DeSantis' Diabolical Plan For Reedy Creek

 Florida Governor Ron DeSantis may have more plans for the Reedy Creek Improvement Area other than just owning the libs.  And they are, predictably, evil.  

Here's the plan, as I see it.  It's only my opinion, and I have no doubt whatsoever that DeSantis will deny it.  

DeSantis dissolved the Reedy Creek Improvement Area, forcing Orange and Oscola Counties to pick up at least $163M/year to pay for services that are currently being provided by Reedy Creek.  Orange and Osceola Counties are heavily Democratic, so they aren't DeSantis' "people", so he thinks he can get away with screwing them over.  

- Orange and Osceola Counties have to increase property taxes by at least 25% to cover the shortfall.  This triggers people who live there to pack up and leave.  Property owners will feel the pinch badly enough, but renters will go elsewhere because those property taxes will be passed on to them, and they'll have no choice but flee.  So then those heavily Democratic residents will be displaced elsewhere, reducing or eliminating the Democratic stronghold in the area.  

- No longer able to meet their obligations, Orange and Osceola Counties file for bankruptcy.  DeSantis appoints Receivers for them, and the Republican Party effectively takes control of two heavily Democratic counties in a coup rather than an election. 

- With so many people leaving the Reedy Creek area, Disney will lose so many workers that they will have to curtail park hours, or close some days, costing them billions.  

But the plan also has some risks.  

- Screwing over Disney, the largest employer in the state, may start a downward spiral, which would cause the loss of the parks.  As the tourism surrounding Disney currently provides something like 20% of Florida's total economy, this would be disastrous.  Counting all of their theme parks and resorts, Disney employs roughly 80,000 people in the Reedy Creek area.  They affect tens of thousands more in non-Disney properties and services in the area.  Losing all of that is something Florida voters won't soon forget.  

- While Orange and Osceola Counties are heavily Democratic, they do have a lot of Republicans as well, who might not appreciate DeSantis causing their taxes to skyrocket.  DeSantis only won the election by a little over 30,000 votes.  If he makes life unpleasant for enough Republicans in Orange and Osceola Counties then in the 2022 election they might vote for someone else, or just sit out the election.  This would likely affect the presidential election in 2024 as well. 

Either way the message is clear: DeSantis has a vindictive streak a mile wide, and if you cross him he will break you.  No one with that sort of personality should hold the reins of power in a democratic country. 

Your Florida Has Already Been New-Yorked

 Whenever changes to the way we plan our cities in Florida are discussed, whether it's changes to land use zoning, streets and highways, bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure, or especially mass transit, there is invariably some mook who pops up and comments "Don't New York my Florida."  Well, I hate to break this to you, but your Florida has already been New-Yorked, and it happened decades ago, in some cases up to a century. 

If you like Florida cities that are sprawled out because land use zoning completely separates out areas for residential, commercial, industrial, and governmental purposes then you like a Florida that has been New-Yorked.  The first land use zoning laws in the country were enacted in New York in 1916.  In urban planning circles those laws are known as "Euclidian" zoning, because Euclid, Ohio enacted similar laws, which were tested in court in 1924, and found to be constitutional.  So if you like that kind of zoning regulations then you like a Florida that has been New-Yorked.  

The idea that interstate highways and expressways should drive right through the heart of urban areas came from the tormented mind of Robert Moses, who was the urban planner for New York City for 40 years.  So if you like Florida cities that have interstate highway driven through their cores then you like a Florida that has been New-Yorked.  

If you like urban areas that are completely car dependent, and devoid of functional mass transit then you like a Florida that has been New-Yorked.  Robert Moses hated mass transit, and did everything he could to destroy it in New York.  (Fortunately, he failed, but NYC is paying the price for his folly to this day.)  Prior to the end of WWII, Florida cities were relatively rich in mass transit, from rail lines to tram lines to buses.  After the end of WWII, during the GI Bill land boom, Florida cities adopted the design methods of Robert Moses, and did everything they could to make sure they were completely car dependent, and mass transit, if it existed at all, only competed with walking and never with driving.  The Federal Aid Highways Act of 1953, which created the System of Interstate and Defense Highways, compounded this by enabling and encouraging cities to drive interstate highways right through their urban cores, ala New York City under Robert Moses.  Most often displacing communities of color, and poor communities in the process.  So if you like car dependent cities devoid of functional mass transit then your Florida has already been New-Yorked.  

If you don't mind all of these things, and you think they're the way Florida cities should be, despite coming from New York, then maybe your problem isn't with New York after all, but with the idea of doing things differently from the way we have done them over the past 80 years.  In which case you need to get out more.