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. 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 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. The redevelopment proposal is scheduled to be heard before town boards next month. 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.

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News of the deal traveled far and wide, even to the skies where I first read about it in an airline magazine. The public relations industry flourished with the growth of twentieth-century mass media, although sensitivity to public opinion on the part of public figures is nothing new. If you can eat a seventy-two-ounce steak in an hour, you get it free. That doesn't mean the journalists of America are saps. They're just looking for good stories.

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