Disney doesn't want poor people near Disneyland

[Fresh_Start]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070227/ap_on_re_us/disney_housing_project;_ylt=Ap7aYOHSOHc_EnVn26GN71is0NUE

How dare the presumption of Anaheim to think that any of the 30,000,000 Americans living in poverty should be allowed to breathe the air from the magic kingdom.

Another reason to feel good about boycotting Disney for P29/11

[Selatius]

1. Walt Disney World, Inc., is a stone-cold Fortune 500 giant.

It did not become big because it was socially conscious. It became big because it was profitable to shareholders and was able to exploit market opportunities. It keeps costs down at its theme parks by overworking employees, underpaying them, and crushing any and all attempts at unionization. What few unions there are have been rendered weakened. It figures they would go this far. I know their position with respect to workers and the community because I used to work at one of their theme parks. The tourists and customers and fellow workers were nice, but the employer...not so much.

Michael Eisner, when he became CEO in the 1980s, made it a goal of the company to liquidate its workforce and replace it with a force of temp workers and college students, both of whom had few rights in the workplace. Service at their parks, as a result, has not been the same and probably has suffered, and the current guy, Bob Iger, is carrying forward Eisner's plan. Needless to say, there was no love for Eisner from the common workers when he left.

[hlthe2b]

2. I remember feeling badly about what Disney's descendents

have done to the memory of the old man.... But, then I started reading about the true "ole" Walt. He wasn't exactly the cuddly kindly honorable man either... I'll pass on the whole deal and boycott abc as long and as completely as possible (yeah, I did watch the Oscars, but generally nothing)

[Selatius]

6. No, Walt was a business man first and foremost.

He was very anti-worker and detested the trade unions, which he invariably labeled as communist, from what I could tell. The only good worker was an obedient worker, apparently. There was also a common theme among some of the workers' jokes of his supposed anti-semitism as well. I don't know if he was anti-semitic or not, but it wouldn't surprise me if he were, given that many in his day were openly anti-semitic.

[Warpy]

3. My pop dumped all his Disney stock some years ago

because he couldn't stand Eisner or his business practices.

He didn't care if he lost money. I don't care if he lost money. I was very happy that stock was NOT in the portfolio I inherited. If it had been, I'd have dumped it very quickly.

[Lars39]

4. If I remember correctly, they also expanded using public bonds.

[spinbaby]

5. Those poor people WORK at Disneyland

Disneyland is notorious for paying less than even the local fast-food joints.

[dogday]

7. To all the poor people from Disney

Poor, We don't want to see no stinkin poor people..... :sarcasm: :sarcasm:

[mntleo2]

8. Won't this Help Them House Their Underpaid?

...sheesh youdda thunk that they would do a "Walmart" and make it part of their "training". This way they can continue to exploit people not only by raking in the dough for their phony amusement park, but they can fleece their employees even more by showing them where they can live close and be available 24 X 7 on call so workers can rush in there on call AND get paid a crappy wage. Why they could even put them on "salary" so those single mothers who would be on welfare can desert their kids in the middle of the night and do some REAL honest labor instead of wasting their time raising the next generation. To hell with children doing without their mom ~ unless their parents are rich of course.

Just like Disney: a win-lose situation ~ for everyone but themselves of course.

Cat In Seattle

[LibDemAlways]

9. The treatment of the employees by their corporate bosses

is reflected in how some of them now treat the public - with indifference and, in some cases, hostility.

I'm sure Disneyland employees were never well paid, but at one time there was pride in working at the "Happiest Place on Earth." Employees or "cast members" as Disney calls them were generally friendly and helpful. The place itself was reasonably priced and a family could go and enjoy a pleasant outing without taking out a second mortgage.

Today, forget it. It costs $11.00 just to park in a remote parking structure accessible only by tram after a long walk through the football-field sized building. This is especially unenjoyable after a long day at the park when you have to make your way back with feet that are killing you. There are also some remote parking lots about a half mile away from the park that have no tram service. No one is informed of this tidbit until after they've forked over the parking fee.

A regular one day ticket to the park is $63.00 and that goes for everyone 10 and over. You are only a child if you are between 3 and 9. And even then, the "discount" is only $10.00, so a kid pays $53.00. Total tab for a family of 4 including parking - $243.00 - and that's before outrageously overpriced "fast" food served up as slowly as possible by workers who clearly hate their lot in life.

As for the hostility....At night before the fireworks an army of yellow suited security personnel emerges. They are apparently hired on the basis of how nasty they are. The last time I was there one particularly vile woman got into it with some people waiting on a bench for the show to start. She ordered them off the bench and when they tried to explain that had been told by another employee that bench was a great place for fireworks viewing, she threatened twice to remove them physically from the park - then ordered a couple of goons to upend the bench and dump the people off. That's the way Disneyland employees treat paying customers these days.

The hell with it. The "Happiest Place On Earth" has devolved into a shake down operation run by greedy bastards and staffed by a combination of soon-to-become jaded idealists, desperate people, and sadists.

[zbdent]

10. I know they're their own municipality and zip code ...

have they (like the Vatican) become its own sovereign entity?