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Port Approves New Budget for Fiscal Year 2017-2018
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The Port’s 2017-2018 fiscal year budget has been approved by the Port Commission.
The budget is based on an estimated 1,812,000 metric tons of cargo crossing Port docks, primarily composed of construction sand and aggregates imported from Canada and recycled scrap metal exported primarily to Asia.
- Projected $7.9 million in operating revenues of which $5.8 million, over 73 percent, is generated by maritime operations. A general rate increase of three percent will be applied to all rates and charges for wharfage, dockage, and services. Several marine related leases that have expired will be renewed and rental revenue is expected to increase starting in second quarter of new fiscal year by an average of 15 percent.
- Recreational boating revenue of $575,000 assumes a 10 percent vacancy factor at the Port Marina and a two percent increase in berthing rates. Commercial leases and temporary rentals show a revenue increase of eight percent due to rent increases.
- The budget includes $5.2 million in operating expenses, 70 percent of which is attributable to operations and 30 percent to administration.
- Operating income of $2.7 million is offset by $553,000 in net non-operating expenses, primarily due to the interest expense on the Port’s revenue bonds.
- Subvention of $476,000 to the City of Redwood City is included in the budget, resulting in a projected net income after subvention of almost $1.7 million.
- The budget includes $8 million for capital projects. The major projects are Wharves 3 & 4 fender system replacement Marina dock renovations and rail spur track improvement.
“With a projected 10 percent tonnage increase and revenue growth of 17 percent over last year’s budget, the FY 2017/2018 Port budget sets aggressive goals for next year,” stated Port Commission Chairman Simms Duncan.
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Remember, Fourth of July Fireworks Show is at Port, Preceded by Concert
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Don’t forget that Redwood City’s famous 4th of July fireworks show will be held at the Port of Redwood City. We are sending out a Fourth of July guide on Friday, so be sure to look for it in your email.
This spectacular aerial show is brought to the community by the City of Redwood City with sponsorship by Sares Regis, Sims Metal Management, County Consumer Plumbing Service & Repair Group, Recology, Boardwalk Chevrolet, and the Port of Redwood City.
The band Tribal Blues Band will play at the Port’s waterfront public access area adjacent to the Portside offices from 7 p.m. to 9:15 p.m. There will be food trucks on hand from 7-9 p.m. The fireworks extravaganza will start at approximately 9:30 p.m.
The fireworks can be seen from areas where there is a clear view of the skies above the Port, and can also be seen from high points all over the Peninsula.
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Update on Port’s Newest Business
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California Canoe & Kayak (CC&K) will be opening its operations at the Port of Redwood City in late July or early August. They will operate a retail store for the sale of kayaks, canoes, paddle boards, and related water recreation equipment and offer kayak rentals and lessons. The company anticipates putting close to 100,000 people a year on the water.
They will be taking over a portion of space previously utilized by Arrivederci Italian Seafood Restaurant from 1998 to 2011.
There will be some outside storage racks for boats/equipment on the side of the building which faces the waterfront. CC&K and their clients will have access to this area from inside the building. The adjacent Port guest dock will be used for hand launching boats.
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Port-Sponsored Music-in-the-Park Series Still Has Eight Weeks To Go
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There are still eight weeks left in Redwood City’s popular Music-in-the-Park series, which the Port of Redwood City is sponsoring. Head out each Wednesday night through August 15 to Stafford Park at the corner of King Street and Hopkins Avenue.
Roughly 1,600 people a week attend the Wednesday night concerts, which are from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.
