Still working on a preparation project (with tight deadline) and am requesting your best input ...

QUESTION:

What are your solutions to Y2K public awareness & preparedness concerns, right now? What might make a difference?

 For individual preparations?

 For community preparations?

 For a U.S. Senate national message?

 For a Presidential national message?

 For the news media message?

Please keep it reasonably short, sweet and able to condense down into bullet-quality recommendations!

Many thanks,

Diane

-- Diane J. Squire (sacredspaces@yahoo.com), May 20, 1999

Answers

See also ...

What Are Your Top 3 Y2K Concerns, Right Now?

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

For a cogent list detailing many of our current problems/concerns.

Still desiring a "representative" forum view.

Will post my thoughts later.

Diane

-- Diane J. Squire (sacredspaces@yahoo.com), May 20, 1999.

Honest, forthright information, from ALL points on the compass. - Business - Government - Medical

No "happy-face" spin-doctoring

Realistic preparation guidlines

Dennis (25 years in the computer business)

-- Dennis (djolson@pressenter.com), May 20, 1999.

Diane, I have one small suggestion...perhaps we should ask for copies of the American Red Cross Y2K brochure to be mailed to every household in the United States. Sure, three days is too small as a prudent precaution, but getting the public to think about Y2K and to let them know it's not crazy to store up a little is what's important. If everyone were urged to obtain a few days worth of extra supplies now, then some of public might just keep buying a little more at the grocery each week through the end of the year. The main thing, again, is to get the public past the first hurdle and buy that first extra can of food and bottle of water. And of course, better for the general public to obtain a few days worth of extra supplies between now and the end of the year, rather than all at once in December. An important small step right now would be a change from our government tolerating three days worth of supplies to actually recommending this amount. That's my two cents' worth at the moment.

-- Kevin (mixesmusic@worldnet.att.net), May 20, 1999.

 For individual preparations?

(Depending on the climate of one's residence) 1. Shelter/heat. 2. Water 3. Food/medical 4. Security 5. Communications

 For community preparations?

Same as above, but include community communications, community food cooperatives, etc.

 For a U.S. Senate national message?

I remain somewhat loathe about the efficacy of "federal" actions, however, getting honest about potential problems is a MUST,...no spin based on the false notion that information leads to panic.

 For a Presidential national message?

Same as above, but no fake tears. Really, why would anyone want a president's input?

 For the news media message?

Quit trying to please the government, take risks in order to maintain professional your integrity,...tell the truth, even if the truth is: "We don't know, so prepare for some problems.

-- Donna (moment@pacbell.net), May 20, 1999.

I wish they would have one of those National town meetings. With some real strong and credible GIS and some real strong and credible Computer industry people who don't think there will be a problem ( I won't call them "pollys" since they are hypothetical and I don't know their position). Put it on PBS and have Charlie Rose moderate. Then let real people ask ?'s, not presubmitted but just ?'s. Maybe even have a callin and a chat room going.

-- Johnny (jljtm@bellsouth.net), May 20, 1999.

 In no particular order these three links should be required reading for all political - media types. I have noticed that living without "social benifits" is far beyond most folk awareness.

These three links do a good job at the differant aspects of "Emergency management" The first is of course from FEMA, and is included NOT because I think it is good but it gives me the impression of an entity that doesn't mess around with small details such as local political opinions. One thing that has become clear is that many of the really interesting y2k documents end up on pdf files and aren't web friendly. This one is an example. There would be a lot more educated people if this one was online. As I understand it FEMA is Clintons right arm in regards to Y2K. They take it VERY SERIOUSLY. It is interesting to note that they use a water - wastewater problem to illustrate an example to practice with.

The Ice Storm link is to a site that was built to discribe the experiance of a disaster from a personal view. Really interesting.

Chuck Lansa is an emergency professional and has several pages of interesting material from his experiance and opinion. And he is very Y2K aware.

FEMA: Contingency and Consequence Management Planning for Year 2000 Conversion 

Montreal Ice Storm Ecological Disaster Hits Quebec Ontario New Brunswick New York Vermont New Hampshire and Maine 

Chuck Lanza's Global- Local Y2K Index

-- Brian (imager@home.com), May 20, 1999.

Other than strictly local scale projects, I sincerely believe its too late. The Senate has ignored literally thousands (?tens of thousands) of e-mail and snail mail msgs regarding Y2K. Concentrate on personal and local preps. If everyone who is aware does this then there will be a kind of national underground.

-- RD. ->H (drherr@erols.com), May 20, 1999.

I agree with RD on this...I think any expectation of government effectiveness is akin to belief in the tooth fairy....I would advocate telling all government above town/city that we don't need them, and they can go to blazes in their status quo/brain-dead handbaskets. But I could make nice one more time if I was giving testimony...LOL.

-- Donna (moment@pacbell.net), May 20, 1999.

This may be worth taking another look at: What should the Press do?

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

-- Rob Michaels (sonofdust@com.net), May 20, 1999.

The above link doesn't work :(

The thread is in the Y2K media archive with that name though.

-- (sonofdust@net.com), May 20, 1999.

Diane, I think you should concentrate on getting your household prepared for the worst eventualities you can conceive of and can find the resources to ready yourselves for. You probably cannot do much to convince your neighbors to prepare (although you can probably very easily convince them you would be worth looting next year, if you talk about Y2K with them too much). You absolutely cannot have any significant effect on what government at any level will do, so do not waste the time you still have available to protect your family by diverting it to tilting at such windmills.

http://y2ksafeminnesota.hypermart.net

-- MinnesotaSmith (y2ksafeminnesota@hotmail.com), May 20, 1999.

