:The Flash Advancer

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
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, editor Mary Ford wrote, “… thanks
to the developers and
the Hingham Shipyard Historical Foundation, area citizens
who will someday occupy
the shipyard condominiums won’t forget how local
members of what Tom Brokaw
calls “The greatest Generation” made a contribution on that
same piece of
waterfront property that helped turn the tide of war.”

“Redevelopment projects take a substantial commitment of
time and
resources”, says Trendowicz, “and we wanted the
community to know we respected
its history enough to honor it, and make it part of the
distinctive nature of the
project. It was a win-win approach.”

Marty Cohn and Ann Getman are senior level public
relations practitioners and
frequent collaborators, with over 20 years experience each.
They can be reached
at http://www.cohnpr.com
or http://www.getmanpr.com<
/a>

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Things are pleasant for many business, non-profit or
association managers when their public relations people
deliver newspaper and talk show mentions, informative
brochures and videos, and special events that attract a lot
of people.

But things could be much more pleasant for those managers
if their PR teams were to deliver the kind of behavior change
among their key outside audiences that leads directly to
achieving their managerial objectives. And, by so doing,
persuade their most important outside audiences to their
way of thinking, moving those folks to take actions that
help the managers’ department, division or subsidiary succeed.

Put another way, the question managers really face is
this: are you simply looking for publicity, or a way to do
something positive about the behaviors of those external
audiences of yours that MOST affect your organization?

Before you answer that, here are two realities you might
want to keep in mind: 1) the right PR really CAN alter
individual perception and lead to changed behaviors that
help you succeed, and 2), your public relations effort must
involve more than good times, booklets and press releases
if you really want to get your money’s worth.

For example, people really do act on their own perception
of the facts before them, which leads to predictable behaviors
about which something can be done. When we create, change
or reinforce that opinion by reaching, persuading and moving-
to-desired-action the very people whose behaviors affect the
organization the most, the public relations mission is accomplished.

There’s no end to the results that recipe can generate:
prospects starting to work with you; customers making repeat
purchases; stronger relationships with the educational, labor,
financial and healthcare communities; improved relations
with government agencies and legislative bodies, and even
capital givers or specifying sources looking your way

Once this approach takes hold, you could even see results
such as new proposals for strategic alliances and joint
ventures; rebounds in showroom visits; membership
applications on the rise; community service and sponsorship
opportunities; enhanced activist group relations, and
expanded feedback channels, not to mention new
thoughtleader and special event contacts.

That’s a fair amount of results from even a high-impact
blueprint like this one. Which means your PR crew -
agency or staff - must be committed to you, as the senior
project manager, and to your PR blueprint starting with
target audience perception monitoring.

We can agree that it’s crucially important that your most
important outside audiences really perceive your operations,
products or services in a positive light. So assure yourself
that your PR staff buys this approach. And be especially
careful that they accept the reality that perceptions almost
always lead to behaviors that can help or hurt your unit.

Go over the blueprint with the whole PR group, especially
the plan for monitoring and gathering perceptions by
questioning members of your most important outside
audiences. Questions along these lines: how much do you
know about our organization? How much do you know
about our services or products and employees? Have you
had prior contact with us and were you pleased with the
interchange? Have you experienced problems with our
people or procedures?

If there’s enough money in the bank, you can probably
afford professional survey people to handle the
perception monitoring phases of your program. If not,
always remember that your PR people are also in the
perception and behavior business and can pursue the
same objective: identify untruths, false assumptions,
unfounded rumors, inaccuracies, misconceptions and
any other negative perception that might translate into
behaviors you won’t like one little bit.

Now you’ll need a public relations goal, one that speaks
to the aberrations that showed up during your key
audience perception monitoring. In all likelihood, it
will call for straightening out that dangerous
misconception, or correcting that gross inaccuracy, or
doing something about that ugly rumor.

