It’s cliché to use sports metaphors to describe results in business and politics, but what Disneyland accomplished this month really looks like a home run when compared with one of California’s iconic sports teams.
Both Disneyland and the Oakland A’s had issues with their ability to move forward in their home communities. But while the A’s this month chose to abandon their fans in Oakland, Disneyland put on an exhibition in building community support to make the changes necessary to improve.
The Anaheim City Council this month gave unanimous preliminary approval for the DisneylandForward proposal — a package that included changes in land use rules to allow Disney to build attractions and hotels on land now reserved for use as parking lots. Meanwhile, up in Northern California, the A’s announced plans to move to Sacramento temporarily on their way to a new, partially taxpayer-financed home in Las Vegas.
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It’s time for Anaheim to take the next step with DisneylandForward
With Disneyland Forward, Disney did not look for a taxpayer handout or subsidy the way that the A’s did in Oakland and eventually Las Vegas. Nor did Disney follow what has become the playbook for so many other major American businesses.
Disney did not aim for the bare minimum necessary to get its proposal approved — a 4-3 council vote. Nor did it try to do an end run around the council by moving forward with new attraction development plans anyway, with plans to fight any potential opposition from the city in court. Instead, Disney’s leaders did the hard work of reaching out to the community, explaining its plans and adjusting its proposal in response to local residents’ concerns.
When it became clear that Disney’s plans would require infrastructure changes, the company did not ask the city to issue bonds but instead stepped up to offer $45 million for street and sewer improvements itself. The company also will pay nearly $40 million to take over Magic Way and entry ways into two current Disneyland parking lots.
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That’s not how a lot of businesses operate these days. The Wall Street playbook seems to say to do the minimum necessary to secure the result you want. Provide minimum effort while charging customers maximum price, then look for government handouts at the same time. Forget about doing anything to create long-term value for the brand. The shareholders want to eat that seed corn today.
Disneyland is no charity. It will be asking for a lot of money to pay for all these new attractions and resort improvements, but that money will be coming from Disneyland’s customers — not local taxpayers. If you’re not into Disneyland and never visit the resort, you won’t be on the hook for anything that comes from DisneylandForward. That is worthy of the community’s respect.
This is how it’s all supposed to work. Negotiation, not litigation. Investment in a community, not abandonment. But it takes good faith on all sides to make that ideal reality. Anaheim and Disneyland came together on this proposal, and in doing so, scored a big win for everyone.