1. Volunteer to work w/Red Cross and establish shelter at church or school. 2. Establish core group of GIs and build as others catch on. 3. Forward key web news to target group of concerned citizens. 4. Educate oneself and then others: Red Cross classes and seminars.

Personally, I like Michael Hyatt's suggestion start w/ 2 weeks of prep and then build to 4 weeks then 6 weeks and keep building incrementally, some for your self and some to share with others.

-- Bill P (porterwn@one.net), May 20, 1999.

The Fed Gov can still do us one service. It can generate the perception of need that we need for our local .gov to actually clean their glasses, and start to DO something about local organization and preps.

In MY opinion, the ONLY way to generate a true perception of need is for the Feds to admit that the 60 min's article, which may well have some REALLY bad news, is credible, there IS bad news, and that the preparations will HAVE to be local, becaiuse they dropped theball and there is not enough time to prepare at their level.ANd then they can pay for it with our money from SS "surplus" (hi hi hi)

Speall checker? Proof read? Not at 0446 I don't C

-- Chuck, a night driver (rienzoo@en.com), May 21, 1999.

LOL... still rolling with the image of the government Windex!

Diane

-- Diane J. Squire (sacredspaces@yahoo.com), May 21, 1999.

Diane, I heard a poll today that said something like 4 out of 5 Americans don't believe y2k will affect their personal finances. Imagine! We MUST do a better job of getting the word out. Pamphlets. Hand-lettered signs on bulletin boards. Billboards. Little bs. card size papers with prep-encouragement to leave anonymously everywhere. Teeshirts. Yard signs. Sky-writing. Music. Street theatre. Bullhorns. Bumper stickers. Phone-tree campaigns. Letter writing campaigns. Newspaper ads. Local cable TV. Radio spots. Calling in to radio talk shows. Talking to people in lines with you. Anything and everything anybody is willing to do.

-- Faith Weaver (suzsolutions@yahoo.com), May 21, 1999.

Diane,

The spin is in and the damage is done at this point, for better or worse. It would be nearly impossible to change directions with the official "don't worry be happy" approach to 2k now, even if anyone among the PTB (powers that be) really wanted to. I see no indications anyone with national level responsibility really wants to change the herd's direction on this issue- they have 'em where they want 'em.

One serious problem in changing anyone's mind is that there are still simply too many uncertainties with too many important issues. There is as much logical room for optimism (lacking real proof that anything will go seriously sideways) as there is for pessimism (lacking any real proof that things will stay on track). There are lots of possibilities and very little proof. There are too many vested interests in the status quo for there to be much enthusiasm among the PTB for boat rocking based on possibilities, no matter how serious the eventualities might be. The PTB have made their analysis, assume the situation will be "manageable" and therefore don't want to cause 'needless' alarm.

Prepare to be managed.

-- Lee (lplapin@hotmail.com), May 22, 1999.

Thanks for all the comments!

Diane

-- Diane J. Squire (sacredspaces@yahoo.com), May 22, 1999.

Any more?

Lee,

Let's hope the Senate can prepare to manage the media a bit better!

At least they *are* trying. (Seems like nobody else is).

I find it "interesting" that they ARE coupling preparedness issues and media issues at the same hearing on Tuesday...

"Community Y2K Preparedness: Is There News They Can Use?"

http:/ /www.senate.gov/~y2k/hearings/052599/index.html

Stay tuned.

Diane

-- Diane J. Squire (sacredspaces@yahoo.com), May 23, 1999.

Diane and others;

While I was doing research for my church, I contacted our local RED CROSS here in Ohio. They were more than happy to provide me with material. They also informed me that they have 'guest speakers' who will go to community/blockwatch groups if invited, FOR FREE. It is Never to late to get involved in community meetings. By July, I shall have a speaker in place for our little area. Free of charge. Just a small contribution to your nice thread, hope it helps.

-- consumer (private@aol.com), May 23, 1999.

The problem with using politicians as messengers is that no one wants to be associated with a problem of this social magnitude on their watch. It is political suicide to risk being held accountable. That is why many counties and cities hire "consultants." But we have seen in GA how this can backfire. County and city government tend to see their area of responsibility as internal county operations and not social community reponse or individual contingency planning.

Bureaucrats CYA, so having self-reporting by department heads is worthless, IMHO. The local grand jury in California "looks into" the function of county departments, so I would use them for "truthing" on accountability.

Using local emergency (police, fire, EMT) coordinators is helpful for infrastructure problems, but not things of a personal nature such as food and heat and getting to one's job.

Generally, politicians try to avoid direct accountability by appointing a "Task Force" or "Blue Ribbon Panel" to tackle large community issues and report recommendations. Could use this approach and make sure the editor of a local paper, television or radio station is given a role as appointee from the communications sector. Appointees are generally "volunteers." So, local organizers could step forward. Trouble with this approach is that getting to consensus can take eons and it takes a strong committee head to stay on track and move forward. (One who is not afraid of bruised feelings.)

In rural areas, most have a local State University extension office - usually with a trusted home economist. They know canning, nutrition, storage, etc. Natural office to deliver a credible individual preparedness message. Perhaps there is a counterpart in suburban and urban areas or the university extension could take the lead on the State level and send weekly columns on different aspects of personal preparedness to the print media or do radio PS messages.

I would also get local grocery stores onboard to stock a bulk quantities section. One of my problems in preparing is that I had a heck of a time finding "hard red wheat" and sacks of other grain until I found a wholesale restaurant supplier who was willing to order for me. (Not everyone has a Costco or Sam's Club within reasonable distance.) Organizing some group to take orders and buy in bulk for those who wished in the community could be helpful for a variety of supplies.

-- marsh (armstrng@sisqtel.net), May 24, 1999.