Disney Demands, Downtown Needs

It is fundamentally wrong for Disney to put an “extra” deal point in their negotiations with the Autrys on their proposed purchase of the California Angels. Either Disney wants the team, or they don’t.

To force the city of Anaheim to “give away the farm” in order to have Disney own the Angels is very low, in my opinion.

First of all, the stadium is fine just the way it is for the citizens and taxpayers in Anaheim. Just about every use (except Disney’s version of baseball) of the stadium is very successful in providing entertainment for the Orange County citizens who provided the hard-earned tax dollars used to both build and later to expand this Anaheim-owned facility. When the decision to enlarge the stadium was made, I am sure that the citizens were told that the improvements would enhance the city’s image as a big player in the nation’s pastime. This includes, I’m sure, football, soccer, Harvest Crusade ceremonies, rock concerts, tractor pulls and possibly hundreds of less advertised but still revenue-producing uses of this Anaheim Stadium. To have Disney put this “deal-breaker” into the mix at the 11th hour is too much!

WILLIAM SIMMONS

Dove Canyon

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* Re “Downtown Anaheim Waits for Its Promised Revival,” Jan. 22:

The Anaheim Downtown Redevelopment project has made significant (albeit slow) progress in rebuilding downtown.

However, the time has come to deliver on our promise to those merchants that took a risk in relocating to downtown based on a paid-for consultant study presented to them which recommended a “walking mall” promenade environment. The study, commissioned and presented in 1991, promised a vital and vibrant downtown, both during the day and the night.

Any public educational institution would not help those shopkeepers. Other merchants, a movie complex, restaurants, and other “target destinations” would help. When a tourist or conventioneer asks a concierge where to go to be entertained (translate that--spend their money) in Anaheim, that concierge would be much more likely to say, “Go see our enterprising, fun-filled downtown,” rather than, “Go see our campus extension school.” Currently they say, “Go to Newport Beach or anywhere else but Anaheim.”

While it’s great that there are plans for the Boys and Girls Club, YMCA, community center and other vitally necessary community-oriented facilities downtown, none of these add to the tax base or take advantage of Anaheim’s unique ability to attract tourists and conventioneers.

Further, tax-generating businesses are necessary to support those non-tax-generating, tax-reliant community structures. A school would not generate tax revenue, nor would it inject visitor dollars into our economy. “Target destinations” will.

FRANK FELDHAUS

Anaheim City Council Member