From Y2K Newswire:

145 days until Jan. 1, 2000

Self-sufficient cluster plan dies, but other options set Monday, August 9, 1999

Portland has quietly dropped a pilot project that would have organized a handful of residents into self-reliant groups for possible Year 2000-related disruptions. The project was the final remnant of Mayor Vera Katz's original vision of a city organized by neighborhoods and blocks into self-sufficient clusters able to survive everything from earthquakes to blackouts.

After months of discussion and fine-tuning, the city's plan now calls for volunteers to identify and contact those who are "vulnerable" -- the elderly, disabled and low-income residents who would be most defenseless in power and infrastructure failures. Moreover, every city household will receive Y2K advice in a September mailing.

"It's still a pretty darn good plan," said Mike Lindberg, a former city commissioner who, with Katz, is co-chairman of the city's Year 2000 Council. Concerns about cost drove the total Y2K preparedness budget down to $250,000 from the original $480,000. And some questioned whether the pilot project would overlap with existing city resources, such as neighborhood associations and the Fire Bureau's Neighborhood Emergency Teams.

The pilot project's developer, the nonprofit Global Action Plan for the Earth, is now negotiating with other cities to adopt full-scale Y2K organizing efforts, said Lindberg, a national board member of Global Action. Because of potential conflicts of interests, Lindberg steered clear of decisions about Global Action.

Global Action's 100-page Y2K workbook, "All Together Now," has been endorsed by the National League of Cities. Global Action's Portland representative, Michael Dowd, said he felt mass mailings, speakers bureaus and Neighborhood Emergency Teams did not go far enough. "Frankly, brochures are a waste of money," said Dowd, founder of the Portland Metro Citizens Y2K Task Force and a trained member of the Sunnyside neighborhood's Neighborhood Emergency Team. "Brochures, no matter how great they are, don't provide peer support and accountability."

The mailings will contain:  A letter from the mayor and an explanation of potentialY2K effects.  A status report on the Y2K-readiness of local services.  A description of the city's Y2K-related outreach activities.  Preparedness advice, including a Y2K preparedness checklist, general emergency preparedness guidelines and a Y2K fraud alert.  Contacts for community resources, such as the American Red Cross, the Federal Emergency Management Agency and local service providers.  Advice for actual emergencies, such as dos and don'ts and a map of the city's fire stations and police precincts.

The materials will also be available in Spanish, Vietnamese, Russian and Braille.

At the same time, Celia Heron, the city's Y2K preparedness coordinator, is making contact with existing community networks, such as the Hollywood Senior Center and the Oregon Food Bank, that reach vulnerable residents.

Rachel Jacky, the Fire Bureau's Neighborhood Emergency Team coordinator, said volunteers have been recruited for a speakers bureau, with training scheduled for September.

-- Steve Woodward

Don't you wish they had kept the mayor's valuable neighborhood team idea? Wouldn't you love to see such a team in your neighborhood. Does anyone know how to reach Global Action Plan for the Earth?

-- Elaine Seavey (Gods1sheep@aol.com), August 10, 1999

Answers

How about howe9@pop.shentel.net), August 10, 1999.

Let's try that again:

Global Action Plan

-- Bingo1 (howe9@pop.shentel.net), August 10, 1999.

Three's a charm?

This One Will Work

-- Bingo1 (howe9@pop.shentel.net), August 10, 1999.

What gives? Checked the source code on the last failed attempt, where's the boo boo?

Anyway...

www.globalactionplan.org

-- Bingo1 (howe9@pop.shentel.net), August 10, 1999.

Elaine, we could say a lot about this, but won't. *Sigh* Good ideas shot down by political infighting. We've watched the whole thing. Government is now irrelevant. 'Nuff said.

-- Ashton & Leska in Cascadia (allaha@earthlink.net), August 10, 1999.

Bingo,

http://

?

-- Mabel (mabel_louise@yahoo.com), August 10, 1999.