LOCAL CHARITIES RECEIVE $33,000 AT ROTARY EVENT Nearly $33,000 was distributed by the Peninsula Sunrise Rotary Club of <strong>Redwood</strong> City to local and international non-profit agencies at a presentation in front of City Hall. All recipient groups had their representatives present to accept the checks. Proceeds are from the Rotary Club's recent "Irish Night" fund-raising event is the source for these charitable gifts. <strong>The</strong> Peninsula Sunrise Rotary club meets each Tuesday morning at 7:30 a.m. at the Waterfront Restaurant at Pete's Harbor, 1 Uccelli Boulevard in <strong>Redwood</strong> City. For more information about club meetings, contact club president, Lorianna Kastrop, 368-7143. <strong>The</strong> <strong>Spectrum</strong> . <strong>Redwood</strong> <strong>City's</strong> <strong>Monthly</strong> <strong>Magazine</strong>
y Judy Buchan Contributing Writer <strong>The</strong> <strong>Spectrum</strong> . <strong>Redwood</strong> <strong>City's</strong> <strong>Monthly</strong> <strong>Magazine</strong> Much Ado About Middlefield the City Council, stating that he “would hope that the City will allow input from our group and at least call a meeting were we could participate.” Transforming the east-west segment of Middlefield Road that bisects Downtown into <strong>The</strong>ater Way so that drivers can find what will evolve into <strong>Redwood</strong> City’s theater district with the multiplex cinema and the historic Fox <strong>The</strong>ater seemed like a good idea. But not all the affected businesses on Middlefield knew of the concept, which was incorporated into a Parking Facilities Agreement ratified by the City Council last year until a few months ago. <strong>The</strong> ensuing controversy played out in earnest this month, and will surely be part of the City Council’s final call on renaming the street sometime in July. “We should have argued about this last year instead of this year,” Mayor Jeff Ira sighed. Ira was adamant that nothing about the proposal is set in stone. “This is definitely not a done deal; there is no commitment to do this,” he said,. He explained that turning Middlefield Road into <strong>The</strong>ater Way was a concept raised by the project developer early in the negotiations with the City and Redevelopment Agency. When the final amended Disposition and Development Agreement (allowing the project to move forward) was approved in December 2002, renaming the street was left out of final negotiations. Instead, an attachment to the document listed the “business points” which were agreed on by the City, the Redevelopment Agency, the developer, and Century <strong>The</strong>aters, the project’s main tenant. <strong>The</strong> Parking Facilities Agreement for the retail-cinema project, which incorporated the “business points,” was adopted by the City Council on June 28, 2004. Should the street renaming proposal have been presented to affected businesses on Middlefield Road last year? Joel Patterson, Community Development Services Director, was quite candid when describing the myriad tasks involved in preparing for the cinema. “<strong>The</strong>re are one dozen ordinances and other changes to be put in place before the cinema opens,” Patterson said. “It (notifying the affected businesses) was considered a smaller issue in relation to dealing with parking.” “We are facing the same issues now as we would have faced last year,” Patterson said, as he acknowledged that City staff should probably have worked with the businesses sooner. Dr. Jeffrey Filippi, <strong>Redwood</strong> City chiropractor, whose practice spans the past 20 years at 627 Middlefield Road, agrees. Filippi learned of the street name change from one of his patients in late March of this year. Taken by surprise, Filippi took his concerns to Approximately 10 days later, Filippi said, affected businesses were invited to attend city-sponsored meetings where they could learn more about the potential name change. “<strong>The</strong> Council absolutely insisted that staff go out and talk to them,” Mayor Ira said, adding, “we forced them to go out.” <strong>The</strong> meeting was attended by Filippi, the owners of his building, neighboring chiropractor Dr. William Amalu, attorneys Anthony Gibb and Geoff Carr, and a representative of the Service League, Susan Moeller of the Redevelopment Agency, and John Anagnostou of the Fox <strong>The</strong>atres. It started, Filippi said, with a presentation of the “whole scenario of the rebirth of downtown <strong>Redwood</strong> City.” He was quick to note that his group is “all happy about what’s coming and we support it.” As the discussion turned to the renaming issue, Filippi said there was “downright deception.” <strong>The</strong> section of Middlefield from the parking lot to Broadway was presented to the group as having historical significance because it was once known as “<strong>The</strong>ater Way.” In actuality, Filippi said, <strong>The</strong>ater Street was once behind the Fox <strong>The</strong>ater (and is now known as Hamilton Street). Filippi claimed his group was then told that Middlefield Road has a “bad image.” A member of the City Council, he said, also told him that the street has a “bad image.” “Do we have racism going on here?” Filippi asked. “Middlefield is an old area of <strong>Redwood</strong> City with a large Hispanic population.” He expressed concern about what he felt was an “elitist/racist attitude” on the part of City Hall. He added that the he and his neighbors came away from the meeting “unanimously against this” (renaming the street) and “believing it was a done deal.” Susan Moeller, Redevelopment Director, did not return a call for comment on Filippi’s assertions. When Filippi and his neighbors subsequently learned that the renaming concept was part of the 2002 agreement and ratified by the Council in 2004, they took their frustrations to the City Council on June 13. “If this was in the works in 2002, why didn’t they talk to us about it then?” he said. For John Anagnostou, the historical problem with Middlefield Road is one of logistics. “Middlefield Road starts in San Jose,” he said “and runs straight to <strong>Redwood</strong> City, where motorists encounter a right turn to continue on the street. People get lost.” “Everybody who has real estate around here knows there’s a problem.” Anagnostou contended that he made the original suggestion to rename the street. He believes changing the street name is a “chance to fix a historical problem.” He envi-
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