WASHINGTON (AP) - Nearly half the nation's 21 largest cities won't complete work on coping with the Y2K computer bug until the final quarter of the year, according to a congressional report.

Two cities, Dallas and Boston, have finished their preparations to ensure their computers will continue to function on Jan. 1, 2000. Nine others expect to be fully ready by Sept. 30, and 10 cities say they will be ready between Oct. 1 and the end of the year.

The survey by the General Accounting Office, the investigative arm of Congress, is to be released at a hearing Thursday of the Senate's special committee on the Y2K problem. The Associated Press obtained a draft copy Wednesday.

The GAO asked the cities to provide information on the Y2K status of systems supporting such city services as electric power, water, emergency services, hospitals, transportation and public buildings.

It found that most cities say they have completed work on city-run transportation and telecommunication systems, but still have more to do in the areas of water and wastewater treatment systems, public buildings and emergency services.

The Y2K problem relates to older computer systems that recognize only the last two digits of a year and could read the digits ``00'' as 1900 rather than 2000. That could cause computer systems to malfunction or break down, disrupting basic civil services.

Federal agencies, at the prodding of Congress and the White House, are generally thought to be in good shape, but there is more concern about the efforts state and local governments are making in fixing computers.

The GAO report noted that while most cities won't be totally prepared until later in the year, many have made substantial progress. Los Angeles, for example, will have all systems Y2K-compliant by the end of September, except for wastewater treatment systems, which will be finished in November.

El Paso plans to be Year 2000-ready by Sept. 1 except for its police department, which is scheduled to be ready on Dec. 1. Baltimore is the only other city anticipating a December completion date.

The report also found that six cities have finished contingency plans for breakdowns while six cities have carried out independent verification of their Y2K measures. Thirteen other cities are now conducting independent verification.

Cities saying they will be Y2K ready by Sept. 30 are New York; Houston; Philadelphia; San Diego; San Jose, Calif.; Indianapolis; Jacksonville, Fla.; Memphis, Tenn.; and Milwaukee.

Those that will finish work in the final three months of the year are Los Angeles; Chicago; Phoenix; San Antonio; Detroit; San Francisco; Baltimore; Columbus, Ohio; El Paso, Texas; and Washington, D.C.

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-- justme (justme@justme.net), July 15, 1999

Answers

Link please?

-- ace (x@y.z), July 15, 1999.

So...

Since the government folks in Boston and Dallas have finished their preparations, that means the regular folks don't need to do anything. Right?


-- Critt Jarvis (middleground@critt.com), July 15, 1999.

This is an S.F. Gate link to one version of that AP story...

Major cities still working to finish Y2K preparations

JIM ABRAMS, Associated Press Writer
Wednesday, July 14, 1999
Breaking News Sections

(07-14) 14:54 PDT WASHINGTON (AP)...

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/ article.cgi?file=/news/archive/1999/07/14/national1754EDT0764.DTL

-- Diane J. Squire (sacredspaces@yahoo.com), July 15, 1999.

I read that, half of the largest 21 cities won't finish until the end of THIS year, not "won't finish at all".

Typical doombrooding

-- (just@lurking.who cares), July 15, 1999.

Phoenix ("The Best Run City In The World") has just passed EMERGENCY LEGISLATION!!

The 'emergency' is the lack of a third hotel in downtown. Yet the waterworks won't work in January! Unbelievable!!

-- K. Stevens (kstevens@It's ALL going away in January.com), July 15, 1999.

Then they will finish up real quick. All will be remediated. Food shortages expected.

-- Mara Wayne (MaraWAyne@aol.com), July 15, 1999.

Gee, I thought that it was well acknowledged that Dee Cee was NOT going to be finished in time, and they were instituting big contingency plans. But in this article, they are expected to be ready after all, at the last second.

Does anyone also have the feeling that maybe this is all BS and in point of fact they (we) are all in big trouble?

-- King of Spain (madrid@aol.com), July 15, 1999.

King of Spain.

Shhhhh...

No one is supposed to tell. No one is supposed to wake the sheeple.

Shhhh.....

-- Linda (lwmb@psln.com), July 15, 1999.

King -- In a way, it's worse than that. The point is: no one knows anything "globally" about how remediation is really going. That's why I actually rate a bump at 5% on a's poll thread. Hey, even a bump is still possible, and I mean, technically possible.

But so is Infomagic.

And it's July 15, 1999.

Think about that. Even if Infomagic is a 1% chance (and we can't really know, could be 5%, could be 75%), that is outrageous.

And we DON'T know and we CAN'T know because the whole operation makes the Keystone Kops look efficient by contrast.

The thing about Phoenix and hotels makes perfect sense. Y2K remediation has been segregated into its little corner as one of those IT kind of things that "they" will fix. Etc. We know the drill. It's also why I put no stock in IT budgets that show Y2K as one fairly minor bucket. That could mean many things and, in fact, it DOES mean many things.

Remember: I said a bump is possible. Technically speaking.

And remember: so is Infomagic. Technically speaking.

-- BigDog (BigDog@duffer.com), July 15, 1999.

Thanks for cheering me up guys!

-- Deborah (infowars@yahoo.com), July 15, 1999.