A friend of mine related a story about a Y2K remediation drill in LA yesterday--a drill in which, when they pulled the old Y2k switch, they totally lost power at City Hall. This story was supoosedly on the AP wire. Has anyone heard anything about it?

Sandmann

-- Sandmann (Sandmann@alasbab.com), May 26, 1999

Answers

Our local rag, the Pasadena Star News, had a short blurb on LA's Y2k drill yesterday:

"City Y2K readiness drill proves work is needed

Los Angeles--The city may still have work to do in its drive to becom 'Y2K compliant,' as evidenced by an unexpected shutdown of City Hall elevators for more than an hour Tuesday during a Y2K readiness drill.

Mayor Richard Riodan, who visited the city's emergency response center underneath City Hall for the exercise, was delayed by the elevator breakdown, and jokingly acknowledge the glictch.

'If we can't take care of the elevators, what can we take care of in this city?' Riodan said."

219 days left, pollys

brett

-- brett45 (brett45@bigfoot.com), May 26, 1999.

GREAT!! They found the faults now so they can fix them now instead of having the problem hit an Jan 1 (or 3) This is what testing is for.

-- Cherri (sams@brigadoon.com), May 26, 1999.

Cherri -- Yes, it WOULD be nice if testing at any needful level was being planned locally, regionally, nationally and globally, wouldn't it? Then again, Denver is planning to FOF; so are entire countries ...

-- BigDog (BigDog@duffer.com), May 26, 1999.

I live in LA; this could be interesting. Just remember how LA froze up during the 92 riots. What does FOF mean, re Dvr? mike

-- mike (CHIMDOC@aol.com), May 26, 1999.

No, didn't hear about that snafu, but did hear on the ABC Nightly News tonight, that those paying their IRS tax bill with a credit card got a real surprise. Instead of getting a notice for the credit, they got a notice that they were past due. According to the IRS, it was a computer problem and will be fixed.

-- (not@now.thanks), May 26, 1999.

...it was a computer problem and will be fixed.

I suspect that we will hear this with ever-increasing frequency over the next 9 months or so.

-- Mac (sneak@lurk.hid), May 26, 1999.

hey Mike...I'm another Mike in the LA area...FOF is fix on failure.

What get's to me is that these elevators have been suffering problems for years. Actually, maybe decades. Anyway...they've never been fixed before (sans Y2k). Why would anyone expect a problem to be fixed directly due to a possible Y2k problem when the county couldn't fix these kinds of problems when Y2k wasn't even an issue?

So...fix on failure. If this hasn't worked in the past for certain situations then it isn't going to work when the situations are compounded and the pressure to fix them is even greater.

Mike ==============================================================

-- Michael Taylor (mtdesign3@aol.com), May 26, 1999.

Doesn't appear the problem with the elevators had anything to do with Y2k fixes; unless of course, the lights had Y2k errors as well. They had a power outage:

http:// www.latimes.com:80/excite/990526/t000047246.html

Preparing for millennial chaos, hundreds of city workers participated in Los Angeles' first Year 2000 disaster drill Tuesday at City Hall.
     The one thing they were not prepared for: a real power outage.
     Elevators churned to a halt and lights went out about 9 a.m., when a power surge knocked out a third of the building's electricity.
     The outage forced Mayor Richard Riordan and his large entourage to trudge up nine floors of stairs to his office and descend 12 floors to attend the Y2K drill.
     Others were stuck in elevators, while it took an hour and 20 minutes to restore power.
     Riordan was visibly upset when he finally emerged from the basement stairwell and walked into the Emergency Operation Center.
     "That bothers me," Riordan told reporters. "If we can't take care of the elevators, what can we take care of in this city?"
     When he had calmed down, Riordan said he was assured that the power shutdown had nothing to do with the drill to determine whether the city will continue operating smoothly as the 20th century comes to an end Jan. 1. The outage was later blamed on a short in a power meter.
     "We're very proud of the preparations of the city for any Y2K problems," Riordan said. "I feel very confident that there won't be any major problems."
     Hundreds of government workers participated in Tuesday's drill, designed to help them cope with a potential Y2K computer meltdown that threatens to disrupt communications and services.
     Workers responded to a variety of mock emergencies, such as power outages, fires and out-of-control New Year's Eve parties.
     "The purpose of exercises are to be prepared for anything, which is why we create events that in real life almost certainly will not occur," said Ellis M. Stanley, assistant city administrative officer.
     But the question in City Hall wasn't so much whether Los Angeles is prepared for 2000, but whether it is prepared to deal with 1999.
     City Council members were outraged by the power outage and shutdown of elevators, and some were not convinced that the outage and the Y2K drill were not linked.
     The council approved a motion asking the General Services Department to take immediate steps to address concerns about the shutdown.
     Councilman Mike Feuer said public safety workers and city leaders found they could not move around City Hall during the outage because stairwell doors on some floors were bolted.
     The motion asks that future Y2K drills take place, whenever possible, on non-workdays.

-- Hoffmeister (hoff_meister@my-dejanews.com), May 26, 1999.

Hoff -

Riordan was visibly upset when he finally emerged from the basement stairwell and walked into the Emergency Operation Center. "That bothers me," Riordan told reporters. "If we can't take care of the elevators, what can we take care of in this city?"

When he had calmed down, Riordan said he was assured that the power shutdown had nothing to do with the drill to determine whether the city will continue operating smoothly as the 20th century comes to an end Jan. 1. The outage was later blamed on a short in a power meter.

You're a gov't geek. Your test/drill looks like it went south, somewhat. Your boss's boss's boss comes storming out of an elevator, very upset. Do you (a) tell him that it was your drill that upset him, or (b) blame some other fairly believable factor that was completely out of your control?

If you answered (a), you are certainly honest, but you have no future whatsoever in gov't work.

-- Mac (sneak@lurk.hid), May 26, 1999.

Ahh, yes, the coverup.

Sorry, just don't buy this one. Would seem pretty hard to coverup whether or not a power outage occurred.

-- Hoffmeister (hoff_meister@my-dejanews.com), May 26, 1999.

Thanks to all for your responses. With all due respect to the polys who chimed in, and to you in particular, Hoff, consider this:

The mayor's statement: "If we can't take care of the elevators, what can we take care of in this city?"

Now consider this: Even if the outage was NOT due to Y2K, if they can't even take care of the elevators now, how in the world will they take care of the elevators--or LA--after Y2k hits 'em?

Sandmann

-- Sandmann (Sandmann@alasbab.com), May 26, 1999.

I don't know, Sandmann. But how would you propose the elevators be operated without power?

-- Hoffmeister (hoff_meister@my-dejanews.com), May 26, 1999.

Remember the refrain, "We will finish remediation by 12/31/1998 and have a year for testing." LA is testing with only about 7 months left. Does that mean that they are 5 months late? I think that they are more like 5 years late.

-- Increduluous (ytt000@aol.com), May 27, 1999.

If memory serves, they were also testing the RED plugs. (Emergency power for 911, dispatch, etc) Gee, wonder if the elevators are going to be put on the gen circuits.

C

-- Chuck, a night driver (rienzoo@en.com), May 27, 1999.

111 days to go. No chance.

-- Andy (2000EOD@prodigy.net), May 27, 1999.

FOF -- Fix on Failure (Yeah, baby!)

-- A (A@AisA.com), May 27, 1999.