Reviewing “Married to the Mouse”

1. Reviewing “Married to the Mouse” Background • In current times, how do other cities throughout Florida view Orlando? …other cities throughout the country? …the World? • In the context of this course and how we have discussed the conventional view of “economic development success”, is Orlando generally considered a success? The Fogelsong Context • What are the fundamental questions at the heart of Fogelsong’s book? What “urban issues” is he most interested in? • What do the following aphorisms mean in the context of this book: “Can’t live with ‘em, can’t live without ‘em.” “Whom you marry affects whom you become.” • What methods did Fogelsong use to begin to answer these questions? • Why does Fogelsong employ the concept of an “economic development marriage”? What is meant by this concept?

2. Reviewing “Married to the Mouse” Chapter 1: Serendipity • Who were Orlando’s competitors for the East Coast Disney World? Why did these other areas fail to capture Disney? • What role did serendipity (and other factors) play in eliminating those competitors? • What three questions does Fogelsong suggest are at the heart of the urban issues he is interested in? 1) Power of corporations vs Power of local government 2) The “Division of Labor” between public and private 3) The concept of Path Dependence Larger Issues • What lessons might economic developers learn from the events depicted in this chapter?

3. Reviewing “Married to the Mouse” Chapter 2: Seduction • How did Orlando “seduce” Disney into coming to Florida? • How did Orlando’s “movers and shakers” contribute to this seduction? • What is a “growth machine”? What role(s) does this group play? Who are typical members of this group? • What is “open” versus “closed” decision making? Which was prevalent in Orlando during this period (1950-1970)? Larger Issues • What role does/can infrastructure play in economic development? • Are “growth machines” good or bad? • What lessons might economic developers learn from the events depicted in this chapter?

4. Reviewing “Married to the Mouse” Chapter 3: Secrecy • Why was secrecy so important to Disney? How did Disney practice secrecy? • Why is secrecy sometimes necessary in the realm of economic development? What advantages does secrecy offer ED practitioners? • Why can secrecy be so problematic? What disadvantages or “costs” does secrecy bring? • What problems did Disney encounter because of their stealth approach towards Orlando? • Why was Disney insistent upon controlling so much land? Larger Issues • Why is secrecy such a problem in the balance of power between the public and private sectors? • What lessons might economic developers learn from the events depicted in this chapter?

5. Reviewing “Married to the Mouse” • Chapter 4: Marriage • What factors fueled Disney’s push for a “private government”? • Why did Disney want to eliminate democracy? What benefits does this provide to Disney? • Given this, why did Disney push their idea of a prototype community of residents in their dealings with the public sector? • How did Disney win passage of the vast majority of their proposals? • What form did this “prenuptial agreement” take? What was the role of the public sector in the marriage between Disney and Orlando? Disney’s role? • Larger Issues • What new form of governance was the Disney model? How does this model differ from the typical model of urban governance? • What lessons might economic developers learn from the events depicted in this chapter?

6. Reviewing “Married to the Mouse” • Chapter 5: Growth • Why was Disney so successful in their development of Disney World? According to Fogelsong (and his interviewees) what factors made them so much better as developers than other development organizations (including the public sector)? • How did Orlando begin to change in the 1960s and 1970s? What new local elements were thrown into the mix that contributed to the area’s growth? • Why does Foglesong discuss the development of International Drive? What happened along this corridor that is so strikingly different than what Disney offered a few miles west? • Larger Issues • What advantages and disadvantages does a privatized and centralized government offer in the development of places?

7. Reviewing “Married to the Mouse” • Chapter 6: Conflict • What issues were at the heart of the emerging conflict between Disney and Orlando? Why did these issues come to the fore in the late 1970s and 1980s? • How did Disney respond to this conflict? What strategies did the corporation use to deal with their “unhappy spouse”? • How did Orlando respond to this conflict? What strategies did city and county leaders use to express their unhappiness and to try and force change upon Disney? • Did this conflict lead to any meaningful changes in the relationship? If not, why not? If so, what form did these changes take? • Larger Issues • How did the concept of “mutual dependence” come into play in the relationship between Orlando and Disney? • What does this concept suggest for the power relationships between the public sector and private corporations?

