Buffalo NY Police PBA
Buffalo PBA Press Releases
Buffalo Police Benevolent Association, Inc.
74 Franklin St. Buffalo NY 14202 (716) 851-4501
For Immediate Release:
April 1st, 2009 PBA Office
Welcome to www.bufflopba.com
By Mike Divito
“dynamic integration, designed for ‘you’ ”
On April 1st 2009 the Buffalo Police PBA took a giant leap into the future with the introduction of the new PBA website www.buffalopba.com. The website was designed for us by one of the leading internet web design teams available, www.nerdygeeky.com a local company owned by one of our own PBA members and whose distinguished list of clients includes various government agencies, privately held local companies, The Syracuse NY Police PBA, The Erie Basin Marina, Tickets2anyevent.com, and many other private Go Daddy listed web sites. The project required an extensive amount of co-operation between the designers and the PBA. It could not have been accomplished with out the many hours of dedication and inspiration by recording secretary Lt. James Panus.
The website was designed as a “dynamic” site with the full capability of being updated instantaneously by the PBA as news and developments related to the members becomes available. In order to stay up to date with new and ever evolving internet technologies, the site was integrated with many of today’s most popular web features. Starting with Google Search, active RSS news feeds from around the country, facebook, twitter and YouTube it is now possible for you to stay in touch with the PBA around the clock and at the touch of a finger. The PBA face book link has received an incredible response and has already had over 100 PBA members join in as “friends of the PBA”
“a peek inside, for PBA members”
The front page is the portal to what retired Police Officer Billy Smith described as an “unbelievable amount of content” The main page serves a launching point that can easily serve as a home page for even the most inexperienced internet surfer. Most noticeable is the Blue Line Online version of our award winning publication The Blue Line. This now gives us the ability to reach new readers that were previously unaware of our existence. It also gives our advertisers a greater value for their advertising dollar. Continuing on to the “About Us” you will find all the pertinent contact information for the entire leadership of the PBA. In the “Police News” section you can read breaking police news from the Buffalo metro area and from around the country. Also included in this section is a link to Crime Stoppers where Buffalo’s Most Wanted Criminals are listed and where the public can report information on a crime directly to Crime Stoppers by simply clicking on the pictures of the criminals. The PBA Links page includes valuable links to other cities police unions and police related organizations. PBA Events are listed in the Events page. For those interested in receiving political endorsements from the PBA, The PAC section provides complete information on how to contact our PBA political action committee. The Press Releases Section will be used to provide the local media with immediate press releases related to the PBA. Finally in the anchor pages we have included a “Members Only” section that will provide our PBA members with up to the minute PBA Bulletins, union business, health benefits updates, union meeting minutes, an online version of the labor contract, information on court decisions, Fund-raisers and much more.
“pba for the public”
For the public we created an area that is dedicated to commonly asked public safety questions. Visitors can use the “PBA For The Public” Section to learn about such important matters as the New York State Amber Alert System, including how to receive Amber Alerts via e-mail and wireless through cell phones. Information on what to do in case of an Amber Alert is also included.
Visitors can refer to the New York State Sex Offender section to search for local level two and three sex offenders who may be lurking in their neighborhoods. This section was specifically included to help the public protect their families and communities. A graphic link to New York States Most Wanted Criminals is one of the main focuses of the public section and is followed by in depth information on how to “deter, detect, defend and avoid Identity Theft. A full length informational video created by the Federal Government on Identity Theft provides the public with valuable protection tips on this 50 billion dollar a year crime. The Federal Government also created an online Identity Theft Affidavit which is also accessible in this section. Internet safety for your children and family is the last part of this section.Finally, one of the most commonly asked questions of all police officers is what forms to fill out in case of a motor vehicle accident. In this section we included a printable online MV104 that can filled out on a computer and then printed for ease of use.“we need your input”
The website is another example of how our union leadership, headed by President Robert Meegan is working diligently to keep you informed and involved in your union.We need your help to keep the website updated and relevant. We are looking for Officers to contribute news articles, opinions, pictures and suggestions to www.buffalopba.com. We realize that without your help this will be impossible to accomplish. Please contact us via e-mail to buffalopolicepba@yahoo.com.
Join in and become active. Thank You and please visit the site as often as possible!
