It’s good news for Southern California that Disney canceled its plans to spend $1 billion on a new office complex in Florida and relocate 2,000 employees there.
At the same time, their earlier rationale for the move, Florida’s “business-friendly climate,” and later rationale for canceling it, “changing business conditions,” are troubling. When the rationale includes “Florida,” “climate” and “changing,” but not “climate change,” isn’t something missing in the discussion?
Most of Florida is barely above sea level. It is already experiencing “sunny day floods,” where seawater comes out of storm drains and floods roads. The rising sea has caused Fort Lauderdale’s sewage system to fail already. Saltwater is already threatening their drinking water systems. Hurricanes are becoming more severe and more frequent. Rather than putting together plans for what to do as the oceans rise and storms destroy more every year, their government denies that the problem even exists.
As more and more of Florida gets flooded and destroyed each year, at some point, the destroyed properties will stop getting fixed, and eventually they won’t even be torn down. That will lead to major urban decay.
The time to invest in Florida is gone. Get out while you can.
Scott Peer
Glendale
First published in the May 27 print issue of the Glendale News-Press.
