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  • Add You - Building Community Support for Project Permitting, Construction, and Marketing

    Nursing Uniforms - Move Over Whites
    A few decades ago, nurses across the country and around the world wore uniforms. Typically, these professionals were noted for their solid white dresses, starched white caps and white uniform shoes. And all nurses conformed. Whether it was the country nurse who made rounds with the doctor or the nurse in the largest city hospitals, white was the recognized color and there were few variations in the style of clothing.Those days are gone. For nurses and those who use their services, there are two words to be said - Good riddance. But what caused the change and what are the new options?The change may have been a simple matter of fashion making its way into the industry, but there were probably some general mindsets about health care that also played a role. Over the past few years, it's come to be accepted that the attitudes of those who are sick, their families and their caregivers play a role in the potential for recovery. Sick people simply don't need to be reminded that they're sick. There's no need for the white color or the "swishing" professionalism of the starched uniforms. to a format suitable for airing on WGBH, which accepted it not only for broadcast but for repeat showing during pledge weeks, and for use, by the Social Studies Department of Hingham Schools. It was shown for the first time at a community gala at the shipyard's main building, and was attended by some 500 local Hingham residents, including town and regional officials. Throughout the process, the video and the Sea Chain plan were covered consistently, favorably and from a variety of perspectives by local daily and weekly papers, reinforcing a groundswell of community support.

    Positive Media Coverage Sustained

    Throughout the process, the local media, especially daily and weekly papers, were invited to meet with the developers, advisers and featured residents, to learn more about the shipyard's history and the redevelopment project. Outreach resulted in

    Why Living?
    I think that Barbara Eherenreich depicted a realistic portrait of America’s lower class. She points out the differences between the working class and wealthy people. The differences that are shocking, yet they are so true."Welfare reform."-This is how it all began. The disturbing investigation of how people, women mainly, survive off wages as low as six or seven dollars an hour. Eherenreich was assigned the task of going into the workforce and experiencing, first hand, what poverty was really like. This is where my skepticism began. I never thought she could do it. I almost laughed to myself. "Survival of the fittest", I began to think-- They would feed her to the dogs and she would be eaten alive within a week. Her strength and determination soon demonstrated to me just how wrong I was about her, as it did her. I believe she did not think she would make it either, although in her perception she had indeed failed. Determination, however, goes a long way. When you are forced into a certain way of life, I guess you just have to accept it and adapt to it.Applying for a hou
    Redevelopment is replacing new construction throughout the Greater Boston area, as construction costs climb and the commercial/retail vacancy rate reaches new (and alarming) levels.

    Redevelopment of highly visible, publicly owned or historic properties~ such as shipyards, air bases, and historic mills ~ involves all the usual steps of Federal and State permitting and approvals, and the additional layer of permitting involving historic, archeological and cultural review and approvals.

    At every one of these steps, community or political opposition can bog a project down, and that means lost time, lost revenues, and significant expenses while people and equipment sit idle, as developers go back to the designers, planners, and lawyers for revisions. Just as important is the potential negative public relations impact on development plans: once opposition becomes vocal and reaches the media, it can spread like wildfire, creating additional challenges and expenses for the developer.

    Redevelopment projects can displace people and create opposition, and develop a negative momentum that's hard to turn around. But, with longer-term planning and community involvement, redevelopment can help communities feel a sense of investment, involvement and continuity by engaging the community in celebrating its past to build its future.

    Engaging the Community Proactively

    The Hingham Shipyard project developed by Paul Trendowicz, President of Sea Chain, Inc. is a case in point of positively and proactively engaging the community around redevelopment. The former Bethlehem Steel Shipyard was built in 1942 to support the war effort. The shipyard produced 277 ships, and employed 30,000 people. It was closed in 1986, and bought in 1997 by Sea Chain, Inc., as the site for a $250 million redevelopment project for mixed use; high end condominium residential units, some affordable housing, and 200,000 square feet of retail and commercial space.

    Public relations and community relations were part of Sea Chain's strategy from the beginning, to win community support for the project throughout the planning, construction and marketing phases. The development was to be called Hingham Shipyard and the history of the place and its community would be part of its cachet.

    As part of the community relations project, public relations counsel The Cohn Group proposed the creation of a foundation on site to preserve the history of the Hingham Shipyard and integrate it into the community's awareness of the project as it progressed. Sea Chain helped create and fund the Hingham Shipyard Historical Foundation, a nonprofit organization that would acquire and make available historic and archival information and memorabilia.

