Who is behind Grow the San Diego Way?

Grow the San Diego Way is a coalition of dedicated researchers, communications professionals, economists, urban planners and policy wonks who are interested in ensuring that the dialogue about housing and land use not be coopted by special interests but instead focused on the public benefit–the benefit of all San Diegans. It was started by JP Theberge, who has spent the past two decades studying, measuring and analyzing consumer behavior on behalf of Fortune 500 brands.  His company, Cultural Edge Consulting, is a market insights, research and strategy company that provides analytics and guidance across numerous categories from the beer industry to insurance to automotive to packaged goods and even in the manufacturing and construction products industries, among other categories.  He is very comfortable around data and has a passion for digging deeper into the topics of the day.

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As a member and Chair of the Elfin Forest / Harmony Grove Town Council, he has been steeped in the land use discussions taking place in San Diego County for almost a decade. In that time, he has met with many levels of County staff (including senior leadership in the Land Use and Environment Group and County Fire Authority), senior SANDAG management and as well as numerous developers and, of course constituents in his area and felt there was a need to educate and inform the wider community about this important issue to ensure that the narrative on housing in San Diego leads to a productive solution not driven by conflicting interests, but by a shared goal of providing housing for all in a way that is consistent with our values as a region.  

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He has worked closely with San Diegans for Managed Growth, a group who is working on getting an initiative on the November ballot (Save our San Diego Countryside) that is intended to encourage developers and decision-makers to follow the principles of sound planning and the consensus driven General Plan of San Diego County.

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He was also the campaign manager for Jacqueline Arsivaud for Board of Supervisors, a virtually unknown smart growth candidate without any party endorsements who managed to receive over 16,000 votes after campaigning for only 2 months. The campaign greatly increased the dialogue on land use in the public conversation and helped put Grow the San Diego Way on the map. Jacqueline is a collaborator of Grow the San Diego Way.