San Mateo County Supervisor Takes Stand Against Chick-Fil-A Opening In Redwood City
REDWOOD CITY (KPIX 5) -- A San Mateo County official is pushing to stop a Chick-fil-A restaurant from opening up in Redwood City.
The McDonald's restaurant on Whipple could soon be tuning into a Chick-fil-A, making it the chain's 13th restaurant in the San Francisco Bay Area.
The southern chicken chain filed an application with Redwood City in December 2018. The city deemed it to be an "architectural permit," which didn't require anything beyond approval from planning department staff.
"This would not go before the city council--because it's an existing use, it would just be administerial for the planning commission," San Mateo County supervisor David Canepa said. He is pushing to stop the chain from moving in. "When people think of the Chick-fil-A logo — what they think of is anti-LGBTQ."
The Georgia company has a long history of donating millions of dollars to anti-LGBTQ groups and stating that marriage is strictly between a man and a woman.
Craig Wiesner, sits on the San Mateo County LGBTQ Commission, said the community should stand up to the company.
"I don't think that we should necessarily be regulating what businesses can open in Redwood City, but I do think that as a community, we can stand up and say we don't want this particular business which has taken a very open stand against LGBTQ people and spent millions of dollars against us at the heart of our county," Wiesner said.
There have been protests outside other Chick-fil-As that have opened in the Bay Area. Recently, there's been a push to put rainbow flags, traditionally a symbol of gay rights and pride, outside a planned Chick-fil-A inside Mineta San Jose International Airport.
Supervisor Canepa is hoping the pressure over the Redwood City store will be enough to force Chick-fil-A to reconsider.
"What we are trying to do is to make sure Chick-fil-A--if they want to do business here--that there is a lot of pressure here and that they should do the right thing and withdraw their application."
In a statement to KPIX 5, a Chick-fil-A spokesman said, "We are committed to earning the respect and business of all our customers, and one day hope to serve guests in Redwood City."