The Mouse and Anaheim: Disney's Ongoing Dominance of Policy

• In Event: Who Governs the City? Public-Private Sector Tensions

Abstract

ABSTRACT

This paper examines the evolution of the relationship between the city of Anaheim and the Walt Disney Company since the opening of Disneyland to the present. Initially a “seasonal enterprise,” Disneyland became an economic force in Anaheim with the decline of the aerospace industry and the scaling back of the military’s presence in the area during the 1970s and early 1980s. As Disneyland became the area’s largest employer, the Walt Disney Company sought tax breaks and other subsidies from the local government, threatening to limit the growth of Disneyland and invest elsewhere if the City government did not acquiesce to its demands. In the early 2000s, community groups argued that the concessions granted to Disney came at the expense of the city’s poor neighborhoods, asserting that the company did not need the support provided by the city. An anti-Disney coalition took control of the City Council in 2016, blocking pro-Disney initiatives. In the 2018 municipal elections, increased its spending on pro-Disney candidates, and its supporters took control of the Council, establishing a new era of cooperation between the city government and the largest employer in the region. When Disney’s dominance of policy was challenged, the Company responded by increasing financial support for candidate’s supportive of their interests, which resulted in the election of a pro-Disney mayor and Council majority.

Author

• Jeffrey F. Kraus, Wagner College