Community Preparation: Oregon - Notes from one of America's leading Y2K prep communities...

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While most of the rest of the United States was in the same year 2000 slumber most of the rest of the world was in, a bunch of people in the state of Oregon got busy in the early part of 1998.

While this thread could be an entire forum in itself (and maybe will become one), the purpose here is to capture at least some of the hints of some of the things they've been doing... (If anyone reading this in Oregon would be interested in taking a whack at reconstructing some of the key highlights that reflect the flow of action, please let me know via the email link below, and we'll reconstruct a growing record to put on the web for the rest of the world to read - before things get totally out of hand. Remember what Mr. Lord said about being the first...)

We pick up the thread here with a note reflecting the activities of two of hundreds of active people out west...

(Also: Check the thread in the "Preparation: Community" category titled "Rogue Valley (Oregon) Announcements / Bulletin Board" for other clues as to what to do.)

Bill



-- Bill (billdale@lakesnet.net), December 23, 1998

Answers

Date: Sat, 18 Jul 1998 20:46:09 EDT
Sender: owner-y2kforum@efn.org
From: Y2Kres@aol.com
To: y2kforum@efn.org

Subject: Portland, Oregon area - Quick Update

Last week, Leille Sussman and I (Tobie Finzel) met with the Portland, Oregon, metro area United Way execs to talk about Y2K. We only had 20 minutes on the agenda, but tried to state the "why it's a problem" and "what you can do" as succinctly as possible. We spoke of the issue on both fronts: effect on their own business operations and effect on the community & potential for sharply increased need for services. At the meeting, the chairperson appointed a sub-committee of UW execs (those who volunteered) to address the problem. There seemed to be a good deal of interest in cross-agency preparedness planning and emergency response training exercises.

We also did a presentation to the Oregon Children's Alliance in Salem that same week. This group consists of leaders of the various agencies working on child-focused services around the state.

We are gathering names of volunteers from the Portland Y2K Ready Group to assist the agencies that need help. Leille and I will keep this Forum posted of developments; if you're in the Portland/Vancouver metro area & can spare some time, please let me (Y2Kres@aol.com) or Leille (lsussman@teleport.com) know.



-- Bill (billdale@lakesnet.net), December 23, 1998.


There will be a Y2K Family Preparedness Conference in Eugene, OR on Sept 8 at 3 or 7:30 p.m. at the Double Tree Inn on Gateway in Springfield Pre-register by calling 1-800-521-2665. Tickets are $8 if you pre-register and $12 at the door. Proceeds cover costs. Featured speakers include Ed Bell, author, Privileged Information: The Coming Economic/Computer Breakdown, and Rockie Cowie, food storage and preparation expert, and Ken Klein producer, The Millennium Bug and the Y2K Family Preparedness video series. email mdarling@pacinfo.com for more imfo. Please tell your friends and family near Eugene about the event.

-- Kim Darling (mdarling@pacinfo.com), December 23, 1998.

So much is happening, it's hard to keep track!

Lane Community College has begun a class in its adult education program on preparing for and understanding Y2k.

It is hosted by the computer department, and Rich Summers is the instructor. The class went from 12 people in the summer to over 70 at the first class session, and people were turned away (they've expanded the class).

Discussion is now underway to add a second class at the College's downtown campus, and to create focused workshops for businesses and organizations facing the challenges of mitigation, contingency planning, and recovery.

The class meets every other Tuesday, and those of us in the community who wish to do more are meeting beforehand in the cafeteria, 5:30-7:00, and bringing sack dinners. As far as I can tell, the class has been the best way to gather yet - no meeting spaces to arrange, easy public notification, room for expansion, etc. I highly recommend that everyone interested in meetings on y2k fully explore the option of your adult ed programs at your local community colleges and high schools.

For further information, Lane Community College's main campus admin. number is 541-726-2252. The fall class title is "Meltdown 2000". The winter classes will be called "Preparing for Y2k". The classes are co-taught by two local Y2k activists in Lane County, Sheri Morelli, a Springfield High teacher who lives grid-free up the McKenzie River, and Rolf Hemmerich, a food and nutrition specialist who lives up the Marcola Valley.

Best,

Cynthia Beal http://skymind.org/redbarn

-- cynthia (cabeal@efn.org), December 23, 1998.


Date: Mon, 23 Nov 1998
To: michelle.e.buwalda@ci.eugene.or.us
From: cabeal@efn.org
Subject: Next Whiteaker Y2k Committee meeting

Please print and distribute for Neighborhood Leaders Meeting;

RE: The next meeting of Whiteaker Y2k Committee (meeting 1st tuesdays, 7:00.)

The public is invited, but we need you to know your own neighborhoods, please, and be representing them in some fashion - even as an unofficial observer - and recognize that we're not debating whether or not this is a problem. That happens somewhere else. We also don't have a minutes taker, or an organizer, or a publicist.

We've already decided that responding to an emergency of any type with equitable procedures that address the proper and most serious needs first is a primary responsibility of our neighborhood. State programs exist to instruct us in the basics. We are prepared to understand those, and take it from there. We hope that you do the same. We are only as ready as you are.

December 1, 1998
7:00-8:30 pm
Center for Appropriate Transport
First & Washington

Last meeting:

Reviewed East Blair Housing Co-op's decision making process; Kari did the presenting, and will make a copy available to us. We decided to use the EBHC process, including committee work and the emotions committee, for our meetings.

Created initial Committees, based on the (FEMA affiliated) Neighborhood Emergency Team guidelines for handling an emergency, and other needs we can anticipate at this time.

Decided to prepare for two distinct outage scenarios and will perhaps formalize these approaches. One scenario will be for short duration - 3 days to 2-weeks, based on official recommendations. The other scenario will be for longer term problems that may ripple through our neighborhood in unanticipated ways. Efforts will be made to make the two scenarios compatible - we anticipate much discussion on this, and that discussion will take place in committees, with formal proposals submitted to the general group, based on EBHC's process.

B4 Next meeting:

1) announcement at WCC general meeting, november.
2) still looking for meeting publicist/room coordinator - till we find one, it's gonna be adhoc and loose
3) research Oregon State sponsored CERT training program

***(FLASH - last! CERT training of 1998 will be next week, December 1st; Tom Steadman, 484-0557, has details. Bobby Lee, Eugene City Council Year 2000 Coordinator has been informed. CERT certified folk can train NET members. Next training after this is December, 1999)***

This memo was sent to y2kforum@efn.org. I do not, as a rule, cc: people for long. There is an existing moderated listserv set up to handle information that people wish to circulate. You cannot post to it unless you have subscribed, and posted an introduction. Relevant info regarding our work with Lane County Y2k, especially its on-line Salons and forums, can be found by visiting the URL:

http://www.greenspun.com/bboard/q-and-a-fetch- msg.tcl?msg_id=000CwM

or the place in my sig file below.

**********
Cynthia Beal
cabeal@efn.org
Red Barn Natural Grocery
Eugene, Oregon
http:// skymind.org/y2k/connect.html

-- cynthia (cabeal@efn.org), December 23, 1998.


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