A halfway decent community meeting in Iowa

greenspun.com : LUSENET : TimeBomb 2000 (Y2000) : One Thread

I went to the 4th in an ongoing series of Y2K meetings in Iowa City last night. I'd say 35 in attendance. I had given up after going to the first one and hearing a bunch of condescending prattle about "winter storms" from a lone City Disaster Management guy. It seems the tune has changed for the better.

There was a panel of speakers from our power company, the UI research hospital, the police dept etc. The police captain said he had personally made preps for 3 months. He said "There will be opportunists who will take advantage of disruptions." He said "There will be disruptions and you need to prepare just like you buy house insurance." He said the plan is to release 12 locations where police /emergency med personnel will be stationed sometime in September. They are waiting until then due to all the UIowa students coming back from summer vacation at that time and needing the information, so he said. The city guy spent a long time talking about protecting your pipes when the power is out, (windex in the bowl and empty the tank). The hospital has generators, fuel for several weeks ready and is stocking pharmaceuticals. The nursing homes/mental health facilities are storing food and fuel for the generators they already have and working on evacuation plans for a large number of mentally retarded people who live in group homes in the area.

The most drivel came from the power company guy who gave the usual spiel about "Hey we're just great, but those coal mines in Wyoming that we depend on? Who knows." Iowa City also apparently has combustion turbine somethings or other that are supposedly pretty easy to get going manually (?)

I just wanted to share this, have lurked here with sporadic contributions at times. This meeting was much better then I thought it would be as very little time was wasted reassuring us how everything is going to be just dandy and lots more talk about where to get 55 gallon barrells for water storage. I still think getting out of the city is the best way to go, but it was nice to know that people are taking this more seriously locally then Koskinen and the Spin Doctors would have them.

-- (y2kfallback@yahoo.com), May 28, 1999

Answers

55 gallon new blue polypropylene closed-top barrels:

Sam's Club, stock # 968070, $22.99 each. Don't let them fake you out and say they can't get them. I spoke to Corporate, and they CAN. One store that has them is unit # 6631 in Colorado. You might need to give them that info as well. Shipping (if a special order) is $6 per barrel. Still a pretty good buy.

-- Dennis (djolson@pressenter.com), May 28, 1999.


Fallback,

I am glad to see the meeting went ok. I saw it advertised in the Press Citizen when I was visiting IC last Wed. I don't know whether or not the situation would get bad in IC as there way to laid back people in that town. Besides, when the students go home for winter break, that will leave less of a burden on local authorities. I don't know what CR will be like. Are these meetings monthly, weekly, or what? I do not know of any meeting in CR yet.

-- y2k dave (xsdaa111@hotmail.com), May 28, 1999.


"...and the Spin Doctors would have them." Hey! I resemble that remark! FYI, I'm on the record as a 7 on the doom scale.

Thinking of Changing My Handle,

-- Spindoc' (spindoc_99_2000@yahoo.com), May 28, 1999.


Moderation questions? read the FAQ