Could there ever be a prison near the Most Magical Place on Earth?
Gov. Ron DeSantis suggested Disney’s special district could be used for other purposes when he spoke at a press conference near Disney World to announce lawmakers are working on new legislation to wrestle control back from Disney and add more oversight on Disney World’s Monorails and theme park rides.
DeSantis mused about the 40 square miles that make up the special district now known as the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District.
“People are like, well, ‘What should we do with this land? Maybe create a state park? Maybe try to do more amusement parks,’” DeSantis said, before adding the prison quip. “Somebody even said, ‘Maybe you need another state prison?’ Who knows? I just think that the possibilities are endless, and so that is now going to be analyzed to see what would make the most sense.”
The Governor appeared to make that suggestion in jest.
DeSantis appointed five new members to run Disney World’s governing board for the district earlier this year.
The Governor hinted about upcoming issues the state board could be looking at in the near future, such as privatizing the district’s utilities to help the district pay off its debt faster, giving pay raises to Disney World firefighters who have been vocal DeSantis allies and looking at expanding affordable housing.
“There’s been a lot of promises over the years about doing affordable housing for the workforce, and yet very little follow through,” DeSantis said. “We have an opportunity to look at that, so I think you’re going to see a lot of action from the state board’s perspective.”
In 2022, Disney announced it was setting aside 80 acres of its land for an affordable housing development for more than 1,300 units.
The company did not respond publicly to DeSantis’ comments Monday afternoon.
Earlier this month, Walt Disney Co. CEO Bob Iger called it “anti-Florida” and “anti-business” for DeSantis to retaliate against Disney for speaking out against the controversial Parental Rights in Education measure, which critics called the “Don’t Say Gay” law.
Iger pointed to Disney’s value in Florida as the state’s largest employer and biggest tourist attraction. Disney is also planning to invest $17 billion at Disney World over the next 10 years which will add 13,000 more jobs, Iger said.
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