Pico / Mid-City
Pico and Mid-City hold a large share of the city's working families, small businesses, and community services, plus Virginia Avenue Park and close ties to SMC. Investment here tends to lag the coastal side of the city.
// the area today
The Area Today
Households served by community programs
Placeholder — awaiting verified city data
Source: Community Services Department
Park access within a half mile
Placeholder — awaiting verified city data
Source: City planning data
Small business licenses
Placeholder — awaiting verified city data
Source: City business license data
Challenges
- Housing affordability for working families
- Uneven investment compared to the coastal corridor
- Traffic and safety along Pico Boulevard
- Access to services and youth programming
Opportunities
- Direct investment in Virginia Avenue Park programming
- Workforce pathways connected to SMC
- Support for the corridor's independent small businesses
- Safer crossings and transit access on Pico
My perspective
If a city investment plan only shows results west of Lincoln, it isn't a citywide plan. I want spending and outcomes reported by neighborhood so gaps here are impossible to overlook.
Related issues
Ideas connected to this area
Vertical Gardens in Vacant Storefronts
Turn dark windows into living, productive space while the block recovers.
ConceptRecurring Open Street Markets
Low-cost programming that gives residents a reason to show up every week.
ProposalCivic Transparency Dashboard
Make what the city already publishes actually readable.
ConceptAirport Land: A Public Planning Process
227 acres deserve a process residents can actually follow.
ConceptUnderused Space Activation
An inventory of what's empty, and a fast path to putting something in it.
// resident input
What's happening in Pico / Mid-City?
If you spend time in this part of the city, tell me what you're seeing here — the problem, the block, and what would actually help.