PRNC to hear report Wednesday about BNSF plans for trains in Miller Knox park

   POINT RICHMOND - The Point Richmond Neighborhood Council will hear an update and report about Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad's plans to reactivate and use railroad tracks in Miller Knox Park.
     The report will be made by Carol Johnson of the East Bay Regional Park District. The district filed a lawsuit in October of 2017 to resolve the issue.
     Earlier this year, EBRPD offered this statement to clarify the situation:
     “The property containing the remnant rail road tracks was purchased from Burlington Northern Santa Fe in 1991," EBRPD officials wrote. 
     "As part of the purchases, Burlington Northern Santa Fe was granted an easement back for the limited purpose of continuing to serve two adjacent industrial properties, the Bray Oil property and the Terminal One (formerly Petromark) property, only for so long as those industrial sites remained in operation. The Bray Oil property was purchased by the Park District in 1999 and designated open space. The Terminal One property stopped all industrial activity in the 1990s and is now owned by the City of Richmond and is designated for residential uses.”
     The PRNC meeting begins at 7:15 p.m. at the Point Richmond Community Center. Johnson's reported is slated to begin at about 7:20 p.m.
     The PRNC meeting is starting 15 minutes earlier than normal to accommodate an unusually long agenda.

'Wig-Wag' festival in The Point Sunday

   POINT RICHMOND - The just-completed restoration project of the historic railroad crossing "wig wag" signals in The Point will be celebrated Sunday.
     The public celebration is to commemorate the reactivation of the signals after 18 years of being dormant.
     According to festival organizers, Point Richmond is the only place in the nation where the wig wags are allowed to remain in place.
     The festival will run from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. at Mechanics Bank. It will include a dedication ceremony and a ceremonial reactivation of the wig wags.
     There will be entertainment, including singing and performances of the Wig Wag Rag (1911) and the Richmond Rag (1908).
     In addition, the work of local, national and international artists will be exhibited depicting railroads crossings. Local artists include Elizabeth Tarr, Jim DeWitt and Linda Lee.
     Thematic posters by Tarr will be available for purchase.

City delays consideration of funding proposal for Terminal One until Sept.

 EDITOR'S NOTE and Update to story below:

    Richmond city officials Monday said the proposals described below will not be considered Tuesday, July 2 - or July 16 - after all. 
    Instead - at the request of the developer - the issues raised in the story are now expected to be taken up in September.
    This story will be updated with links to city documents later this week.

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RICHMOND - The Richmond City Council was set to consider a proposal this week to use funds from several city sources - including funds collected from other developers - to help with increased costs at the Terminal One residential project.
     But city officials said the discussion and decision has been delayed and will likely take place in September.
     The council had received a written request to delay a vote on the proposal. And several Point residents were expected to ask the council at the meeting to delay also, citing a short notice of the item being considered.
     The city-collected funds are proposed by the city to help the developer cover increased costs to handle seismic hazards, development of the promised waterfront park and improvements to the Ferry Point Lift Station.
     The details of the fund allocations being considered include:

The Terminal One project site is on the left