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The Spectrum . Redwood City's Monthly Magazine
sions Theater Way leading visitors to “two wonderful theaters’, the cinema and the
Fox.”
“They don’t get the picture,” he said of those who oppose the name change. “People
are so worried, but they don’t realize that there will be thousands of cars passing by
their businesses. They need to focus on how to market their businesses to these visitors.”
Adding more fuel to the controversy was a flier that surfaced at City Hall about a
month ago and found its way to Anagnostou a few weeks ago. Titled “Your
Redevelopment Agency Proudly Presents - The Secrets of Shared Parking,” the flier
appears to be an attempt to satirize many of the elements involved in current downtown
projects/conditions. Items included in this piece, which has no identification as
to authorship, include how to find the downtown cinema from the freeway, how to find
a parking space, criticism of developers, criticism of the County practice of releasing
inmates from the County Jail into downtown, and more.
Two of his neighbors agree. “This piece of paper, it’s a joke, isn’t it?” asked Dr. William
Amalu. He also denied any responsibility, saying, “I don’t have time for this nonsense.”
Attorney Geoff Carr laughed and said that the flier “is interesting and appears to have
been done by someone who knows the details of the cinema project. I am not involved
in any way; I have no knowledge of this.”
As all involved await the City Council’s decision in July, those in opposition to the name
change are “frustrated and concerned about how some City staff handle issues and
deal with the public and businesses,” according to Filippi. “The City can bully anyone.
I’m not pleased with how the Redevelopment Agency has handled this matter.”
One particular statement in the piece led Anagnostou to speculate that it came from
those who oppose the name change: “Strategies to understanding the street grid differences
of Redwood City and to “sense” for yourself when your street name may have
just changed, is about to end or has new and confusing left and right turn arrows.”
“This was given to me by multiple sources a few weeks ago,” Anagnostou said. “It is
uncalled for and in very poor taste. These people are speaking out now with anger; they
don’t know what is going on in the city and they’re not asking questions.”
“My style is not to cause wars,” he added. When asked if he had any proof that Filippi
and his neighbors wrote the flier, Anagnostou said, “No, I don’t. I did not say Jeff
wrote the flier. And I don’t have time for this.”
Filippi denied any involvement in creating or distributing the flier. “I swear to you that
I did not write this,” he said.