-hour meeting.
Eventually, Kring appealed to the city’s attorney, Leonie Mulvihill Assistant City Attorney, to mute Perez.
You can watch the entire video here if you’re a glutton for punishment.
Having witnessed the entire affair, I’m pretty sure this is the video that will loop for eternity if I wind up in The Bad Place.
Perez went rogue and started asking questions that hadn’t been a part of the process and had nothing to do with the Planning Commission.
Specifically, the Commissioner pressed Disney on outside topics like expansion plans and tourism numbers for the company as a whole.
None of them had anything to do with the specific DisneylandForward project.
Perez’s behavior mystified Kring and several members of the Planning Commission, including Commissioner Michelle Lieberman.
In fact, Lieberman personally attacked Perez for his behavior.
If all this sounds crazy, that’s because it was. And the council members themselves appeared confused by Perez’s behavior.
Comments from the Peanut Gallery – The Pros
Ultimately, Lieberman requested a vote at 11:05 PM local time for a meeting that started at 5 PM.
After the motion was seconded, Perez immediately called for a delay of one or two weeks.
Eventually, they settled on voting for a delay until March 25th.
After that motion for a delay was grudgingly seconded, the request failed, although by only one vote. Everyone was tired and cranky.
Finally, the Planning Commission voted on the proposal to advance to the Anaheim City Council for an ultimate determination.
That vote passed, 5-1, with Perez providing the sole dissent.
Commissioner Jeanne Tran-Martin voted with Perez on the delay but then agreed with the majority on the overriding topic.
Commissioner Grant Henninger abstained on the motion to delay but also voted for the resolution itself.
Before the bureaucratic nonsense, proponents and critics of Disneyland had lined up to speak their minds.
Part of this discussion charmed me as a viewer. Specifically, some people detailed how much Disney had positively affected their lives.
Most notably, one mother noted how she’d volunteered with Disney for the treatment of children with disabilities.
Later, she became a parent of such a child, which made her appreciate Disney that much more.
Another Cast Member mentioned how the City Council’s vote in the 1990s had changed his life.
That agreement had created his entire professional career and thereby defined his adult life.
Now, he relished the thought of speaking at an event that could lead to attractions his grandchildren will share with their grandchildren.
Familial underpinnings like that one defined the historical significance of this event.
That isn’t to say everyone was in agreement, though…
Comments from the Peanut Gallery – The Cons
The Planning Commission’s attorney explained the procedure, but it still caused problems in the end.
The public commenters picked sides, with the pro-Disney folks going first and the naysayers last.
Ostensibly, that idea allows critics to have the final say on a topic, which is fair and democratic.
In this particular instance, Disney lined up many local businesses to speak on its behalf.
For more than an hour, fans gushed about the company and this project.
When the critics finally had a chance to relay their concerns, they’d waited for almost exactly 4 ½ hours.
The meeting had started at 5 PM, and they had to listen to its superlatives until 9:30 PM.
Let’s just say they were angry and grumpy by then. They proceeded to assail Disney.
Many of the criticisms were valid, as Disney has fallen down a bit with Cast Member pay.
The subject of the recent class-action lawsuit came up multiple times, as it should.
Oddly, the most common refrain was one that didn’t make much sense, though.
DisneylandForward negotiations have been underway for more than three years now.
Despite this fact, many of the critics suggested that Disney and Anaheim officials were rushing the vote to avoid detailed scrutiny.
I know that criticism isn’t valid because I had researched the publicly available documents long before I wrote this piece more than a year ago.
Even so, multiple speakers personally attacked Kring for rushing the project.
They also targeted her for her relationship with disgraced former Anaheim Mayor Harry Sidhu.
Remember that shadowy Disneyland cabal? Well, you may have forgotten it, but some voters most assuredly have not.
Eventually, with the battle lines drawn, everyone voted, and it went as most expected.
DisneylandForward Nears the Finish Line
History will show that Item #1 on the Planning Commission’s agenda, something about a home daycare center, won by a 6-0 vote.
Meanwhile, Item #2 only managed a 5-1 vote due to Perez.
However, Item #2 now moves forward to a final vote by the Anaheim City Council.
Presuming this vote goes in Disney’s favor, Item #2 will profoundly impact Anaheim and Disney’s financial status for decades to come.
Still, we have one final hurdle for DisneylandForward to clear as it nears the finish line.
Disney must win the final vote from the Anaheim City Council. That vote could occur on April 16th.
So, we’ll probably learn the project’s fate in about a month.
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