06222005-1 - Buffalo Niagara Partnership

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Last Chance to Save the Niagara Falls Airbase

By now you know that the Niagara Air Reserve Station is on the Pentagon's list of bases to be shut down. If this happens, our region will lose about one thousand jobs and the $150 million in economic activity that the base creates annually.

We have one major opportunity for the community at-large to save the base, and that happens on Monday, June 27th when the BRAC Commission - the defense experts who can overrule the Pentagon's closure recommendation - hold a public hearing at the U.B. Center for the Performing Arts on the Amherst Campus.

Thus, the Partnership is asking all our members to consider attending and/or sending some of your employees to rally at that hearing, beginning at 11 a.m. We need to show the BRAC Commission that this community wants to keep its airbase. Similar BRAC hearings in other communities have attracted thousands of concerned citizens. Buffalo Niagara cannot afford to come up short.

We recognize that it is difficult to give up a couple of hours of your and/or your employees' time in the middle of the work day, but we ask you to do whatever you can. Whether you can send 500 people or only one, NUMBERS MATTER! Anything you can do to help save the airbase is most appreciated.

Another way to help save the Air Base!

The Buffalo Bisons, First Niagara Bank and The New York Power Authority are teaming up with NIMAC to provide anyone who writes five letters to the Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) commission with two tickets to this Sunday’s 2 p.m. Bison’s game at Dunn Tire Park.

Letters are available at all local First Niagara Branches and the Power Authority. Letters can also be printed from the NIMAC website at www.nimac.org and taken to these locations.

After the game, there will be a rally featuring Larry Norton from WGRF-FM 97 Rock as well as some surprise local and national celebrity guests. NIMAC tee-shirts will also be available. Bring homemade signs showing support for the air base!