Early experience in Y2k community organizing Lowell MA

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We are building early experience in Y2k community action here in Lowell.

Although everyone should become aware of Y2k, to get action earlier, I recommend speaking with some groups before others.

In my experience, the banks and insurance companies have direct experience with Y2k work and quickly understand the impact on our community and the importance of picking a pro-active community approach. The local emergency planning groups are professionals trained to analyze community-wide risks and plan for worst case scenarios and are directly responsible for the community contingency plans. It can help if your bank or insurance company writes a letter to your local EMO letting them know they depend on them as part of their own business end-to-end y2k contingency plan.

These are early days but here is my sense of overall priorities for a Y2k community wide response. Some of these are underway in Lowell.

http://lowellonline.org/bna/y2k/topten.html

Ian

Ian Wells - ian@rsn.hp.com - Belvidere Neighborhood Association Y2k Committee, Lowell MA http://www.lowellonline.org/bna/y2k Std. disclaimer subscribe to Lowell Y2k list: mail majordomo@oceana.uml.edu, in body: subscribe y2k

-- Ian Wells (ian@rsn.hp.com), July 23, 1998

Answers

Ian, thanks for the post.

I met with my town's First Selectman recently (actually, I crashed a Y2k meeting requested by a Minister) and I'm happy to report that Westport is (finally) setting up a committee to address the community's exposure to Y2k problems. The first meeting will be in about one week. I intend to print off your TOPTEN doc and some other info from the Belvidere Neighborhood Association Year 2000 Committee site and bring it to the first meeting.

I want the committee to consider the following areas and to craft (or refine) contingency plans as needed to address possible Y2k problems:

* Equipment which may be affected by embedded systems (911 dispatch, traffic control, HVAC equipment, PBX systems, etc.) * Vendors of services and supplies to the town (banks, accounting firms, fuel companies, maintenance firms, etc.) * Emergency services (police, fire, EMS, hospitals, shelters, etc.) * Utilities (electric, gas, telephone, water, sewage disposal, refuse) * Local merchants (pharmacies, groceries, gas stations, etc.) * Government services (income supports, medical benefits, State Police, Coast Guard, etc.)

Westport already has a program underway to address the obvious problems with town owned computers and software. That was all they had considered until Reverend Pleas and I began talking.

In addition to the above, I hope to convince the town leaders to conduct Y2k contingency planning in the open and to try and get the town's citizens involved. Westport has a fair number of religious organizations, charities, a YMCA, a local Red Cross Chapter, theater groups, garden clubs, a First Night organization, and a good number of athletic clubs. These could form the core of a superb volunteer Y2k organization if we bring them into the planning at an early enough stage.

I'm going to hang onto your email id and I'll stay in touch as our efforts proceed.

-- Ed Perrault (EdPerrault@Compuserve.com), July 24, 1998.


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