August 2007

This was left in a comment in another thread. But I think it deserves more attention so I’m promoting it to it’s own post. The author is David Michael, better known as Darkbeer around the Disney fan community.

Here are a few thoughts and
comments about info I gathered from watching the Public Comments and
Council Debate about the Referendum to overturn the council’s zoning
change.

Public comments for the Zoning change (Item #54) started just after 5:30 PM.

One of the earlier speakers made the point this really isn’t about
Disney, but about a zoning change that approved High Density Housing in
the area.

The Anaheim Zoning Commission denied the zoning change, and only by
the City Council taking the matter up (on their own) and then
overturning the zoning commission has the item gotten this far.

One of the heads of the Orange County Tax Association makes the
point that the zoning change breaks the deal made back in 1994 to make
the area commercial and to help all the businesses in the area.

I have to give kudos to Larry, who came up to speak to the council.
He stated he is a Jungle Cruise skipper, and talked about the benefits
of what Disney has done for Anaheim. He also spent the majority of time
addressing the public, not the council members. I was impressed with
how he handled his short time at the podium (max of 3 minutes). Once
again, Larry… way to go!

A Building Union member came up and stated that 11 different unions
are against the zoning change. He stated the unions are in favor of
affordable housing, but not in this location. He stated that he thought
this zoning change was all about Money, Greed and was a Land Grab for
SunCal.

Another speaker talked about how a lot of this has been a Smoke Screen, and a personal agenda is driving the real issue.

The Co-Chair of SOAR brought up the fact of future dollars, and how
Garden Grove has been getting a lot of the business that Anaheim could
have gotten if they would have solidly stood behind the entire Resort
Area. (Such as new hotels, restaurants and shops).

The Mayor brought up the fact just prior to the main council
meeting, they were having a dealing with affordable housing for the
City of Anaheim, and that 1,429 units were currently under construction
in the city.

I presume there will be some quiet periods in the next few months, but we know the following will happen.

SOAR submitted its Initiative signatures for verification today. And
if they have enough valid signatures, then the matter will go in front
of the City Council (and more public comments) for placement on a
ballot.

The CDPA has to figure out what to do with there "Strawberry Field"
initiative, and what to do. Do they submit it directly to the City
Council for placement on the ballot without the need to gather
signatures. And does the City Council approve it. And if they do, how
strong is the case for favoritism against the council? And does that
threat keep the city council from placing it on the ballot without
signatures.

And if CDPA decides to bypass the council, or if the council refuses
to place the initiative on the ballot without signatures, what does
CDPA decide to do?

They could either drop the 3rd matter, and just focus its time,
money and effort on getting the two SOAR matters defeated in June, or
do they spend Hundreds of Thousands of Dollars to get the required 15%
of registered voters signatures. And can they get enough signatures in
the 6 month period. If they attempt to gather signatures, then there
will be ongoing ad campaigns on both sides, and of course plenty of
news stories and press releases from both sides. So that will keep the
story going straight thru until June.

But if the council waives the signature requirement, or if CDPA
decides to drop the Strawberry Field measure, then things will quiet
down in the next couple of months until after Easter, when the two
groups both kick the ad campaigning into high gear for the June
election.

Whatever happens, it will be interesting to watch….

David also sent a long a link to this press release where SOAR announces they have filed their second Anaheim Resort District initiative.

The Save Our Anaheim Resort (SOAR) coalition today delivered 31,348 signatures to the Anaheim City Clerk, 10,000 more than required, to place an initiative on the ballot that will give voters the right to approve any future changes to the original tourist-serving vision of the Anaheim Resort District.

The initiative addresses the long-term need to protect the Resort District, its boundaries and land uses, according to the 4,650-member SOAR coalition. The Resort District is less then 5% of the city, yet generates over 50% of Anaheim’s’ annual tax revenue.

SOAR also led the successful drive to place a referendum on the ballot to overturn a high-density housing development in the Resort District, which was approved by a 3-2 Council vote in April. On Tuesday night, the Council placed the referendum on the June 3 ballot. Combined, SOAR has collected more that 52,000 signatures from Anaheim citizens to protect the Resort District.

“The Resort District was created to support tourism businesses. As a result, it is the largest single source of tax revenue for city services,” said Todd Ament, co-chairman of SOAR and president and CEO of the Anaheim Chamber of Commerce. “We will do what’s necessary to preserve this economic engine that funds vital services such as police and fire protection in Anaheim.”

The rest of the press release is below the cut.

Read More »Anaheim Resort District City Council Write up

Although the City Council didn’t go as far as overturning their previous decision to allow high priced condos in the area zoned for tourism business only, they did finally schedule the matter for a city wide vote. More than half of the people who spoke last night supported the Save Our Anaheim Resort backed referendum.… Read More »Common sense finds its mark in Anaheim Resort Zoning Debate