8. Reviewing “Married to the Mouse” • Chapter 7: Abuse • What evidence does Fogelsong offer to illustrate that there was an abusive relationship between Disney and Orlando? What form(s), then, did this abuse take? • Were other players also abusing the system in any of the cases discussed by Fogelsong? • How was Disney able to abuse Orlando and Orange County? Why was the corporation able to abuse the public sector so easily? • What was the public sector response to this abuse? • How did Disney respond to these charges of abuse? Were there any benefits to Disney’s abuse of power?

9. Reviewing “Married to the Mouse” • Chapter 8: Negotiation • Why did negotiation emerge as the defining concept of the 1980s for Disney and Orlando, Orange Co. and Osceola Co.? What items required negotiation? • What role did the state’s emerging growth management approach play in negotiations? Why was Disney so afraid of GM in the state? • How did Celebration affect Disney? What elements did Disney put in place to minimize any negative impacts from Celebration? • What did this new culture of negotiating mean for Disney? Did they change in any meaningful ways? • What about local governments, did they change in any meaningful ways? Did local governments have any power in their negotiations with Disney?

10. Reviewing “Married to the Mouse” • Chapter 9: Therapy • What forms of “therapy” did the relationship between Disney and Orlando take in the 1990s? Has the relationship between Disney and Orlando changed? • What are the fundamental problems at the heart of the economic development marriage between Disney and Orlando (Fogelsong identifies four)? • 1) Disney’s immunity from certain taxes and fees 2) The low wage economy 3) The tourism-based economy 4) Threats to Orlando’s downtown • How have Disney and/or Orlando area governments responded to these problems? What efforts have been made to address these problems individually (if any)?

11. Reviewing “Married to the Mouse” • Chapter 9: Understanding the Public Sector’s Role • Fogelsong attempts to explain the more recent decisions of the public sector by looking at 1) economic factors (Peterson “City Limits” model) 2) political/cultural factors (Stone “Regime Theory” model) • What does Fogelsong conclude? Do economic or political factors better explain the respective counties’ decisions regarding Disney? • Is there a temporal dimension to his conclusion? Have the relative influence of economic factors and political factors changed over time? If so, how and why? • What evidence does he provide to support his conclusions? • Given that Disney uses the “system” to continue to acquire subsidies and further their goals, what elements does Fogelsong identify that would provide a counterbalance to Disney?

12. Reviewing “Married to the Mouse” • Chapter 9: “Fixing” the Economic Development Marriage • What does Exit, Loyalty, and Voice have to do with the Orlando-Disney relationship? • How might the concept of “social learning” help Orlando and Disney to work out their troubled, but inseparable relationship? Is social learning possible in this situation? What is needed for social learning to occur? • What prescription does Fogelsong make for Orlando? • 1) Human-capital based economic development 2) Establishing a living wage 3) Stop “incentivizing” the low wage tourist economy 4) Don’t subsidize competitors to downtown Orlando • What elements are necessary to achieve these goals? • --Public entrepreneur, critical newspaper --Establishing a “megalogue” centered on “values talk”, rather than factual debate

13. The One-Ticket Town Syndrome

17. The One-Ticket Town Syndrome • The Consequences of the Orlando-Disney Marriage • In the Orlando Sentinel’s special report, they identify several additional problems related to the region’s over-dependence on tourism (beyond those identified by Fogelsong). What additional issues does the Sentinel raise? • --Economy is more vulnerable to external shocks to the economy--Much of the money spent in the economy flows elsewhere -To corporate headquarters located elsewhere -To the state government and to other countie--On many Quality of Life measures Orlando trails similarly sized cities • What public sector decisions, noted by the Sentinel, continue to promote the region’s dependence upon tourism?

18. Whither Orlando? • Policy Directions • Why does the Sentinel offer up Pittsburgh as a model that Orlando might emulate? What policy directions does the Pittsburgh example suggest? • What do local leaders offer as potential ways of addressing these problems? Are these policy directions viable? • If you were working as an economic developer for Orange County, what would be your policy initiatives? • Learning from Orlando • What broader lessons can we learn from Orlando? • What lessons can we learn from the region’s experience with Disney? • What lessons does the experience of Pittsburgh offer?