Dana Parsons of the Los Angeles Times uses today’s column to address the tourism vs. housing fight in Anaheim. He tries to put himself in the shoes of the different factions in the dispute. If you’re keeping score, that’s two initiatives and one referendum on the docket. Is that any way to run a city?… Read More »A Column on the Anaheim Zoning Fight
Sarah Tully of the Orange County Register brings us another piece on the ongoing dispute in Anaheim between the tourist businesses and the housing developers over land in the Anaheim Resort District. This time, SOAR, the pro-tourism group, has offered a report showing that a hotel and retail complex would generate more tax money than… Read More »Anaheim and Long Beach
Deepa Bharath of the Orange County Register reports that the City of Garden Grove, which is directly south of Anaheim, is still looking to enhance the area along Harbor Boulevard. Garden Grove has been trying to hitch itself to the Anaheim Resort train for a… Read More »Anaheim’s Neighbor to the South Still Trying
Yes, it’s shameless plug time. The latest edition of Kenversations(TM) was posted today at LaughingPlace.com. It’s all about the crossroads were now facing in Anaheim between "giving up" on the Anaheim Resort or upgrading the Anaheim Resort.
Dana Parsons writes in his Los Angeles Times column about the people who currently inhabit the piece of land that is the subject of an Anaheim Resort zoning fight. Caught between a developer, SunCal Cos., which wants to build new residences where their trailers stand, and the Disney Co., which doesn’t want the units there… Read More »What About the People There Now?
The City of Anaheim’s Council has voted against Disney and other supporters of maintaining the Anaheim Resort District zoning, siding with a housing developer. The Los Angeles Times coverage is here, and the Orange County Register‘s coverage is here, with reader comments (some may be rude) below the article. From the Times: About 150 resort… Read More »Anaheim Vote Goes Against Disney
The ever-aspiring muckraker Steve Lopez, in his Points West column in Sunday’s Los Angeles Times, pokes his finger in Disney’s chest. He writes about the seeming contradiction between the low wages of Disneyland cast members and Disney fighting "affordable" housing in the Anaheim Resort area.
But at the end of the workday, many of the people who work at the "Happiest Place on Earth" sleep on air mattresses, in by-the-week motel rooms and in apartments shared with other families.
"I’ve been at this motel since 1997," said Derrick, a Disney security guard who pays $209 a week rent. He spoke to me Thursday night while standing in the doorway of the room he shares with two elderly aunts at Arena Inn and Suites in Anaheim, about a mile from his job.
When I was working full-time as a Disneyland cast member, which wasn’t all that long ago, I was able to afford a bachelor apartment by myself within 15 minutes of the Resort.
First, Disney challenged the right of a council member to cast a vote on the housing because she intends to open a wine bar in the area and might have a conflict of interest.
More after the jump – be forewarned that I get politically opinionated.
Deepa Bharath of the Orange County Register gives us an update on plans for a theme park south of the Disneyland Resort, in the City of Garden Grove, California. The search for theme park investors and developers is continuing after city officials broke off a contract with a developer because they were not satisfied with… Read More »Garden Grove Theme Park Update