We Serve and Protect
Welcome to www.buffalopba.com
WWW.BUFFALOPBA.COM NATIONALY RECOGNIZED BY THE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF WEBMASTERS AND THE WORLD WIDE WEB AWARDS WITH THE JUNE 2009 GOLD AWARD
On June 26th 2009, the Buffalo Police PBA was informed that our website www.buffalopba.com was chosen along with 4 other websites to receive the prestigious Gold World Wide Web Award. The World Wide Web Awards are in association with, The American Association Of Webmasters. (SEE COMPLETE LIST)
The Buffalo Police PBA website is now the number one organic (non paid) listing on both the Google and Yahoo search engines among the myriad of listings containing the search terms "Buffalo" "Police" and "PBA" This by itself is an incredible accomplishment, that allows anyone searching for the Buffalo Police PBA on the internet to be directed to our web site without getting lost in the process. This could not have been accomplished without the assistance of our design team at www.nerdygeeky.com and we would like to thank them for their hard work and dedication on behalf of the Buffalo Police PBA and our Members.
The World Wide Web Awards are designed to formally recognize and acknowledge the hard work and dedication that each recipient has put into constructing their websites using their own brand of style, creativity and content. It is to these sites that we owe our thanks as they are the primary reason that our Award Program is growing so rapidly and gathering so much critical acclaim in the world of the Internet. The WWW Awards was also created for those Webmasters and Designers who obviously spend a lot of time building and creating their sites, not just to benefit themselves, but to also make a positive contribution to the World Wide Web Community. " Bringing The World Closer To Us."
The Awards of World Wide Web Award Program are amongst the most prestigious available - and hence, amongst some of the more difficult to win on the web. The World Wide Web Awards has devised a rating system of Gold, Silver, and Bronze - with these different rankings enabling us the widest possible area in which to reward skill, effort and enthusiasm and assist in gaining credibility for your website.
The Gold Award itself represents the pinnacle of website design in the United States and to win this Award is truly an honor. Accordingly only a smaller proportion of websites will eventually secure this coveted prize as we only reward those webmasters who have excelled in all fields of our criteria. Our goal is to provide Webmasters and Designers with the finest resources, tools, tutorials, tips and advice for building quality web sites.
The Gold Award represents Web Presence at its best. To achieve this award is truly an honor. The winning site has scored between 90 and 100 points, which was not an easy task. A Gold award winning site is error free from broken links and error messages of any kind. Correct use of Meta tags and ALT tags have been used, which most search engines have picked up on "keywords" used in the "Meta Tags". This site uses advanced features, scripts and coding. Graphic Design is of the highest quality and original works of art, created by the site designer. The Gold Award site represents at least 95 percent of original content and creativity and provides outstanding design and layout of website. Its content is something that will interest any and all visitors, who visit their site.
On June 29th we did acknowledge reciept of the award by proudly displaying the Gold World Wide Web Award on www.buffalopba.com
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
From: www.buffalopba.com
MAYOR CALLS D-DISTRICT "SAFE"
PUBLIC AND PBA NOT ALLOWED ACCESS TO FULL REPORT
The Mayor of the City of Buffalo as well as the Administration of The Buffalo Police Department all said today that their investigation into mold concerns at The D-District station house have been completed and called the building "SAFE". Mayor Byron Brown went as far as saying "These tests have proved that there has been no adverse health impact to our police department personnel and support staff". All of this without having allowed the PBA to participate in the process and in fact purposely excluding the PBA from having a representative present while the studies and inspections were being conducted. To cast further doubts as to the validity of this report, the City has so far refused to release the complete report. The PBA is calling on the Administration to make the complete report public immediately. If necessary the PBA will take legal action to make the report public.
Here is a summary of what we know so far:
1) Black mold was found in the building on the walls. The City is claiming that none was found in the air samples taken. The testing methodology used to make this determination will reveal whether or not this can be viewed as an accurate sample.
2) Airborne asbestos was not found in the building, but again was asbestos found in the building at all? Or is this another cleverly released statement from city lawyers? If asbestos was found, was it in undisturbed condition?
3) Radon was detected, but according to the so called "federal standards" the levels were "acceptable" As far as we know and according to many experts the only "acceptable" Radon level is NONE.
4) The city claims that the results showed that mold found in the ceilings does not "negatively" impact the air quality in the building. Again methodology of testing will determine whether or not these claims by the city are accurate.
5) At this time the cost to clean up and remediate the building will cost tax payers over a quarter million dollars. According to Commissioner of Public Works Steve Stepniak estimates to the city are believed to start at three hundred thousand dollars.
Mayor Brown stated that the PBA would be allowed to conduct its own independent study. As of this time the city has refused to let the PBA to do so.
Since the City has not released the full report, something that in the opinion of the PBA should have been done, we cannot rely on the word of the City that the building is supposedly "safe". Given the high cost of fixing the problems ($300,000.00) so far uncovered at D-District it seems hard to believe that the building is as safe as they are saying. Our own studies when and if the city permits us to conduct them will determine the actual safety to our PBA members.
