Anaheim planning commissioners are set to consider allowing Disney to privatize some public roads – including Magic Way, a street that was created in exchange for the city giving up a stretch of Cerritos Avenue in the 1996 resort expansion agreement.
The move to privatize public roads is part of the new resort expansion – dubbed Disneyland Forward – that would allow the entertainment juggernaut to develop more attractions on its theme park land, including some new hotels.
[Read: What Could Disneyland’s Proposed Expansion Mean For Anaheim Residents?]
City officials say no square footage will be added to the park, but part of the plan calls for Anaheim to hand over parts of other roads to Disney: Gene Autry Way, which city officials have long planned to connect to the Convention Center in an effort to alleviate traffic congestion, and a planned extension of Clementine Street.
Planning Commissioners meet Monday at 5 p.m. to discuss the proposal which Disney officials said would mean $30 million for affordable housing and $8 million for parks.
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City Grapples With Corruption Fallout
Disney’s proposal comes on the heels of Anaheim’s corruption scandal – the biggest scandal to hit Orange County in modern history.
In separate corruption probes, FBI agents and independent investigators allege Disneyland resort interests exert undue influence on city hall and policymaking.
[Read: Santana: Anaheim Offers Key Lessons on How To Clean Up a City Hall]
On top of numerous corruption allegations, independent investigators also found a culture of fear among city employees – workers who fear retribution for speaking up about undue influence on city staff.
[Read: Fear and Loathing at Anaheim City Hall: Working Under the Gun of Retribution]
In interviews with independent investigators, Planning and Building Director Ted White, detailed the the influence lobbyists and resort interests had on city hall.
“It was clear the Chamber (of commerce) was playing an expanded role in the policy setting direction,” White told investigators.
[Read: Anaheim’s Own Look at City Hall Finds Disneyland Resort Businesses Improperly Steer Policymaking]
Giving Up Public Roads
At the Feb. 27 City Council meeting, White told council members the privatization of Magic Way is critical to the expansion proposal.
“The abandonment of Magic Way is intimately entwined with Disneyland Forward,” White said.
Disney officials – through a study commissioned by the company – say Magic Way is mostly used by tourists going into parking lots, with fewer than 100 cars belonging to Anaheim residents.
Yet residents have questioned that study, raising concerns over its accuracy because it was conducted during the last major atmospheric river in late February.
[Read: Anaheim Moves to Sell Public Streets to Disney, Residents Question Move]
Longtime watchdog and resident Cynthia Ward said she’s been trying to get solid traffic studies on the issue since the beginning of the year.
“I put in a public records request for it in January. I received documents today at 4pm. That’s how long it took. I’m still looking through them – I don’t see a traffic study. What I do see is a huge stack of emails from city staff bouncing back and forth playing who’s on first none of them have the traffic numbers correct,” Ward said during public comment at the Feb. 26 planning commission meeting.
It’s a plan that could significantly change the skyline of the resort area.
“The proposal calls for allowing theme park attractions alongside hotels on the west side of Disneyland Drive and theme park attractions alongside new shopping, dining and entertainment to the southeast on what is today the Toy Story Parking Area at Katella Avenue and Harbor Boulevard,” reads a city news release.
Resort’s Impact on Local Economy
City officials and Disneyland resort interests say the area and its 25 million annual tourists – through a combination of sales, property and hotel taxes – generate more than half of Anaheim’s $441 million general fund revenue.
But more than half of those tourism taxes goes back into the resort.
According to the current city budget, the resort generates $289 million taxes and $150 million goes back into the resort for public safety, infrastructure costs – including $124 million to pay down the $510 million resort bonds.
That leaves a current annual net to Anaheim’s general fund of $139 million from Disneyland.
The resort bonds, issued by the city 27 years ago, stem from the 1996 resort expansion agreement that led to creation of California Adventure, Downtown Disney and a host of other developments seen today.
Part of that agreement called for the creation of Magic Way – stretching from Walnut Avenue to Disneyland Drive – for giving up a section of Cerritos Avenue.
“With the development of the Hotel District, Cerritos Avenue between Walnut Street and West Street/Disneyland Drive will be moved up to approximately 1,100 feet to the north and will be renamed. The new roadway will be two lines wide and will be designed to discourage access from or onto Walnut Street,” reads the 1996 agreement.
Once the bonds are paid off, it was expected that over $100 million a year would hit the city’s general fund – the most flexible pool of money council members have.
It’s money that could fund library expansions, after school programs and a host of other quality of life services in a town where nearly half of the residents are on public health plans.
[Read: The Happiest Place on Earth is Surrounded by Some of Orange County’s Poorest]
But, according to independent investigators, Disneyland resort interests were already forming a plan at a secret business retreat to keep that money out of the fund.
[Read: How Disneyland Resort Interests Planned to Withhold Tax Money from Anaheim’s Working Class]
At that secret retreat, according to investigators?
Disney’s chief city hall lobbyist, Carrie Nocella.
Spencer Custodio is the civic editor. You can reach him at scustodio@voiceofoc.org. Follow him on Twitter @SpencerCustodio.
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