A Pair of True Believers Stray From the Disney Flock

Three things I learned at this week’s Anaheim City Council meeting, where members voted 3 to 2 to approve a new Anaheim Stadium lease with the Disney Co.:

* That members Bob Zemel and Tom Tait are not impressed by a giant baseball being rolled down the aisle of the council chambers, even when it contains 3,000 pro-Disney signatures.

* That Councilman Lou Lopez genuflects when he hears the name, “Disney.”

* That a mid-meeting power outage darkening the chamber and silencing the microphones was not an act of God meant to delay the lease agreement, as one speaker suggested.

No, when all was said and done, the council essentially got out of the baseball stadium business and, in a world beset by confusion, did what it historically has done with the most confidence: let Disney handle things.

After the deal was done, city officials hugged each other, shook each other’s hands. “His-to-ree,” said one happy official, and that seemed to capture, for both sides, what the night was all about.

The evening was, indeed, another historical moment for Anaheim, a city that unlike any other in Orange County, charts its life through major projects. The obvious one was the creation of Disneyland in the mid-1950s that put Anaheim on the map, if not in the people’s consciousness.

Since then, along came the Angels and Anaheim Stadium and the Convention Center and the Mighty Ducks, and it was all because of Disney. “Every time we went to them, Disney was always there for us,” Lopez said, seemingly suggesting it would not only be unwise but ungrateful not to sign on with them again. Disney, Lopez said, “made the city of Anaheim what it is today--a success.”

But amid this unswerving faith that so many have in Disney, members Tait and Zemel spoke above the din. What made their dissent interesting to me is that neither is a stick-in-the-mud. We could dismiss them if they don’t like baseball or didn’t understand Mayor Tom Daly when he correctly referred to baseball’s value to a community and to “ballplayers [who] have touched lives in ways that you can’t match or replace.”

Instead, Tait described himself as a longtime season ticket holder. Zemel said Disney “would do more for baseball than Abner Doubleday,” credited in lore with inventing the game.

Tait and Zemel are fans. They also are adamant that the city is getting suckered.

In explaining his opposition, Tait began by referring almost reverentially to “the two great icons of Anaheim,” Gene Autry and Disney. Tait went on to say, however, that the city is contributing millions to the stadium renovation at the same time it is surrendering revenue through the agreement. As such, he said, “this is a taxpayer subsidy of professional sports.”

Zemel echoed that, but expanded his remarks in what struck me as rather eloquent fashion. In the face of various citizens who urged a 5-0 vote in favor of the deal, Zemel said he promised when campaigning he would “vote my conscience always.” The terms of the lease “can’t square with my beliefs,” he said.

Mayor Daly spoke last and returned to the historic theme. While insisting the agreement is a “fine, fair, good deal for this community,” and that it’s time to turn over stadium management to private interests, Daly evoked memories of past major projects that also were controversial. History will judge the current agreement with Disney to be as good or better than those decisions, he said, adding, “We’ve waited 30 years for our baseball team to be named after our city” (which Disney has agreed to do). I enjoyed the conflicting philosophies, and I suppose we’ll have to wait for history to render its judgment.

But take this for what it’s worth:

On Tuesday night, while extolling Disney’s track record, Lopez said he doesn’t consider the agreement “that big of a gamble.” Such is his confidence that he likened it to the Angels having the bases loaded, nobody out and a 3-0 count on the batter, perhaps a Tim Salmon. “You know you’re going to get that run across,” Lopez said.

That same night in Boston, where the Angels were playing, Randy Velarde led off the ninth inning of a tie game with a triple. Runner on third, nobody out. Due up: the heart of the Angels order in Jim Edmonds, Salmon and Chili Davis.

Edmonds grounded out. Salmon struck out. Velarde remained on third while the Angels loaded the bases. Garret Anderson then struck out.

The Angels lost the game in the 12th inning.

I wondered if Lopez read the sports page the next morning. If so, he’ll realize what Zemel and Tait are saying: that there are no sure things--not in baseball and, believe it or not, not even with the Disney Co.

*

Dana Parsons’ columns appears Wednesday, Friday and Sunday. Readers may reach Parsons by writing to him at the Times Orange County Edition, 1375 Sunflower Ave., Costa Mesa, CA 92626, or calling (714) 966-7821.