STORY:
Chicago Ready for Y2K

$55 Million preparation for Year 2000 just about wrapped up in Chicago

After three years of troubleshooting and at a cost of $55 million, city officials in Chicago say they’re prepared for the Year 2000. The city has a second emergency system, backup power sources and extra fueling stations for emergency vehicles. While the city officials say they are prepared they are not saying they are ready.

Since nobody really knows what will or could happen when the New Year dawns Beth Boatman with Chicago’s Information Systems Department says she will never claim to be 100% ready, however Boatman told the Chicago Sun Times the city in confident the city is as prepared as it can be.

City hall has spent the last three years troubleshooting computers and equipment. Computer experts looked through all the terminals and searched for Y2K situations where a computer might interpret the last two digits 00 as the year 1900 instead of the year 2000 causing a computer to malfunction or shutdown.

Nine generators have been leased for the water pumping stations that rely on electrical power, so the water will keep flowing even if the power goes down. Fueling stations that provide gasoline for the city’s huge fleet of vehicles were equipped with backup power even before the Y2K concerns. Mobile dispatch terminals in 1,800 police squad cars are Y2K compliant, so are computers and defibrillators in ambulances. Within the next week a Y2K fix will be in place for all 1,300-dispatch computers installed in Fire vehicles.

The city still has a lot of work to do making sure their will be no routine shortages. City officials are concerned that any shortage could touch off a panic, which in turn could become a huge problem. To make sure this doesn’t happen the city will staff its 911 command center with an army of city workers. They will give round the clock media briefings to keep the public informed.

DATE: 10/25/99

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