If you were put in charge of your town's contingency plans for minimizing and relieving Y2K disruptions what would you do? I'll contribute one concrete idea (and please keep your ideas concrete and specific) I would install a hand pumped public water well within 10 blocks of any point in my community. If time and resources permitted I'd put in more.

-- Ann Fisher (zyax55b@prodigy.com), November 07, 1998

Answers

I agree Ann, a wells should be installed through out neighborhoods. I would also send out a call for citizens to plant gardens on a large scale, stock up on fire wood "" "" "" "" "", and have fire drills, blanket ,sleeping bag and food drives, and sanitation pits dug. If I saw this in my area, I would get behind it 100%. Do you think it'll happen?

-- Arthur Rambo (buriedtreasure@webtv.net), November 07, 1998.

Arthur I would not be suprised in the least if some real tiny towns did it. I have towns around me with populations of like 17, 27, 53, 87, 103 and so on. And yes, I actually know most of them are aware!

Rick

-- Rick Tansun (ricktansun@hotmail.com), November 07, 1998.

Another important thing would be to set up neighborhood communication networks...could organize a whole town...around several block neighborhoods...Pass important information like chain letters...door to door....

Neighborhoods are the key in town/city organization...small units added to small units....

-- Donna Barthuley (moment@pacbell.net), November 07, 1998.

Create small town neighborhoods within the big cities.

Diane

-- Diane J. Squire (sacredspaces@yahoo.com), November 07, 1998.

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I'd help organize ( at the Voter Precinct level, non-hybrid ) sharecropping, harvesting, canning ( in Michigan ... Brrrr ... ) and guard duty activities and schedules for same.

Everyone's got to eat!

[ I'm not a farmer! I'm an IT professional! ]

# # #

-- Robert Mangus (rmangus@mail.netquest.com), November 07, 1998.

What about "drafting" the postal workers as area coordinators? They know every street and home and the people who live there. Send out a list of things to do to prepare and put one in every mail box in the country. Tell them where to go for further information.

Diane

-- Diane J. Squire (sacredspaces@yahoo.com), November 07, 1998.

Because time is at such a premium, no one person will be able to address all the needs of a community or neighborhood. I would begin by recruiting others to help. Then, I would ask volunteers to choose one area of focus from the list below, communicating with each other as often as necessary by any means available to coordinate progress, brainstorm more solutions, and implement plans.

Promotion and Coordination: How can we enlist participation in our planning and preparation efforts? How can we best work together?

Food and Water Supplies

Warm shelter

Sewage and sanitation

Medical care

Public safety and fire protection

Communication

Special needs groups: Elderly; single parents; government dependent; ill and handicapped, etc.

Special needs institutions: Hospitals; nursing homes; group homes; prisons

Special needs of children: Education alternatives; organized tasks in service to community; recreation and social activities

Identification of goods and services currently available from outside community and plan for development of alternative sources of supply

Identification of community skills and abilities; creation of skills pool; plan for acquiring necessary skill sets not currently available in community.

Coping with stress: Conflict management; counseling; recreation

Community economics and trade: Co-ops, barter centers, community currency; interfacing with nearby communities. .

-- Faith Weaver (faith-weaver@usa.net), November 07, 1998.

Yeah, Faith....the Organizing Wiz!......All this info is at Faith's fingertips....I want her as my neighbor, who helps me prod the city council into organizing my little college town....

-- Donna Barthuley (moment@pacbell.net), November 07, 1998.

Encourage the teachers and students K thru 12 to develop school projects where kids start identifying different things their communities can do. Science projects like collecting and purifying water, growing patio food gardens, things that each kid can do at home, etc. Extend that out to the scout troops. Maybe if the kids all focused on it, parents would too.

Look at different commercial businesses that can be a rallying point for community groups. Such as plant nurseries coordinating with garden clubs to grow food and teach classes on how to do so within their urban and sub-urban communities. Turn the city parks into co-op gardens.

-- Diane J. Squire (sacredspaces@yahoo.com), November 08, 1998.

