From latimes.com:

Abigail Goldman. May 22, 2007

Walt Disney Co. believes Anaheim should have more affordable housing — but not as close to Disneyland as some local officials and developers propose, Chief Executive Robert Iger said Monday.

Speaking before a group of journalists at Disneyland Hotel, Iger called the theme park the “best neighbor Anaheim has ever had.”

Iger noted that the citys resort area occupied less than 5% of the land in Anaheim but generated 50% of the citys revenue. He added that Disneys position was supported by “a number of unions” in the area.

But Iger declined to talk about Disneys plans for the area, other than to say that the company “continues to look at the opportunities” there.

“As Walt [Disney] said, Disneyland will never be completed. We will continue to build and grow,” Iger said.

Iger did say that there were no plans for a fifth Disney property in Florida. He touted the 25th anniversary of its Tokyo park, the 15th anniversary of Disneys park in Paris and Hong Kong Disneyland, which has had disappointing attendance numbers since opening in 2005.

During the question-and-answer period, Iger joked that the companys ill-fated ESPN phone was a great idea — except for its high price, poor marketing and “flawed retail strategy.”

“Im proud of the fact that we tried it, even though we lost money,” Iger said. “Sometimes you learn more through failure.”

The $499 phone promised access to sports scores, statistics and video highlights but failed to attract customers despite heavy promotion during the powerful ESPNs shows.

Merrill Lynch & Co. estimated Disneys costs for the phone at $100 million and projected just 30,000 subscribers by the end of 2006. The company had hoped to sign 3 million customers but dropped the product in September.

Iger also said Disney had decided it would be counterproductive, and probably ineffective, for the company to publicly denounce a militant video clip airing in the Middle East on a Hamas-controlled TV station that used a Mickey Mouse-like character to criticize Israel and the U.S.

“We werent going to rail against the theft of our intellectual property; that seemed to be absurd in light of the message,” Iger said. “We simply made the decision that we would not either create or prolong a public discourse on the subject by making a loud public statement.”

(read entire article at LINK)

Link