From TheBestLinks.com
The Reedy Creek Improvement District is a public corporation of the state of Florida created in 1967 by an act of the Florida legislature. Its primary purpose is to allow The Walt Disney Company to exercise powers normally reserved for municipal governments (including taxing authority and zoning authority) over the land that constitutes Walt Disney World.
Formally, the district is governed by a five member board of supervisors who are elected by the landowners within the district on the basis of one acre, one vote. Since the Disney company owns almost all of the land in the district, the district effectively serves as an instrument of Disney. Within the district, there are two incorporated cities, the cities of Bay Lake, Florida (pop. 23 per the 2000 census) and Lake Buena Vista, Florida (pop. 16). These two bodies politic are instrumentalities of the Disney company as all the residents of the cities are Disney employees. Curiously the city of Celebration, Florida, which is an experimental community sponsored by Disney and which has actual residents, is on land which was de-annexed from the district.
The district has its seat in Lake Buena Vista and its executive organs (serving primarily the WDW parks and resorts) include a building inspectorate, a fire brigade with an ambulance service, a planning division, and a comprehensive utilities service covering trash collection, energy, and all in-ground systems except telephony and broadband.
In his book, Married to the Mouse: Walt Disney World and Orlando, Richard Foglesong argues that the Florida legislature created the RCID under the belief that Disney would create an actual community in the area as part of its EPCOT project. However, once the Disney Company was granted governmental powers, it did not follow through on its promise of permanent residents in order to maintain control over the RCID.
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