I posted last week on the recent Inside OC interview with Mayor Tom Tait. Another topic raised by host Rick Reiff was the cit council’s approval last summer of a development agreement with Disney that effectively immunizes Disneyland visitors from imposition of a city entertainment or “gate” tax until at least 2046, and possibly until 2061 if Disney invests $1.5 ...

Back in July of this year, the Anaheim City Council voted 3-2 to extend for 30 years the city’s existing ban on an entertainment tax on Disney’s Anaheim theme parks. In exchange, Disney promised to invest $1.5 billion in expanding Disneyland and break ground by the end of 2017. Councilmemember Jordan Brandman, Kris Murray and Lucille Kring voted in favor ...

In a radical leftist polemic published in the OC Register, one-and-future Anaheim City Council candidate Jose F. Moreno railed against the expansion agreement between Disney and the city, which puts a de facto ban on imposing a gate tax on Disney theme parks. Moreno takes his opposition comrades’ claim the deal denies the people the “right to vote” and cranks ...

After losing the original GardenWalk project vote in 2012, Mayor Tom Tait and then-Councilwoman Lorri Galloway tried to define the post-vote by framing the economic assistance agreement as a “$158 million taxpayer giveaway.” It was a distortion, but largely successful in defining the issue. Fast forward to the July 7 city council meeting in which Tait and Councilman James Vanderbilt ...

Anaheim Insider here. At the brand launch celebration last week in downtown Anaheim, as the former Anaheim/Orange County Visitor and Convention Bureau officially relaunched as Visit Anaheim, protocol dictated that the Mayor be on hand to make a few remarks. But more than a few snickers could be heard from the back of the audience as the Mayor ticked off ...

Paired opposite Mayor Tait’s op-ed in Sunday’s OC Register was this column by Disneyland Resort President Michael Colglazier, making the case for the Anaheim City Council to approve the proposed development agreement with Disney and continue the gate tax ban for 30 years: Sixty years ago, Walt Disney chose Anaheim as the home for his magic kingdom, with the hope ...

Last night’s candidate forum sponsored by the Anaheim Buzz and the Anaheim Hills Community Council was by and large a civil event, with a few flashpoints during the evening. One of the most illuminating was at the beginning of the council candidates segment. The first question was on taxes and kicked off with a “speed round” in which the candidates ...