    The Foundation in turn funded the lynchpin of the community relations program: creation of a thirty minute, broadcast quality video, in which the people who had worked in the shipyard told its story through their own recollections of the war years and the shipyard's contribution to a growing community.

    An advisory group of prominent local citizens was created, and helped to identify the individuals, stories, archives, and private and public archives of mementos from the shipyard's peak production years of building ships.

    The video includes historic news footage, photographs and interviews with employees who stayed on in Hingham and built their families after the war.

    The video, “Remembering Hingham Shipyard,” was edited to a format suitable for airing on WGBH, which accepted it not only for broadcast but for repeat showing during pledge weeks, and for use, by the Social Studies Department of Hingham Schools. It was shown for the first time at a community gala at the shipyard's main building, and was attended by some 500 local Hingham residents, including town and regional officials. Throughout the process, the video and the Sea Chain plan were covered consistently, favorably and from a variety of perspectives by local daily and weekly papers, reinforcing a groundswell of community support.

    Positive Media Coverage Sustained

    Throughout the process, the local media, especially daily and weekly papers, were invited to meet with the developers, advisers and featured residents, to learn more about the shipyard's history and the redevelopment project. Outreach resulted in a

    Pricing Strategy for Retail Flower Shops
    When you create your profit and loss statement to assess the health of your business, you will see:Sales minus Cost of Goods Sold equals Gross Profit.You pay for all of your expenses with the gross profit. If you are finding that your gross profit is not enough to cover your expenses, you have two options, you can either raise gross profit by increasing sales or lowering cost of goods sold, or you can lower your expenses. Certainly, that's an over simplification, the art of business management is in the hundreds of nuances held within those two options. For this article, let's assume that your expenses have been carefully streamlined and that you are doing due-diligence in your purchasing habits. Therefore, let's investigate the pricing end of the equation.How you set your prices may be one of the most important management decisions you make as an owner or manager of a retail flower shop. A tremendous amount of work goes in to running a flower shop, wouldn't it be a shame to under price your products and not be able to make ends meet? On the other hand, over pricing an
    vocal and reaches the media, it can spread like wildfire, creating additional challenges and expenses for the developer.

    Redevelopment projects can displace people and create opposition, and develop a negative momentum that's hard to turn around. But, with longer-term planning and community involvement, redevelopment can help communities feel a sense of investment, involvement and continuity by engaging the community in celebrating its past to build its future.

    Engaging the Community Proactively

    The Hingham Shipyard project developed by Paul Trendowicz, President of Sea Chain, Inc. is a case in point of positively and proactively engaging the community around redevelopment. The former Bethlehem Steel Shipyard was built in 1942 to support the war effort. The shipyard produced 277 ships, and employed 30,000 people. It was closed in 1986, and bought in 1997 by Sea Chain, Inc., as the site for a $250 million redevelopment project for mixed use; high end condominium residential units, some affordable housing, and 200,000 square feet of retail and commercial space.

    Public relations and community relations were part of Sea Chain's strategy from the beginning, to win community support for the project throughout the planning, construction and marketing phases. The development was to be called Hingham Shipyard and the history of the place and its community would be part of its cachet.

    As part of the community relations project, public relations counsel The Cohn Group proposed the creation of a foundation on site to preserve the history of the Hingham Shipyard and integrate it into the community's awareness of the project as it progressed. Sea Chain helped create and fund the Hingham Shipyard Historical Foundation, a nonprofit organization that would acquire and make available historic and archival information and memorabilia.

    The Foundation in turn funded the lynchpin of the community relations program: creation of a thirty minute, broadcast quality video, in which the people who had worked in the shipyard told its story through their own recollections of the war years and the shipyard's contribution to a growing community.

    An advisory group of prominent local citizens was created, and helped to identify the individuals, stories, archives, and private and public archives of mementos from the shipyard's peak production years of building ships.

    The video includes historic news footage, photographs and interviews with employees who stayed on in Hingham and built their families after the war.

    The video, “Remembering Hingham Shipyard,” was edited to a format suitable for airing on WGBH, which accepted it not only for broadcast but for repeat showing during pledge weeks, and for use, by the Social Studies Department of Hingham Schools. It was shown for the first time at a community gala at the shipyard's main building, and was attended by some 500 local Hingham residents, including town and regional officials. Throughout the process, the video and the Sea Chain plan were covered consistently, favorably and from a variety of perspectives by local daily and weekly papers, reinforcing a groundswell of community support.