June 28 * Zydeco
Motordude Zydeco
July 5 * Bluegrass
Blue Summit
July 12 * Dance Band
Janel and the Heist
July 19 * Blues
Kyle Jester
July 26 * Latin
Tortilla Soup
August 2 * Jump / Swing
Lost Dog Found
August 9 * Funk/Soul
Sinister Dexter
August 16 * Motown and Classic Soul Favorites
Top Shelf
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Commemorative Magazine Touting Redwood City’s Sesquicentennial Includes Chapter About Port’s History (This is Our 80th Anniversary)
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Just in time for Redwood City’s 150th anniversary, a special commemorative magazine is available that tells the story of the city from its earliest days to the present. Redwood City 150 is a glossy, full-color magazine produced by an all-volunteer team of more than 20 writers, editors and photographers, including former journalists, history experts and other contributors. Thanks to advertiser and sponsor support, the publication is provided at no charge to the community.
The community can pick up a copy at most of the stores, coffee shops and other locations where Climate Magazine is normally available, as well as at city facilities including City Hall, libraries and parks buildings. Climate magazine and its creative and editorial staff contributed time and resources so a commemorative special edition could be made available to the public.
Redwood City 150 magazine was produced by the Redwood City Sesquicentennial Celebration Committee and includes stories by long-time reporters for Redwood City newspapers, library staff and communications professionals. Historic photos that offer a nostalgic look at the past appear in the magazine along with the contemporary perspectives of four Redwood City-based photographers.
For a complete list of sesquicentennial activities, go to www.redwoodcityhistory.org or www.rwc150.org.
Below is the chapter in the book about the Port of Redwood City:
Redwood City’s Berth-place:
The Story of the Port
By Duane Sandul
This year is the City of Redwood City’s 150th anniversary and the Port of Redwood City’s 80th anniversary, yet believe it or not, the port is older
The year was 1851, and San Francisco was growing by leaps and bounds as Gold Rush fever swept Northern California. Such expansion demanded lumber, and along the hills of the Peninsula there was a mother lode of redwood timber waiting to be harvested. Felling the trees was easy; the cost and difficulty lay in moving them down the mountainsides and wagon-hauling them overland to San Francisco for milling into lumber.
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Redwood City developed rapidly due to the discovery of a deepwater channel that extended off of San Francisco Bay. Settlers established a series of wharves for shipping lumber and other products along what became known as Redwood Creek. (Photo courtesy of the Redwood City Library archives)
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One day in 1851 it was discovered that a creek running through the Peninsula emptied directly into a naturally deep channel of water that, in turn, flowed into San Francisco Bay. Logging companies quickly made use of this valuable natural resource as a water highway, easily and economically moving huge redwood logs down from the hills and into the channel. Once positioned in the channel, the logs were stacked on barges or lashed together for the final journey to San Francisco, where they were ultimately milled into lumber.
Among the first entrepreneurs to use that waterway highway to move their timber to market were Dr. Robert O. Tripp, founder of the historic Woodside Store, and his partner, Mathias A. Parkhurst.
Because redwood trees were so abundant, it’s not at all surprising that the creek was named “Redwood Creek,” the town that sprang up near it was called “Redwood City,” and the waterfront came to be known first as El Embarcadero and then as the “Port of Redwood City.”
During that era, the Redwood City waterfront was located in an area near the current intersection of Broadway and Arguello streets, and stretched as far south as today’s downtown Post Office. It is hard to visualize this today because the creek and its branches downtown have been culverted and paved over, and Broadway has been realigned.
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Redwood City was named for the giant redwood trees which were logged from the forests in the hills to the west. Cut lumber was dragged by oxen teams down to the wharves at Redwood El Embarcadero_ which was the precursor to the Port of Redwood City. Photo courtesy of Redwood City Library archives.
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Redwood City’s port distinguished it from other communities developing on the Peninsula – nearby towns such as San Mateo, Belmont and San Carlos. As the only deepwater channel in the southern San Francisco Bay, forest products of all types were brought to the waterfront for export, and Redwood City became famous for its workable port where materials could be shipped without the delay or expense of overland travel. It would be another 20 years before the transcontinental railroad system presented another option for the movement of cargo.
