With the prospect of another base closing commission in the air in Washington, Niagara County is being pro-active in getting out its message of the importance of the Niagara Falls Air Reserve Station.
The base has been threatened in prior rounds of base closings and has survived and thrived as Washington has poured millions of dollars into facilities and found new missions for base personnel. That's important to the county because the air base is the largest employer and an integral component of the Falls airport which has received millions of dollars for tourism-based improvements.
Legislature Majority Leader Rick Updegrove says it's important to get the facts out there, learning from past visits to Washington.
"There was this notion that snow and closures due to snow may be an issue, which, as you know, really isn't true. But it just reinforced the notion of why it's important to ramp up your marketing efforts to make sure that you have people who are working for you," Updegrove said.
While this was once just an air base, the Falls facility has operations for the Air Force and Army reserves and the Air and Army National Guards and the Buffalo Military Entrance Processing Center for everyone entering all branches of the military from 14-counties across New York and Pennsylvania.