    Positive Media Coverage Sustained

    Throughout the process, the local media, especially daily and weekly papers, were invited to meet with the developers, advisers and featured residents, to learn more about the shipyard's history and the redevelopment project. Outreach resulted in

    The Language is English
    The language is English and the French are upset.In October of this year a winning logo to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Treaty Of Rome (The Birth of the European Union) was designed by a Polish artist and appears officially in English and the French are upset because the official version appears in English. You can get all the other EU of the logo also.The French and the English have been squabbling for centuries (a polite euphemism for fighting each other) ever since William the Conqueror came from France and helped himself to England and subsequently the English went back and took large parts of France. Now Mme Royal the Socialist contender for leadership of France says that the UK must choose between the EU and the US to ally itself with. Since the US rescued us both in World War 2, this does all seem very silly and regrettable.We have some really serious and tragic issues that we all must deal with on a global basis and countries with basically the same educational background and values simply cannot go on bickering between themselves. We should address tho
    in 1997 by Sea Chain, Inc., as the site for a $250 million redevelopment project for mixed use; high end condominium residential units, some affordable housing, and 200,000 square feet of retail and commercial space.

    Public relations and community relations were part of Sea Chain's strategy from the beginning, to win community support for the project throughout the planning, construction and marketing phases. The development was to be called Hingham Shipyard and the history of the place and its community would be part of its cachet.

    As part of the community relations project, public relations counsel The Cohn Group proposed the creation of a foundation on site to preserve the history of the Hingham Shipyard and integrate it into the community's awareness of the project as it progressed. Sea Chain helped create and fund the Hingham Shipyard Historical Foundation, a nonprofit organization that would acquire and make available historic and archival information and memorabilia.

    The Foundation in turn funded the lynchpin of the community relations program: creation of a thirty minute, broadcast quality video, in which the people who had worked in the shipyard told its story through their own recollections of the war years and the shipyard's contribution to a growing community.

    An advisory group of prominent local citizens was created, and helped to identify the individuals, stories, archives, and private and public archives of mementos from the shipyard's peak production years of building ships.

    The video includes historic news footage, photographs and interviews with employees who stayed on in Hingham and built their families after the war.

    The video, “Remembering Hingham Shipyard,” was edited to a format suitable for airing on WGBH, which accepted it not only for broadcast but for repeat showing during pledge weeks, and for use, by the Social Studies Department of Hingham Schools. It was shown for the first time at a community gala at the shipyard's main building, and was attended by some 500 local Hingham residents, including town and regional officials. Throughout the process, the video and the Sea Chain plan were covered consistently, favorably and from a variety of perspectives by local daily and weekly papers, reinforcing a groundswell of community support.

    Positive Media Coverage Sustained

    Throughout the process, the local media, especially daily and weekly papers, were invited to meet with the developers, advisers and featured residents, to learn more about the shipyard's history and the redevelopment project. Outreach resulted in

    E-mail Sabotage: Killing the Brand Softly
    Stop and think before you delete! If you don’t, you risk killing your brand and ultimately your business. In today’s marketplace, ignoring the e-mail inbox could shorten your business lifespan by killing your brand image.Think about it: Would you intentionally ignore your clients and send messages saying you don’t care about them or their business? That is exactly what you do when you ignore e-mail or respond slowly or inaccurately.Brand image is built from the inside out. Every communication that takes place between a company and a client, potential client, vender, consultant and even competitor results in a positive or a negative brand impression. And when those impressions are added together, they make up brand image.As consultants, our brand images are our lifeblood. They must reflect near perfection, if we expect businesses to trust our expertise and to want our advice and recommendations. Furthermore, we need to ensure that our clients’ understand the dangers of messy e-mail communications, both inbound and outbound.A recent survey of the retail industry tells t
    l Foundation, a nonprofit organization that would acquire and make available historic and archival information and memorabilia.

    The Foundation in turn funded the lynchpin of the community relations program: creation of a thirty minute, broadcast quality video, in which the people who had worked in the shipyard told its story through their own recollections of the war years and the shipyard's contribution to a growing community.

    An advisory group of prominent local citizens was created, and helped to identify the individuals, stories, archives, and private and public archives of mementos from the shipyard's peak production years of building ships.

    The video includes historic news footage, photographs and interviews with employees who stayed on in Hingham and built their families after the war.

    The video, “Remembering Hingham Shipyard,” was edited to a format suitable for airing on WGBH, which accepted it not only for broadcast but for repeat showing during pledge weeks, and for use, by the Social Studies Department of Hingham Schools. It was shown for the first time at a community gala at the shipyard's main building, and was attended by some 500 local Hingham residents, including town and regional officials. Throughout the process, the video and the Sea Chain plan were covered consistently, favorably and from a variety of perspectives by local daily and weekly papers, reinforcing a groundswell of community support.

