Gee, that 50 million dollar command center in the sky with bullet-proof glass just isn't secure enough for Rudi. Wonder what the deal is?

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The Big Apple's millennium party might be taking place in Times Square on New Year's Eve, but Mayor Rudolph Giuliani is going underground -- specifically, to his specially designed subterranean bunker. Giuliani, who prefers to call the facility an "emergency command center," said on CBS News "Early Show" on Tuesday that he and the city's police, fire and other commissioners would be ushering in the millennial new year at the facility in the World Trade Center. "We're going to use it for the Y2K turnover of the city," Giuliani said. "Every commissioner will be working just in case there's a problem in the switch-over to the new year. We've spent $320 to $330 million for the last two and a half years getting ready for Y2K, making sure that everything works. We've checked it out two or three times, but you never know." He told CBS that his hunkering down in the bunker, which is reportedly outfitted with special air filters for biological and chemical prevention, was not a sign that he was privy to any specific threat. "It has a lot of things -- we think it's state-of-the-art," he said. But he said the city had "very, very effective security plans ... that have been in effect for about two or three years." Giuliani told the news conference there was no way to guarantee 100 percent safety -- "that's life," he said -- but assured New Yorkers that "everything is being done to create a safe environment." With thousands of police officers on hand for New York's big Times Square, 24-hour party, the mayor said it would probably be among the safest places in the city. Some 18,000 officers will be on duty throughout the city. Giuliani will actually emerge from the bunker before midnight on New Year's Eve, making the trek to Times Square for the traditional ball drop which this year is expected to be witnessed live by over one million revelers. Other city and utility officials said that up to five years of preparations had paid off, with the city "well prepared" for any Y2K computer glitches when the year turns to 2000. Power giant Con Ed said some 2,000 employees would be working over the New Year's weekend, up from the usual 500 to 800, and added that customers do not need to take any "unusual steps" in anticipation of problems.

-- Nikoli Krushev (doomsday@y2000.com), December 22, 1999

Answers

Seems a little too much "questionable" air traffic in that area to suit me!!

-- Sam (Watch@Longisland.net), December 22, 1999.

That is odd as the bunker was said to be on a very high floor. Also he has been criticized for the big rent being paid as this is a several year rental and one of his major supporters profits.

-- Mara (MaraWayne@aol.com), December 22, 1999.

I think it's pretty clear what they have done here is the same thing as the feds did with their command center in D.C., namely they have an above ground command center connected via an express elevator to an underground nuke shelter. I bet old Guliani is sore as hell some reporter blew his cover story. It makes me sick to my stomach that our government is not only lying through it's teeth about the danger we are facing, but is also attempting to cover up the fact that they will all be in UNDERGROUND shelters for the rollover. All 50 states, the Feds, and the military, and FEMA. Underground.

-- Nikoli Krushev (doomsday@y2000.com), December 23, 1999.

Reuters made a mistake. Another corrected version of the story came out later. The Bunker is on the 23rd floor of 7 World Trade Center.

-- (reuters@done.goofed), December 23, 1999.

Anyone who deliberately desires to remain in New York City during the rollover is...

a) stupid

b) soused

c) lost

d) all of the above

-- dinosaur (dinosaur@williams-net.com), December 23, 1999.

That little weasel! Bet he's gonna have all of his family and friends down there too. I still don't think it is nukes they are worried about (IMO), but I wouldn't be at all suprised to see some anthrax bombs lobbed into the general vicinity of the Big Apple.

-- Hawk (flyin@high.again), December 23, 1999.

Reuters made a mistake all right, they told the truth without getting permission.

-- Nikoli Krushev (doomsday@y2000.com), December 23, 1999.

In the category of things that make you go HUMMMMMMM. Gosh wasn't it the World Trade Center basement that was blown up and had to be rebuilt? And didn't the FBI furnish the bomb and then allow them to detonate it? What exactly did they build in that basement, or connect to it while they were working on it? Why was that building chosen for the 120 floor up command center at outrageous cost? Just exactly how long has the government been planning this little duck and cover drill?

-- Nikoli Krushev (doomsday@y2000.com), December 23, 1999.

I have spoke on this before. Pray for those poor bastards that must go down in their hole. They must make a decision that I am glad I do not have to make. They will be given a quota of who they can take into the hole with them. In other words, is my parents, children, inlaws to stay behind. Who do I love the most, who can I take with me, and who do I leave behind? A decision I am not having to make. Shold TSHTF we will all be nuclear dust raining down on them when they reappear above ground, making what remains of their life miserable. Should this be a "non-event," as the gov., has spoon fed us,it will be even worse, when they come up out of their hole, they must come eyeball the eyeball with those they culled from their list, and this will be far worse than have to meet us as nuclear dust.

-- Notforlong (Fsur439@aol.com), December 23, 1999.

That's right, and for those who are strong believers in religion, the 3rd secret of Fatima says....

"Those that will survive will wish that they were among the dead."

Then they will have to decide whether they want to go on living or commit suicide.

-- Hawk (flyin@high.again), December 23, 1999.

SNIPBoth the Fed and Treasury will be reporting regularly to a White House Y2K monitoring center, set up on the eighth floor of a downtown office building not far from White House. It will be offering regular briefings on developments around the world as the millennium begins.

And where will Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan and Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers be? No one is saying specifically but it's a safe bet neither will be partying on New Year's eve.

"Chairman Greenspan will be be in touch and readily available," the Fed spokesman said. "Secretary Summers won't be here physically but he'll be in regular touch," said a Treasury spokesman.

Everbody repeat after me...B...U...N...K...E...R...

-- Nikoli Krushev (doomsday@y2000.com), December 23, 1999.

With all the talk about bunkers, what was it the cement truck driver said? It reminded me of the Roach Motel ad line: "They might go in, but they can't get out." The more I think about his comment the more I like it.

I originally thought that the worst nightmare of a bunch of bunker dwellers would be to be running out of food and water. And all they see out their periscope is folks hanging around outside with ropes in their hands.

But now I really have this mental picture of the bigwig bunker dwellers feeling the ground start to rumble. And what they see in their outside view is a bunch of cement trucks with the drums turning in the unload direction with the chutes all pointing towards the bunker entrance.

WW, got screeting boards and trowels?

-- Wildweasel (vtmldm@epix.net), December 23, 1999.

LOL, Wild Weasel I like the way you think!! I was kinda thinking of the scene from the dirty dozen myself, where they pour the gasoline down the ventilator shafts and toss in the grenades....Got Barbeque sauce?

-- Nikoli Krushev (doomsday@y2000.com), December 23, 1999.