C-3 San Diego is dedicated to preserving and improving our region's built and natural environments. Our objective is to influence critical policy, planning, and design through education, empowerment, and advocacy.

Each generation must rise to meet the challenges of the modern era. We believe that resolving racial inequality, expanding our public health infrastructure, and building climate change resilience is critical to ensuring the future of our city, our region, and our planet. How we develop our lands and structure our communities today will have lasting and potentially climacteric impacts. C-3 San Diego is pledging to meet these challenges through the following actions:

• We must contend with the simultaneous crises of climate change, social inequality, racial injustice, and insufficient public health infrastructure. Addressing these complex and unprecedented challenges requires a collaborative, interdisciplinary, and visionary approach. Through our Knowledge Action Networks, we will seek individuals and organizations across disciplines, cultures, and perspectives to form coalitions and identify solutions.  

• We must acknowledge the role of historic planning decisions in creating and perpetuating structures of racism and inequity. We will work to understand the roots of our bias and right the past wrongs that have harmed communities across our region.  

• We aspire to achieve an integrated planning process, which is inclusive of all communities. Through education and sustained support, we will empower citizens to influence the trajectory of their communities with true agency and self-determination.

Temporary Paradise? A Look at the Special Landscape of the San Diego Region, originally printed in 1974, resulted from a grant gifted to the City of San Diego by the Marston family, enlisting the expertise and creativity of two nationally noted planners, Kevin Lynch and Donald Appleyard. Together, Lynch and Appleyard provided a comprehensive, forward-looking, and beautifully illustrated blueprint, by which the San Diego-Tijuana region could grow and prosper while preserving and accentuating its unique and special characteristics.

For over 40 years, Temporary Paradise? has provided guidance to C-3 San Diego in our advocacy and education efforts. In the years since its release, C-3 San Diego has generated two complementary documents to it: most recently, Sustainable Paradise, released on our 50th Anniversary. The message of Temporary Paradise? is just as relevant today as when it was written. 

Temporary Paradise? A Look at the Special Landscape of the San Diego Region by Kevin Lynch and Donald Appleyard, 1974

Toward Permanent Paradise by C-3 San Diego Board of Directors, 1998

Citizens Coordinate and the Battle for City Planning in San Diego by Clare Crane, 2010

Sustainable Paradise by C-3 San Diego Board of Directors, 2011

SUZANNE LAWRENCE

President; Chair - Organizational Development Committee

Consultant

Suzanne is a San Diego native who has spent the last three decades facilitating policy makers, academic institutions, government agencies, and industry leaders in defining and achieving success. Her work has focused on fostering strategic intent, building resource development capacity, cultivating collaborative partnerships, and demystifying organizational dynamics.

JON SCHMID

Vice President; Chair - San Diego Bay Knowledge Action Network

Principal, Cook + Schmid

Jon has more than 25 years of experience in communications, both as a journalist and a public relations and marketing professional. At Cook + Schmid, Jon develops strategic and integrated campaigns for clients that include public agencies, private and public companies, and nonprofits. His prior experience includes more than a decade of work as a professional journalist, where he was twice nominated for the Pulitzer Prize. Jon grew up in San Diego and is board member of the San Diego Maritime Museum and the San Diego Bay Holiday Parade of Lights. Jon earned an M.A. in journalism from the University of Missouri.

KAYLEE DREXEL

Secretary; Chair - Marketing & Membership Committee

Designer, BNIM

Kaylee is a designer at The Miller Hull Partnership. At The Miller Hull Partnership, Kaylee is involved in projects addressing housing in the region as well as sustainability initiatives. She is a southern California native and relocated to San Diego in 2015 to pursue a degree in architecture with a minor in construction and urban design from the NewSchool of Architecture and Design. In addition to her involvement with C-3, she sits on the board for the Balboa Committee of 100 where she chairs the Archives committee.

RYAN KARLSGODT

Treasurer; Chair - Finance Committee

Senior Associate, Strategies 360 

Ryan is a Senior Associate at Strategies 360, a full-service research, public affairs, and communications firm based in the Western United States. He previously worked as a research analyst for UNITE HERE! Local 30, San Diego's hotel workers union. Before moving back home to San Diego in 2017, Ryan spent eight years in national politics and was an appointee in the Obama Administration, where he worked on climate change and international development at USAID.

JORDAN BEANE

Director; Chair - Media Content & Management Committee

Director of Policy and Communications, Regional Task Force on Homelessness

Jordan Beane is the Director of Policy and Communications for the Regional Task Force on Homelessness. Jordan’s role includes developing and implementing a strategic communications plan, elevating RTFH’s visibility and increasing the awareness of RTFH initiatives. Prior to joining RTFH, Jordan served as the Communications Director and Environmental Policy Advisor to a San Diego City Councilmember. He also helped craft policy on some of the Councilmember’s biggest priorities in the environmental space. Before working in the public sector Jordan spent a decade in the NFL as a digital media professional for two different teams, winning three local Emmy awards for his work.

ELIZABETH OCAMPO VIVERO

Director; Chair - Breakfast Dialogues Committee

Principal Planner, RRM Design Group

Elizabeth is the Principal Planner at RRM Design Group, a multidisciplinary design firm. Her experience includes participating in multiple aspects of local planning, focusing on land use, urban design, community outreach, and implementation. Prior to joining M.W. Steele Group, Elizabeth worked as a Senior Planner for the City of San Diego Planning Department and was assigned to various communities in central and south San Diego. Elizabeth is also a board member of the San Diego Chapter of the American Planning Association and is part of its Diversity and Equity Subcommittee.