Tripepi Smith Assists the City of Pico Rivera with Communications for the Whittier Dam Project
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) has begun construction preparation for the Whittier Narrows Dam Safety Modification Project. Over the years, the dam has become structurally unsafe and at-risk of failing in the event of a severe storm. The project is an urgent effort to protect the safety of millions of people living within 25 cities in the region that could be impacted should the dam fail. To avoid potential catastrophic loss of life, property damage and major economic and environmental consequences, the repairs to the dam have been prioritized and fast-tracked by the federal government.
While the infrastructure project is necessary to maintain the health and welfare of millions of people, it will inevitably cause adverse impacts on all of Pico Rivera’s residents. In addition to the expected inconveniences of noise, vibration and dust for those who live nearby, the City will lose over 60% of its recreational space. The Pico Rivera Golf Club, Streamland Park, Bicentennial Park and the Pico Rivera Sports Arena will be closed indefinitely. However, the City is coordinating with the USACE to explore opportunities for the City to reopen Bicentennial Park and the Pico Rivera Sports Arena area and lease some of the remaining federal land for resident use after the completion of the project, as well as additional recreation options with Los Angeles County. The City has also benefitted from recent substantial grant funds to make major park improvements.
“The Whittier Narrows Dam Safety Modification Project is led and driven by the United States Army Corps of Engineers,” said Javier Hernandez, Assistant to the City Manager. “Even though this is not a city project, we believe it is important to keep Pico Rivera residents informed about the project’s benefits, progress, and the impacts on the community. The City appreciates Tripepi Smith’s assistance with community outreach and communications efforts. The firm has been highly responsive and offered excellent insights and expertise just as their assistance was needed.”
This project involved several components, such as
- Designing a project logo to raise awareness of the overall project
- Launching a project website, which involved creating content, graphics and built-in surveys
- Designing outdoor banners to hang in parks and recreation areas, fact sheets that focused on different areas of the project, a general project leaflet and a dam failure scenarios sheet
- Assisting with video production through script and storyboard development
- Creating a series of social media posts and an e-newsletter template to provide the community with project updates
- Completing a metrics report to track how the website, social media posts and email campaigns were performing after being launched
In addition to the action items outlined above, Team TS also arranged a presentation to Gateway cities City Managers and assisted with staff report language for a council update. The team also developed press releases and assisted with preliminary community event planning.
Senior Business Analyst Emily Mason led the effort with support from Business Analyst Sara Madsen who designed the website and was involved in various graphic design work, Senior Business Analyst Melanie James who assisted with graphic design, Business Analyst Karen Villaseñor and Junior Business Analyst Danielle Rodriguez who worked together on content creation, and Director Michael Egan who arranged the Gateway Cities City Manager presentation.
“This project involved a lot of moving pieces and required dispatching several Tripepi Smith teammebers,” said Danielle. “I am proud of all of the work we were able to accomplish, and it was a pleasure assisting the City of Pico Rivera with their communications about the dam renovations. I look forward to the potential opportunity to do additional work related to the Whittier Narrows Dam as well as assisting the City with other projects in the future.”Repairs to the dam are expected to be completed in 2026. To learn more about the project, visit https://wndamproject.org/
About the City of Pico Rivera
Pico Rivera is a thriving community that offers opportunities to all who live, work and relax in the City. Situated on the eastern edge of the Los Angeles basin and the southern edge of the area known as the San Gabriel Valley. Our vision and values are to safeguard the public’s trust through open and transparent business practices that consistently maintain our credibility of strong ethical stewardship of all resources. We strive to provide responsive and consistent customer service to the community and our employees, whom we trust to always own the problem and solution to all our business challenges.
About Tripepi Smith
Tripepi Smith is a California-based marketing, technology and public affairs firm that serves for-profit, nonprofit and public agencies. Its unique mix of marketing and technology prowess provides a competitive advantage to agencies seeking to leverage the internet to achieve their communication goals. The firm provides full content creation services, including: ghost writing, collateral development, photography, video production, search engine marketing, search engine optimization, email marketing campaigns and website design and execution. Tripepi Smith clients include: City of American Canyon, City of Culver City, City of Cupertino, City of Daly City, City of Duarte, City of Grover Beach, City of Santa Paula, City of Indian Wells, City of La Cañada Flintridge, City of Lake Forest, City of Livermore, City of Napa, City of Paramount, City of Martinez, City of Tracy, City of Vallejo, CalChoice Energy Authority, California Joint Powers Insurance Authority, Santa Clarita Valley Water Agency, Santa Clara County Fire Department, Costa Mesa Sanitary District, Rowland Water District, California Contract Cities Association, California City Management Foundation, Renne Public Law Group, Bob Hall & Associates, West Coast Arborists and Climatec.