THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, June 15, 1994 TAG: 9406150482
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: D1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: 940615 LENGTH: WASHINGTON
``If the people think we will back off, they are mistaken,'' said Eisner, chairman of Walt Disney Co., in an interview in Tuesday's Washington Post.
{REST} He was ``shocked,'' he said, by opposition to Disney's America, planned for a site 35 miles west of downtown Washington, because he ``thought we were doing good.''
Eisner said he had ``expected to be taken around on people's shoulders'' after the company decided to spend $650 million and bring an estimated 19,000 new jobs to the area.
Disney executives are to testify at congressional hearings on the impact of the planned park on Manassas National Battlefield Park, about five miles from the planned site of Disney's America.
The park also faces Clean Air Act scrutiny and requirements for an environmental impact statement.
Eisner complained about critics and charged that opponents of the project were well-connected Washington insiders who wanted to protect the value of the real estate they own in the area, the Post said.
``If this was any other place in any other city in the country, the (federal government) wouldn't even be interested in this,'' he said. It would be nothing. But we chose to be close to the flame. It's going to be hot close to the flame.
``We have a right to do it,'' he continued. ``It's private land that is not in the middle of a historic area. . . . It's not in the middle of a battlefield.''
Eisner said park will cost only about 10 times as much as the latest Disney movie. ``We'll make some money on this,'' he said, ``but it's not a very big deal.''
by CNB