House Rejects 2 Requests for Disney Funds

Confused by competing requests for up to $395 million in tax dollars to help finance parking and highway improvements next to Disneyland, House leaders on Thursday decided against funding either proposal.

Disney officials, working through five House Democrats, had asked the Committee on Public Works and Transportation to include the $395 million for two high-tech parking garages, special freeway ramps and a “people mover” in a landmark, five-year transportation bill that the committee approved Thursday. The transportation improvements would have dovetailed with a massive expansion of Disneyland, now in the planning stages.

Anaheim officials, meanwhile, had submitted their own $175-million request for a similar, but not identical, transportation project through Rep. Robert K. Dornan (R-Garden Grove), whose district includes the amusement park.

Rep. Norman Y. Mineta (D-San Jose), who chairs a key public works subcommittee, said Thursday that he and his colleagues decided against providing any money for either project because the requests raised an issue that could not be quickly resolved: To what extent should Congress spend public money on projects that might largely benefit a private business?

“We couldn’t really make the clear distinction between the private things, semiprivate, as well as the public improvements,” Mineta said. “So, because we were on a fast track here, we just decided we would not deal with either the Anaheim or the Disneyland projects and kept both out of the bill.”

Mineta said some aspects of the project might yet be included in the legislation as it moves through the full House and a House-Senate conference committee. But committee aides said that House leaders have only about $50 million remaining in discretionary funds to parcel out to projects throughout the country.

A top Disney official said the company would continue to press for money for some version of the project.

“I’m disappointed in the result, (but I) still think it’s a terrific transportation project,” said Joe Shapiro, senior vice president of the Walt Disney Co., “not only for Anaheim but for Orange County.

“We’re not going to give up hope,” he added. “We’re going to study other alternatives.”

Two Orange County congressmen are members of the public works panel. Rep. Ron Packard (R-Carlsbad), who represents southern Orange County, supported the $153.5-billion transportation bill, which was approved by a 49-7 vote. But Rep. Christopher Cox (R-Newport Beach) voted against it, largely, Cox said, because of his opposition to an increase in the federal gasoline tax. The legislation would hike the gas tax a nickel a gallon, to 14 cents.

Even though Disney lost in Anaheim, it won in Long Beach, where the entertainment giant is considering construction of a new waterfront theme park that would be called Port Disney.

The public works panel approved $4 million to study a possible connection between the proposed Disney park with the Blue Line terminus in Long Beach. The Blue Line is a light rail system that connects Long Beach with Los Angeles.

Congressional aides said Thursday that they were unaware of the Disney connection. In the bill, the project is referred to simply as the Long Beach “Metro Link Fixed Rail.” The request was made through Rep. Glenn M. Anderson (D-San Pedro), vice chairman and former chairman of the Public Works Committee, committee sources said.

In addition to financing the Blue Line study, the committee approved two other transportation projects in and near Long Beach that a top Disney official said the company favors.

The public works panel provided $96 million over five years to improve the Alameda Street corridor, largely through widening roads and bridges and streamlining rail crossings. That includes $24 million for a new freeway interchange at Ocean Boulevard, near the site of the proposed Port Disney. In addition, the committee supplied $12.5 million to build car-pool lanes on the Long Beach Freeway.

“We’re pleased the Long Beach projects we supported received some funding in the bill,” Shapiro said.

In other action, the Public Works Committee approved spending $6.8 million to widen Bristol Street through Santa Ana, and $11.2 million to study the possibility of adding elevated car-pool or bus lanes, or rail lines, to the Santa Ana Freeway between downtown Los Angeles and the California 91 interchange in Orange County.

Packard said he believes lobbying for the improvements near Disneyland was handled poorly.

“It was a big-ticket item; they were talking about close to $400 million in one proposal, $175 million in the other, and that overwhelmed Mineta and the committee,” Packard said. “Secondly, you had a divided proposal . . . with the appearance of the right hand not knowing what the left hand was doing.”

Dornan, who pushed the plan advanced by the city of Anaheim, appeared to agree.

“I did everything right,” Dornan said. But he added that the committee was confused by “the darn letter at the end (advancing the Disney plan), more than doubling what I had put in for. . . . Too many hands spoil the broth. Too many last-minute calls here.”

The reaction of local officials was mixed.

“This makes it difficult for Orange County to support the nickel for America,” said county transportation chief Stanley T. Oftelie, referring to the proposed nickel-a-gallon gas tax hike and the minuscule amount of money for Orange County projects in the committee’s bill. “But we’re not ready to fold our tent yet.”

Anaheim City Councilman Irv Pickler, a member of the County Transportation Authority, said: “Obviously, I’m disappointed. I think we had a project that was very worthwhile and would have benefited the state, county and city as a whole. If we can go back to the federal government, we’ll go back.”

Some Anaheim officials, including Pickler, got news of the defeat while they were golfing with Disney officials Thursday.

The transportation bill approved Thursday by the Public Works Committee would earmark more than $1.9 billion over the next five years for a smorgasbord of special California highway and transit projects, including extension of Metro Rail in Los Angeles and BART in the Bay Area.

In addition, the five-year, $153.5-billion transportation measure would send $9.8 billion to California from 1992 through 1996 under a variety of formula programs for highways, bridges and bus and rail systems.

The action sets the stage for a confrontation with the Bush Administration, which has vowed to veto any bill that includes a gas tax hike.

NEXT STEP

While a House committee has refused to include either of two Disney-related projects in a five-year transportation measure, the legislation goes next to the House floor where amendments can be added. The full House is expected to take up the debate before its August recess, and Disney and Anaheim lobbyists say they intend to pursue their grant requests.

DOUBLE-DECKING: Funds to study a 2-story Santa Ana Freeway stretch OKd. B1

Funding Plans

Here are some of the California highway and mass transit projects authorized Thursday by the House Public Works and Transportation Committee. Proposed funding covers five years.

LOCATION PROJECT Los Angeles Metro Rail extension San Francisco BART extension to airport Long Beach Terminal Island Freeway interchange Los Angeles Anaheim Street viaduct widening Compton Alameda Street widening Oceanside California 76 construction Los Angeles/San Diego Railroad crossing improvements Los Angeles I-110 downtown extension Los Angeles Santa Monica Blvd. electric bus project Long Beach Bus and car-pool lanes on I-710 Los Angeles/Orange County I-5 capacity expansion study Los Angeles Intersection improvements Carlsbad I-5 interchange improvements City of Commerce Atlantic Boulevard improvements Ontario Airport access roads Long Beach Metro Rail-Disney park study

LOCATION AMOUNT Los Angeles $695 million San Francisco $568.5 million Long Beach $24 million Los Angeles $24 million Compton $24 million Oceanside $21 million Los Angeles/San Diego $20 million Los Angeles $17 million Los Angeles $30 million Long Beach $12.5 million Los Angeles/Orange County $11.2 million Los Angeles $12 million Carlsbad $9 million City of Commerce $8 million Ontario $8 million Long Beach $4 million

Times staff writer Kevin Johnson contributed to this report.