As day follows night, you’ll now need a strategy that
shows you how to reach your new goal. You have three
strategic choices when it comes to handling perception
or opinion challenges: create perception where there may
be none, change the perception, or reinforce it. As always,
a bad strategy pick will taste like flapjack syrup on your
swordfish, so be certain the new strategy fits well with
your new public relations goal. For example, you don’t
want to select “change” when the facts dictate a
“reinforce” strategy.

As you might expect, persuading an audience to your way
of thinking is just plain hard work, so your PR team must
come up with some darn effective language. Words that
correct the original aberation and, at the same time, are
compelling, persuasive and believable AND clear and
factual. You have little choice if you are to correct a
perception by attracting opinion to your point of view,
leading to the desired behaviors.

Working with your communications specialists, review your
final draft message for impact and persuasiveness. Only then
can you select the communications tactics most likely to
carry your words to the attention of your target audience.
You can pick from dozens that are available. From speeches,
facility tours, emails and brochures to consumer briefings,
media interviews, newsletters, personal meetings and many
others. But be sure that the tactics you pick are known to
reach folks just like your audience members.

Occasionally, the credibility of a message can depend
on how it’s delivered. So, on the chance that may be true,
you might want to introduce it to smaller groups rather
than using higher-profile tactics such as news releases
or talk show appearances.

Calls for a progress report will prompt you and your PR
folks to consider returning to the field for a second
perception monitoring session with members of your
external audience. Using many of the same questions used
in the first benchmark session, you’ll now be alert for
signs that the bad news perception is being altered in your
direction.

If you feel the need to move things along at a faster clip,
you can always accelerate the effort with more
communications tactics and increased frequencies.

Truth is, “happy times are always here again” for the
manager who achieves the kind of key stakeholder
behavior change that leads directly to achieving his or
her department, division or subsidiary objectives.

Please feel free to publish this article and resource box
in your ezine, newsletter, offline publication or website.
A copy would be appreciated at bobkelly@TNI.net.

Robert A. Kelly © 2005.

Bob Kelly counsels, writes and speaks to business, non-profit and
association managers about using the fundamental premise of public
relations to achieve their operating objectives. He has been DPR,
Pepsi-Cola Co.; AGM-PR, Texaco Inc.; VP-PR, Olin Corp.; VP-PR,
Newport News Shipbuilding & Drydock Co.; director of communi-
cations, U.S. Department of the Interior, and deputy assistant press
secretary, The White House. He holds a bachelor of science degree
from Columbia University, major in public relations.

Visit: http://www.prcommentary.com; bobkelly@TNI.net

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Bald is beautiful, so the saying goes. If I only had combable hair, then I would use a hair dryer to dry and style it. Those days are long past, but hair grooming products still find a place in our home amongst our less follicle-challenged family members. The Conair SD4B Styler Dryer 1875 Watt Hair Brush is the unit of choice in our household; let’s examine why this product is a winner.

In day’s past, you bought a handheld hair dryer that came with only one attachment: a narrow area concentrator. Today, most dryers [including this particular Conair model] come with the concentrator, a nylon bristle thermal brush attachment, a detangling comb attachment, and a styling comb attachment. Forget simply blow drying your hair, today we demand style, style, style.

Among the unit’s main features are its 3 position switch (high/low/off) conveniently located on the inside of the handle; a cool shot button for style; and dual voltage capabilities. Conair gives the unit its typical one year limited warranty which is sufficient if you tend to replace your hair dryer every few years.

This styler dryer model is marketed by Conair as being perfect for men and women with short hair. I have personally observed that drying time is very quick; then again no family member of mine has long hair. An even more powerful unit would more than likely be needed for anyone with thick or long hair.

One complaint of consumers regarding many hair dryers are the plastic attachments as they tend to break before the unit burns out. Since attachments cost $3-4 each and the hair dryer retails for about $20. you will probably opt to replace the unit altogether when the attachments are no longer usable.

This Conair model is relatively quiet compared to other models out there. For this reason alone I give the unit very high marks.

