Live from AIWA: Board Member Dennis Barbour on Collaboration and the Way to Win-Win

October 4, 2020

A history of public service & the value of collaboration

Coverage of the AIWA 20th Annual Meeting continues from Savannah with Peter and Tyler speaking to Dennis Barbour, a coastal and marine legend in North Carolina. Dennis is a board member of AIWA and so much more.  Over his 50 plus years on the Carolina coast, Dennis has served as the Mayor of Carolina Beach, Chairman of the Hanover County Port, Waterway, and Beach Commission, and is currently a board member of the North Carolina Beach, Inlet and Waterways Association.  He is also the proud owner of the Island Marina and Island True Value Tackle and Hardware. Let's say Dennis has been there and done that.  We discuss his thoughts on being the mayor of a beach town, his thoughts on the state of the AIWW, how to collaborate and make the system work, and what inspires him on the water. Always great to talk to the wise folks on the American shoreline. Insight and intelligence for Thriving Shorelines? Yes indeed.

Show Transcription
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Peter Ravella & Tyler Buckingham

Peter and Tyler joined forces in 2015 and from the first meeting began discussing a project that would become Coastal News Today and the American Shoreline Podcast Network. At the time, Peter and Tyler were coastal consultants for Pete’s firm, PAR Consulting, LLC. In that role, they worked with coastal communities in Texas, Florida, and North Carolina, engaged in grant writing, coastal project development, shoreline erosion and land use planning, permitting, and financial planning for communities undertaking big beach restoration projects. Between and among their consulting tasks, they kept talking and kept building the idea of CNT & ASPN. In almost every arena they worked, public engagement played a central role. They spent thousands of hours talking with coastal stakeholders, like business owners, hotel operators, condo managers, watermen, property owners, enviros, surfers, and fishermen. They dived deep into the value, meaning, and responsibility for the American shoreline, segment-by-segment. Common threads emerged, themes were revealed, differences uncovered. There was a big conversation going on along the American shoreline! But, no place to have it. That's where CNT and ASPN were born.