Jackie Krentzman is a Bay Area-based writer and editor.

In 2018, Pico Rivera received bad news. The Whittier Narrows Dam, which runs right through the city, was on the brink of failure. And a federal-led retrofitting project would significantly impact the city. Claiming over half the city’s total open space, the project will close off access to the city’s 6,000-seat sports arena, an entertainment hub for the predominately Latino community and southeast Los Angeles County.

But instead of seeing a setback, Pico Rivera saw an opportunity to reinvent itself.

“We decided that it was time to dream big and turn Pico Rivera, which has largely been a ‘drive-through city,’ into a ‘come-to’ city,” says Steve Carmona, city manager.

The city decided to capitalize on an incoming LA Metro light rail station and in 2023, formalized plans for a community with multiple transportation options. These new transit options will not only reduce reliance on automobiles, but facilitate the city’s other housing, open space, and economic development goals — chief among them, becoming the home of a new men’s and women’s United Soccer League (USL) franchise.

“When we first learned that the dam failure would have a significant negative impact on the city and its economy, instead of despairing we decided to make lemonade out of lemons and turn it into an opportunity,” says Mayor John R. Garcia. “We realized this was a moment in which we can step back and decide what kind of city we want Pico Rivera to be.”

Local officials say Pico Rivera is ideally situated to become a regional transit hub. It straddles the San Gabriel Valley and Gateway cities, with Interstate 605 and 5 running right through it.

The city is working with LA Metro and surrounding cities on a nine-mile extension to the Metro E light rail line, which includes the creation of a Pico Rivera station. The $10.5 billion dollar project is largely funded by the county’s Measure M.

Pico Rivera is also working with 13 other cities in the San Gabriel Valley and Gateway Cities on a 28-mile-long bus corridor that will connect East Pasadena to East Long Beach. The early planning stages are mostly funded by Caltrans. Officials hope to complete quick-build and early-action projects, such as transit signal priority, beautification, and improved stations in time for the 2028 Olympics in LA.

In addition, Pico Rivera is exploring the possibility of a regional rail station served by Metrolink and Amtrak’s Pacific Surfliner. The Surfliner is the second most used Amtrak route in the country and runs right through the city.

Local officials want to leverage these new transit options to become a regional entertainment hub. The centerpiece would be a new downtown stadium that would continue to host Mexican rodeos, festivals, and concerts — and new professional men’s and women’s soccer teams. Pico Rivera and USL recently signed a letter of interest, the first step in creating what will hopefully become the town’s entertainment centerpiece.

Dan Holman, the chief operating officer of USL, says the organization chose Pico Rivera for its central location and ambitious vision. The league operates three tiers of professional soccer, as well as youth programs geared toward developing future professional players. USL currently has a team in Orange County, which can be challenging travel for fans in the San Gabriel Valley.

“Pico Rivera has so much energy right now, with the stadium project, the downtown revitalization plans, and new transit,” he says. “We are looking to grow our footprint in Los Angeles and Southern California and partnering with Pico Rivera aligns perfectly with our mission to bring soccer to more communities in the area.”

The city’s revitalization plan also prioritizes new commercial development, in particular a proposed 270-acre manufacturing zone and business cluster dedicated to the full product lifecycle of electric bikes, scooters, and other small electric vehicles. The city began early funding discussions with the federal agencies, but those talks are now on hold due to federal funding uncertainty.

The last prong of the city’s plan is housing. Pico Rivera has adopted the Historic Whittier Boulevard Vision Plan, which calls for over 1,500 new housing units. It is also drafting a Washington & Rosemead Boulevard Transit-Oriented Development Specific Plan, which would add over 2,000 new mixed-income housing units, more than doubling its state housing goals.

“We want to contribute as much supply as possible and help address the regional crisis,” says Carmona. “Our motto is: ‘Increase affordability by increasing overall supply.’”

Pico Rivera has been collaborating with a host of regional partners, including the Gateway Cities Council of Governments (COG), to get these efforts off the ground.

“They are very motivated to find regional solutions, and to their credit, they are exploring every partner, every resource available to bring their projects to fruition,” says Gateway COG Executive Director Hector De La Torre.

This level of regional cooperation has made Jesus Garcia, the city’s senior analyst, bullish about the city’s development ambitions.

“What may have begun as a bunch of crazy ideas can become reality through regional solutions,” he says. “All these projects began as visions, that turned into concepts that turned into real projects. Today, we are seeing actual things like multi-jurisdictional and cross-sector coalitions, multiple funding grants, engineering schematics, and tangible support from elected officials. In the process, we discovered that a small city of 60,000, can really punch above its weight by working regionally.”