Many different types of businesses found the proximity to a deepwater channel of considerable economic benefit, and wharves and businesses soon occupied the entire length of Redwood Creek. Commercial shipping of products in addition to lumber thrived, especially shingles, grains, hay, and livestock.
There were three main wharves. The two largest wharves were on opposite sides of the creek at Broadway (then called Bridge St.) The third wharf, owned by Frank’s Tannery, was farther down the creek near where the present-day Peninsula Boardwalk Plaza is located. The Port of Redwood City was at its zenith during the days of the Gold Rush. But gradually the forests dwindled and shipping declined. Silt began to fill the channel as dikes and levees were installed to reclaim swamp lands north and east of town.
Throughout the years Redwood Creek silted in with mud from land erosion caused by the building of levies levees and the development of the town.
The building of the San Francisco-San Jose Railroad was a near fatal blow to the port. It was now termed “useless” by its opponents and gradually forgotten as a force in the life of the community. But there was one group that kept its eyes on the port and the possibilities there – the federal government. Uncle Sam had always been interested in navigable channels, and small government subsidies kept the port alive during the years of competition with the powerful railroad interests and the battle against civic indifference.
As early as 1882 the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers voiced its interest in the Port of Redwood City, which was also known then as El Embarcadero. The Corps that year authorized the Port of Redwood City as a “federally approved” project, creating the ability for the port to seek federal funding for maintenance dredging henceforth. This enabled the port to continue to be used for shipping, and to this day, maintenance dredging is necessary from time to time to keep the channel open for commerce.
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Original Site
the Port initially was located closer to what is today’s downtown Redwood City. Photo courtesy of Redwood City Library archives.
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The port was “moved” further down the existing creek and channel towards San Francisco Bay to its present location along Seaport Boulevard east of Highway 101. In 1903, the Corps increased the channel’s width to 100 feet. After the 1906 earthquake that devastated San Francisco, the Corps began a five-year project to widen the channel to 150 feet.
Civic interest in the port reawakened with increasing government interest and activity. As maritime activity prospered, the Redwood City Harbor Company was formed in 1912 by businessmen and civic leaders, but before the community could get solidly behind the port, World War I began and the Port of Redwood City was forgotten. The port was not ready to handle the large wartime cargos and most of the business went to ports in Oakland, Stockton, Richmond, and Sacramento.
In 1917 Redwood City once again attracted worldwide attention at its port with the construction of the steamship “Faith,” the world’s first cement-hulled ocean-going vessel. The “Faith,” constructed at a shipyard on Redwood Creek when the port was still centered downtown, was built for fighting German U-boats in World War I. The ship never saw any military action, however, since the Armistice was signed a few months later.
In 1931 the War Department agreed to allot $26,000 for harbor development if the voters would pledge a like amount. Plans called for deepening the channel to 20 feet and widening it to 200 feet. This encouraged political leaders from all over San Mateo County to form a countywide committee at the prompting of legendary Burlingame Mayor C.A. Buck and Judge John J. McGrath of San Mateo, president of the Peninsula Industrial Conference, two outsiders who saw the port as an economic engine of countywide importance. McGrath would later be elected to Congress and be a solid promoter of federal port funding.
Jumping ahead, on June 11, 1936, voters approved an amendment to the City Charter to establish a Port Department to “control, operate and manage development of the Port of Redwood City.” The port to this day is governed by the City Charter, with only minor voter-approved changes made over the years.
It wasn’t until 1937 that the port became official, establishing that year as the “modern” port’s birth date. Thus the port, whose founding goes back before the city’s, will celebrate its 80th anniversary in 2017.
The 92-acre port quickly became successful and profitable, and has remained so for most of its 80 years, creating its own income and operating without any tax funds. The port remains a unique and valuable commercial and recreational asset to the City of Redwood City.
(Duane Sandul has served as public relations consultant for the Port for 30 years, and before that reported on the Port for both the Redwood City Tribune and San Mateo Times from 1973 to 1985).
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