    Positive Media Coverage Sustained

    Throughout the process, the local media, especially daily and weekly papers, were invited to meet with the developers, advisers and featured residents, to learn more about the shipyard's history and the redevelopment project. Outreach resulted in

    Connecting in Life and in Business - Are you Connecting?
    The Principle of Connecting: Most of us want to know how to connect better with others in relationships of every kind, including business relationships. We often feel the desire to connect, but sadly realize that our attempts have not truly been successful. However, we can all experience consistently satisfying connections when we understand the hidden dynamics by which they are ruled. Connecting occurs when one is simultaneously intra-connected and inter-connected. Intra-connection is the connection of one to oneself. Inter-connection is the connection of with others. These must occur at the same time, although the intra-connection is the foundation of inter-connection, and must be cultivated in order for connection to really take place. Imagine that our attempts to connect with others are like an iceberg. The tip of the iceberg represents what we say. The foundation of the iceberg, the base that holds the tip above the surface of the ocean, is how we feel when we say what we say. The feeling beneath the words provides an emotional current that gets infused wi
    to a format suitable for airing on WGBH, which accepted it not only for broadcast but for repeat showing during pledge weeks, and for use, by the Social Studies Department of Hingham Schools. It was shown for the first time at a community gala at the shipyard's main building, and was attended by some 500 local Hingham residents, including town and regional officials. Throughout the process, the video and the Sea Chain plan were covered consistently, favorably and from a variety of perspectives by local daily and weekly papers, reinforcing a groundswell of community support.

    Positive Media Coverage Sustained

    Throughout the process, the local media, especially daily and weekly papers, were invited to meet with the developers, advisers and featured residents, to learn more about the shipyard's history and the redevelopment project. Outreach resulted in a steady drumbeat of positive coverage, as individual storylines created multiple opportunities for news and feature articles. Most articles and editorials mentioned Sea Chain and credited it for underwriting the Foundation and the video, praising the developer's commitment to the community.

    In March 2001, The Patriot Ledger's Carrie Levine wrote, “If all goes according to plan, the Hingham shipyard will soon resemble an upscale shopping center rather than a former military installation. But those nostalgic for the shipyard's glory days- when workers built destroyers during WWII- are in for a treat … Sea Chain, which plans to develop the site with condominiums and thousands of feet of retail space, funded the video, and has said they plan to include a historical center in the new plans. The redevelopment proposal is scheduled to be heard before town boards next month.”

    James Kirkcaldy, Director, K-12 Hingham Social Studies Department, wrote that “The Hingham Shipyard Project is a great teaching tool… a lasting legacy… and a unique example of a redevelopment project with care and patriotic spirit making a difference in a community's identity.”

    Ultimately, the Planning Board's approval of the plan cited the video and the foundation as a major influence in approving the permits throughout the pr ocess, as evidenced by commentary of many local leaders in the community, the conservation commission, the Planning Board itself, and the Zoning Board of Appeals.

    Lessons Learned

    Even though the developer and the Planning Board did not agree on all requests, a positive and mutually respectful relationship continues. Sea Chain's Paul Trendowicz told The Hingham Journal, "The (Board's) contributions have resulted in numerous improvements to the redevelopment plan for the shipyard. The board's attention to design and legal issues and to defense of community values should be appreciated by the town, as they are by Sea Chain and its consultants."

    Community relations that acknowledge the importance of the history of a place and how its community connects to it can greatly improve the chances of a smooth development and permitting process, as the Hingham Shipyard did in several specific ways:

    • The early development of a foundation to anchor the program as a nonprofit project established credibility and public interest

    • Building a community advisory board brought in respected community opinion leaders as a source of ideas, and these early adopters became constructive critics and champions of the overall project.

    • Engaging the community in telling its story created a deep investment throughout the community in seeing the project through, and appreciation for the Foundation that would preserve its history and their stories for future generation.

    • Sea Chain built up a reserve of good will by proving itself a good corporate neighbor, and learned in the process what problems would arise, and what compromises would be workable for all concerned.

    • The permitting process was completed in a smooth process and in good time, with the constant interest and support of local papers and people.

    Sea Chain has created a cachet about the Hingham Shipyard which will give it prestige and interest in the marketing phase: it's a property people will be glad to own and lease, in part, because of its intelligent use of history in creating a new future for the community.

    In The Hingham Journal, edi

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