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in, spokesmen have repeatedly said, is to see that landowners near the park are protected, especially in terms of water and escalating real estate tax rates, and that the county strikes the best deal possible with the entertainment giant.
But following Disney’s press cobk ference and Planning Commission hearing last week, that neutrality may be a thing of the past. --
“It is very difficult to remain' open-minded when you have been lied to,” the Coalition’s Ellen Penar said last week. “I can’t speak for the entire group yet, but I do know that [the newest Disney figures] are ' very, very disturbing. There is no way this area will take that kind of traffic,” she said.
Disney, Mrs. Penar charged, has “lied about traffic, and about jobs,’1 among other things. I
Additionally, Mrs. Penar thinks that the latest figures will erode support for Disney elsewhere in the community. The Prince William Chamber of Commerce, she said by way of example, has been pro-Disney from the start, “but now that Disney has come up with 2 million ' square feet of commercial and retail, [tourists] will not go shopping in Manassas,” she said. “If they [Manassas merchants, the Chamber of Commerce] think they will, they are sadly mistaken,” the Coalition leader said.
“We are very disappointed that the state legislators, a lot of them ... are just starting to receive the information that we already have,” she continued. “They have a lot of other important business [in Richmond} besides Disney, and this will not give them the time they need to go over all the details — and to see the: discrepancies,” she said.
Like other groups, the Coalition will be sending representatives to Richmond for the General Assembly' session, she noted.
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