Product reviews are only one of the many different topics covered by Matt Keegan, The Article Writer. For samples of some of his other works please visit http://www.thearticlewriter.com today.

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Copper is used in making pipes because it is non-toxic and resistant to corrosion. Copper is so widely used in the pipe industry that for the last 75 years, our water has traveled through a copper pipes. Every year, about a billion feet of copper pipes are installed throughout the United States. Add up the lengths of all the copper pipes ever installed in this country since 1963, and you’ll get more than five million miles.

Why copper?

Some modern plumbing systems now use plastic, but copper pipes are still widely used for most water feeds and central heating pipe work. Copper is still the preferred piping material in the piping industry because of its exclusive properties.

For one, copper is comparatively safer than lead - it is nontoxic and does not harm water. Unlike iron, copper is also very resistant to rust. Aside from this, copper is fairly malleable and easier to transform.

Copper pipe sizes

The size of copper pipes depends on its use. Micro-bore central heating systems usually use 8 and 10 mm copper pipes. Bigger copper pipes (about 12 and 15 mm) are normally used for connecting to separate taps, appliances and other similar uses. Even bigger copper pipes (22, 28 and 35 mm) are used for projects that require long runs - ones that 15 mm copper pipes cannot handle without dropping pressure.

Copper pipes are available in a range of lengths. Bigger trade outlets usually sell copper pipes of three to four meter lengths, but smaller hardware stores and do-it-yourself shops carry copper pipe lengths as short as one and a half to two meters.

Some notes about copper pipe sizes

Some countries (such as the United Kingdom) use the ‘imperial’ sizing system, meaning, the inner diameter of the pipe is measured. In the United States, copper pipes are measured based on their outer diameter. As a general rule, a 0.5 inch copper pipe (measured using the imperial system) is the same as the 15mm copper pipe measured using the metric system).

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One of the latest technological toys on the market is DVD camcorders. DVD camcorders are unique devices that allow you to record video directly to a disk that you can put in your DVD player to watch, or put in your PC to edit. While this sounds really nifty, what you will discover when you read most DVD camcorder reviews that have been written by techies, is that the DVD camcorder is far from perfect.

Although the new DVD camcorder models are close to achieving the same level of picture quality as the MiniDV, they aren’t quite there yet. That being said, DVD camcorders shouldn’t be overlooked if owning one truly interests you. The reason is because there are some exceptional models on the market that may be worth your while if you wish to obtain this technology.

One of the better models out there is the Sony DCR-DVD403. In fact, according to some DVD camcorder reviews, this particular model is considered to be one of the most advanced DVD camcorders to date. It is celebrated for capturing wonderful stills and impressive video. That being said, when compared to the top-of-the-line MiniDV’s out there, it still can’t match their superior picture quality. Furthermore, this DVD camcorder uses an MPEG2 compression, which is considered to be worse than the compression methods used by the MiniDV.

In other words, the problem with many DVD camcorders, aside from their expensive price tag, is that their heavy compression causes images to lose quality. Basically, the image that comes through the lens and on to the sensor of the DVD camcorder is exceptional, but it loses its quality as soon as it is compressed down into DVD format. This is currently the problem that DVD camcorder manufacturers need to overcome.

Something else that needs to be taken into account when considering DVD camcorders is DVD disk technology. DVD disks are endowed with a technology known as “transparency”. This type of technology allows the user to record video you can instantly play, edit, and share with no strings attached. While the technology does exist it still hasn’t been totally perfected.

Another aspect that you need to consider about DVD camcorders is that most of the disks you use will need to be finalized in order for your DVD player to be able to read them. DVD camcorders come with the feature to finalize the disk so you shouldn’t have a problem with this procedure.

As far as DVD disks are concerned there are different ones that you can use. For instance, there are DVD+R, DVD-R, DVD+RW and DVD-RAM disks. DVD-R and DVD+R hold approximately 30 minutes of video, as does DVD+RW. However, the major difference between DVD+RW and DVD -R and +R is that a DVD+RW is a re-writable disk, which means that it can be recorded over and used more than once. These disks do not need to be finalized. A DVD-RAM disk, on the other hand, can hold more video than the others, and produces slightly better images. However, the images on the disk need to first be transferred to a PC, as most DVD players can not play the format of this disk.

