The Anaheim City Council finally came to its senses, after economic changes forced out the developer and made their decision essentially moot anyway, and voted to rescind their earlier decision to allow luxury condos in the Anaheim Resort District. The Resort District was formed so tourist based businesses could thrive and provide a tax base for the city that would help keep taxes low for residents. No one doubts the need for more low income housing in Anaheim, but it shouldn’t come at the expense of the city’s cash cow.
The OC Register and its ‘Around Disney‘ blog has great coverage of the Tuesday vote and the motivations of the various players. The fate of Disney’s two ballot initiatives, one to repeal the city council vote and one to ensure that a city wide vote would be required for any future zoning changes to the resort district, is unclear. I suspect that since only one city council member reversed their vote, Disney might want to keep both measures on the ballot as insurance against another flip-flop.
Disneyland and SOAR can now shift whatever money they were going to spend on fighting the city council into the already growing recall efforts. They’re still the 800 pound Gorilla in the asphalt jungle of Anaheim.
See also LA Times story.