From Publishers Weekly
Disney World, in its agreement with the city of Orlando and the state of Florida, actually negotiated the right to construct and use a nuclear power plant at the amusement park. True, it has never built one, but according to this well-researched, cogently argued and eye-opening account of the complicated relationship between the Disney Company and the city of Orlando, it's a sign of the high price that Orlando has paid to become the home of "the most popular tourist destination in the world." A privately held corporation, Disney has created what amounts to an independently governed country "a sort of Vatican with mouse ears" within Orlando, says Foglesong, professor of politics at Rollins College. For example, Disney competed for (and won) bond money, which ultimately paid for new sewers to accommodate its own expansion rather than for low-income housing in a county already strapped with the influx of Disney workers. When the Orlando Sentinel ran a series offering "tepid" criticism of Disney's bad-neighbor policy, the paper was banned from the theme park. In his litany of Disney's major and minor infractions, Foglesong never fails to shed light on the nuances of the situation. Even more than a critique of Disney, Foglesong's book takes a fascinating, important and entertaining look at contemporary problems in urbanology, city planning and, certainly, business ethics.
Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
From Booklist
Foglesong, a political science academic, examines the "economic-development marriage" between Orlando, Florida, and Walt Disney World, with the latter functioning as an urban entity with a workforce of 55,000, a hotel occupancy exceeding 100,000, its own "municipal" officials, and a land-use plan. The book addresses issues of city governance and services, centralized land ownership, and private government, which the author contrasts to the status quo of democracy and capitalism. Although the boon to central Florida has been remarkable since the 1960s when Disney first arrived, the author cites low wages and loss of other economic opportunities for the surrounding community as the dark side of Disney's extraordinary growth. Foglesong suggests a sharing with the Orlando area of some of the benefits of Disney's growth, such as adopting a living wage policy and expanding fees for parks, education, day care, and assisted affordable housing. The author represents his intent to be fair to the facts, and his is a tough analysis of the Disney-Orlando "marriage."
Mary WhaleyCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
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