One of California's leading Republican commentators, Jon Fleischman, wrote a solid criticism today of what the Disney Corporation's new "economic study" of the Anaheim Resort District says about how Disney and its allies view property rights:
In America (and in Anaheim) Property Rights Should Trump Local Government's Quest For Cash
I know that everyone here at the Red County/OC Blog is probably tired of hashing and rehashing the politics and antics going on inside of Anaheim these days, but like moths to the flame, bloggers here are drawn to controversy.
This morning the Register is reporting that study paid for by SOAR (Disney) shows that a hotel being built on the parcel of land near Disneyland that SunCal would like to make into residential units would produce more revenue for city government.
Guess what? If you are a homeowner in Anaheim, there are uses for your land that are more economically beneficial for government than your house, or condominium.
The good news for you is that it is YOUR house, not the government's.
We had all buckle in for a scary movie if local governments start restricting reasonable use property by those who own it because the city isn't getting a big enough cash take from the chosen use of the owner.
There is an argument made in the story that the study itself is skewed and that the numbers aren't right.
I would actually argue that it doesn't really even matter.
If the Mayor and Councilmembers in Anaheim believe that increasing city revenues is a higher calling than fighting to preserve the property rights of city residents and business owners who want to make reasonable use of their land, then there is a big problem in the Big A.
We all understand the need for common sense zoning -- but I can't think that any reasonable person would think that condominiums are an improper use for that land. There isn't enough space in this post to list the number of cities in America that feature urban residential living. Now some people might not want condo's there. If that's the case, they should go buy the land. But using government to prohibit a reasonable use of someone's private property is a taking from that property owner, and is immoral.
I am not from Anaheim, but from the outside, I will say that it is hard to understand why there is so much drama going on about the building of some condominiums. You would think that SunCal is trying to put a toxic waste dump on that property.
I will close by saying that there have been a number of articles in the MSM that throw out this faux argument that somehow this is an issue of 'affordable housing' -- um, no. It's an issue of property rights, plain and simple.