Finally, if you are really interested in getting a DVD camcorder, you should check out plenty of DVD camcorder reviews about the camcorder you are interested in buying before you make any final decisions. Find out whether or not purchasing a DVD camcorder is worth your while, or if you should just stick to the MiniDV.

Mark Sturge is the owner of KMS Productions and webmaster at kmsvideo.com. A site where visitors can find digital camcorder reviews such as the Sony DVD range as well as useful hints and tips to better their filming techniques.

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If you have been looking for ways to increase traffic to your
sites, you’ve probably heard the expression SEO (Search Engine
Optimization) so many times by now that you are starting to get
a little sick hearing about it. That are a lot of sick people
out there because anybody with a web presence of any sort needs
traffic.

So is there another way to generate loads of traffic without
being involved in any SEO? Actually there is. And what’s more,
this other method will give you much more targeted traffic.

Despite the fact that blogs are the ultimate SEO tool and
weapon, the same blogs can be used for very effective non-SEO
traffic generation. Actually there are quite a number of
businesses doing very well generating tons of traffic using
non-SEO methods.

Why Interest in Non-SEO Traffic Generation Is Growing

The SEO game has gotten extremely complicated even as the stakes
have risen to dizzying heights. On one side of the divide we
have search engines involved in an increasingly fierce contest
for supremacy. To win this contest they have to ensure that
their search results are as accurate and useful as possible to
users.

On the opposite corner are millions of people with a web
presence who want their sites to rank as high as possible at all
costs so that they can receive the sort of traffic that will
make them highly profitable or successful in whatever they are
doing. Most do not really care how accurate or useful searches
using search engines are. All that matters to them is high
ranking and therefore high traffic at all costs. Thus they are
constantly devising all sorts of methods to get their sites
ranked highlky. Even as search engines are devising all sorts of
methods to keep search engine results as accurate and useful as
possible.

This collision course is the main cause of grief for many
webmasters who frequently face a nightmare of colossal
proportions. Imagine waking up in the morning and finding that
all your traffic has been wiped out simply because some new rule
introduced by a search engine knocked you clean off your high
ranking perch, literally overnight. A position that cost you
dearly both in terms of dollars and time spent working on your
SEO.

Little wonder that more and more webmasters and site owners are
embracing non-SEO traffic generation options. Actually a vast
majority is combining both SEO and non-SEO methods to limit the
chances of having all their valuable targeted traffic wiped out
overnight.

Non SEO Blog Magic

There are actually several non-SEO ways a blog can generate tons
of regular traffic for you. However the most effective is
related to the use of opt-in email lists.

An opt-in email list is an email list created from visitors to a
site who ask to receive regular emails and updates on a
particular subject that is close to their hearts but also
closely related to the site. An opt-in email list is more
valuable than gold. It is a list of targeted visitors to your
site, prepared to receive regular email from you telling them
about new developments at the site, so that they can re-visit
often. You can also tell them about products and services
related to their interests. There are people who earn a pretty
good living doing just this. They usually end up selling
hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of product from a single
simple email to a list of a few thousand.

A blog is one of the most effective ways of creating an opt-in
email list quickly. One of the reasons for this is that blogs
usually receive lots of visitors. Obviously not all visitors
will sign up to be on your opt-in email list, but the more
visitors you receive, the quicker you’ll be able to build your
opt-in email list, even if just a tiny fraction end up on your
opt-in email list. An opt-in email list is many times more
effective in generating tons of regular traffic, including
regular repeat visits than SEO is. No search engine ranking can
compete with opt-in email lists. To start with lists will
usually be a lot more targeted than the masses of traffic
received from search engines. So how do you create an opt-in
email list quickly and how do you use it to generate traffic?

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