Many towns and cities in California already have organized farmers markets in their communities, mine included. This Sunday Ill talk to the organizers and see how they did it and where to go for further information. In Southern California there are a couple great ones in Hollywood and Santa Monica. If someone down there can check with those organizers and report back here, we might be able to help the reporters and others with Farmers Market organization tips for their cities and communities across this country.

-- Diane J. Squire (sacredspaces@yahoo.com), November 08, 1998.

It's safer if you know all your neighbors and communicate with them. If you are living where you don't trust your neighbors, consider finding a more positive place to live, with like-minded people. This idea is mainly for good neighborhoods. If you're in a bad neighborhood where your neighbors don't want to communicate or interact positively, consider relocating as part of your plan.

After dividing an area up into community groups based on geographic and other boundaries, create an information network throughout each community. This will maximize individual and group survival as well as improve the cooperation and coordination of the community group. Those who want to be left alone and not participate in the community process have that right. Those who want to form a consensus on how to interoperate will become leaders for the group management.

At the low end of the implementation, a list of name address and phone number is compiled along with other data (including medical requirements, special skills, etc) for each person. The community contact list can be compiled and managed as a website membership database, or it can be done a non-technical way with paper and pencil and canvassing the neighborhood. The purpose of the list is mainly for emergencies, but can also be used for community coordination. People can participate in a notification tree for conveying significant information. This could take place by foot, car, phone, or internet. At the high-end of the implementation, an intranet is set up with a terminal at each home. Community members can join in to ongoing discussion forums such as this one, to post their messages. If most people in the community are in frequent dialog, there will be less crime perpetration. Community decisions can be made by voting, 1 vote per adult.

For optimal communications, public terminals would be made available for each community, and at least one person in each community needs one to report to the parent level (e.g. the city). The network may be a LAN, WAN, wireless, or on the internet. This takes out the middleman (the politician) from government. Local solutions to problems are used preferentially, but where necessary, assistance can be sought from neighboring communities.

-- Jon (jonmiles@pacbell.net), November 11, 1998.

Along with Ann's community water wells, there should be water purification units. In his Nov. 1, 1998 Washington Post article, "Year 2000 Computer Emergency: Deadly Serious Test of America, columnist Neal Pierce has the best suggestion I've read yet... "...we need to get specific fast about an emergency shelter for every community -- and it ought to be schools, suggests Douglass Carmicahel, a lead Y2K consultant. The federal and state governments, he says, should quckly appropriate funds and press to make sure schools can provide water, food, cooking and a warm space through winter 2000. "One reason: schools -- as with hurricanes or floods -- are a familiar emergency location in American culture. "Carmichael proposes rapid steps to authorize National Guard, even regular armed forces help to get the schools ready. "The President, Carmicahel argues, has to take the lead, telling the nation there's potential for serious trouble, no one knows how serious, but we need to be prepared for the worst. "Only with presidental leadership, Carmichael asserts, will Americans take Y2K seriously enough soon enough to avert 'massive hoarding' as an increasingly panicy middle class, each family buying for itself, drives up generator, food and fuel prices, triggering shortages and even opening prospect of class warfare." But, I don't think we should wait for "presidential leadership." I am going to send this article to the superintendent of schools in my county and ask for a reply. (You can find the article at cbn.org/y2k by clicking on "more.") Those of you in PTAs could take some action along these lines, I hope!

-- Holly Allen (Holly3325@juno.com), November 11, 1998.

I would publicize actual status of fixes and testing in my city. I would publicize what contingency plans the grocery stores, convenience stores etc have for remaining open in spite of water or power being out. I would let people know what they need to prepare for, as much as I possibly could.

I would definitely reopen all the old wells around town that have been capped. Some have enormous capacity.

-- Mommacares (harringtondesign@earthlink.net), June 16, 1999.

It's nice to see this thread resurface after so much time in the "dead zone."

Question: How many of you have Neighborhood Watch programs in your areas? If you do, you already have a community group in place.

I think I'm fortunate because I know my neighbors, and I like most of them. Just in the small group that comes immediately to mind, we have two elementary/high school teachers, one nurse, an expert gardner, an attorney (Well. . .) and the former mayor of our town.

Should be an interesting annual Neighborhood Watch meeting this year!

:)

-- FM (vidprof@aol.com), June 16, 1999.