At the GAO site there is a report titled "The District of Columbia Remains Behind Schedule." It is dated February 19, 1999. The report states, "According to the District's Year 2000 Program Manager, at this time, the District has only renovated about 5% of its mission-critical systems..." Now let me get this straight...this is the seat of our nation's government. If the city of D.C. melts down how will all of the various agencies headquartered there be able to function? Bruce

-- bruce johnson (ianchloe@columbus.rr.com), May 07, 1999

Answers

Bruce, can you say.......martial law?

-- Gordon (gpconnolly@aol.com), May 07, 1999.

Can you say The End Of The US As We Know It?

-- a (a@a.a), May 07, 1999.

Can you say: underground bunkers and 25KW generators for the Pentagon?

-- ? (pork@barrel.there), May 07, 1999.

If you go to the NASIRE website (www.nasire.org) and look up DC, you will see that they are STILL at only 5%, and the website was updated on 4/27.

And I thought North Carolina was in bad shape...

R.

-- Roland (nottelling@nowhere.com), May 07, 1999.

Technically, the Dee Cee government deals only with Dee Cee residents. This is not the same as the Federal government which largely resides in Dee Cee.

Hey, it could be fun. If the wellfare checks don't go out, the Dee Cee residents can bide their time by taking pot-shots at Federal workers. Cool!

-- Anonymous99 (Anonymous99@Anonymous99.xxx), May 07, 1999.

Bruce, I think you've got your fingers on the pulse of the problem. Don't be anywhere near the place. if at all possible. Maybe they are planning contingencies for this??

-- David (C.D@I.N), May 07, 1999.

Hi Bruce,

as far as the fedgov goes - they've been pressuring the power company PEPCO to get their remediation done for several years...yeah, several years...funny how our fearless leaders didn't bother mentioning it to the rest of us...but anyway it looks like PEPCO is gonna make it, most of the federal buildings are on the old part of the sewer system that can dump directly into the river if it has to, and of course they've got the Marines at 8th & I streets, as well as the Army's Old Guard Regiment if they need security, transportation, and so on...the fedgov will be fine - it's going to be the people who aren't going to be having such a nice time of it. I expect all of the rich liberals in North East and Georgetown will probably go to their beach houses or some such, but the poor folks who live downtown are going to have some real problems.

Arlin

-- Arlin H. Adams (ahadams@ix.netcom.com), May 07, 1999.

So,

Where will the U.S. "working" capital move to? NORAD in Colorado?

Diane

-- Diane J. Squire (sacredspaces@yahoo.com), May 07, 1999.

We don't need to wory about DC residents taking potshots at any federal workers. After all DC has the nations strictest gun control laws. Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha ......

-- kozak (kozak@formerusaf.guv), May 07, 1999.

Roland,

What's that about NC?

mb in NC

-- mb (mdbutler@coastalnet.com), May 07, 1999.

fedgov DC contingency plan: "Let them eat rats."

-- Leska (allaha@earthlink.net), May 07, 1999.

Bruce:

As many others have pointed out the District of Columbia in your GAO report generally refers to the regional government and not the federal government. However, if water and power are effected by Y2K problems, this will impact the federal government as many of those old federal buildings are in the District of Columbia. The CIA, however, is in Virginia. The FBI building is just a few blocks from the White House.

Arlin:

I had heard that PEPCO was selling off its power plants and becoming a distributor only. On the other hand, power was on in Dee Cee during the recent ice storm that shut off power to some parts for a few days. Of course, Dee Cee has lots of other problems and has had them for a long time. So it shouldn't be a surprise if Dee Cee is one of those "local" places that feel the hardest hit of that old bump in the road.

Sincerely, Stan Faryna

-- Stan Faryna (info@giglobal.com), May 07, 1999.

Stan,

although I had the following explained to me by a guy who understands it in detail, *I*, sadly, do not, none the less: PEPCO has been looking to sell a couple of their plants, but their biggest customer generally has a significant say in those sorts of things...so they'll still be generating power 01/01/00. Also, they have a rather pricey setup whereby they can route power to any point on their grid through any available lines, even if one or more of the lines or substations bite the dust - they can route around them...if I understand it correctly it's as though the whole city were wired in parallel with the ability to patch between different parts of the city grid at will...this setup is a whole bunch more expensive than the traditional setup, and is in place primarily because of the requirements of the fedgov. My source said they thought there were a few other places which had a similar setup, but couldn't name any off the top of their heads.

Really the biggest problem for DC residents in the short term is probably going to be potable water. Even in good years there are usually at least one or two problems with the water treatment facillities, and with DC remediation so hopelessly far behind, who knows what will happen with the embedded controlers in the purification plants? Remember, DC is so far down the watershed that nearly every drop of water that comes out of the faucet has been through at least one or two other people already. Nice, huh?

Arlin

-- Arlin H. Adams (ahadams@ix.netcom.com), May 07, 1999.

I know a guy who is a DC firefighter/paramedic. He says that DC is soooo screwed right now, let alone when the systems are starting to fail.

The place is rife with corruption, and mis-management, so it's rediculous to expect that they will be able to get much fixed before or after the event.

He expects marial law, with conscriptions to help keep order (garbage removal, etc). He doesn't want to be there, but he fears what will happen to him if he doesn't show. Screwed either way.

-- BIll (billclo@msgbox.com), May 08, 1999.

anybody else from aroung deecee planning on heading for the hills? i'm desperately trying to make the money issues work out to head for a cabin in WV if things get hairy. my parents are from the country and remember how to can, butcher, etc., though of course they DGI.

-- sarah (qubr@aol.com), May 09, 1999.