Wealthiest county in America, and they are trying to place a requirements contract for generators for delivery if/when power fails. When there won't be any available. Not even buying a few now as a contingency. Not even requiring the winner to have them/keep them in stock awaiting declaration of a disaster.

http://www.co.fairfax.va.us/dpsm/rfp/31987412.pdf

Not to worry, if you are from Washington or surrounding counties and cities in northern Virginia or Maryland. They are doing this for you too.

-- ng (cantprovideemail@none.com), September 22, 1999

Answers

In the event of severe Y2K problems, I have the utmost confidence that Fairfax County Government will fail to prevent any significant loss of life and property. This is my home team, of course. And I give them an F.

Sincerely, Stan Faryna

-- Stan Faryna (info@giglobal.com), September 22, 1999.

Amazing.

What is probably the 'best prepared' county in the US looking for generators - and still finding code problems.

The more they look, the more they find.

Will they ever finish? No.

Y2k cannot be fixed.

Those localities that started much later and expended much less effort (that's over 99% of them) feel they are in "much better shape".

Ignorance is bliss for another 100 days or so.

-- TrustHim (ItComes@Soon.now), September 22, 1999.

P.S. The Northern Virginia Y2K Community Action Group has a web site at www.novay2k.org

Got 14 days of preps? If not, get started on your Y2K preparations now. Click here.

Have you read Sally's essay, "Bean Theory"?  Click here to get to the Y2K Kitchen.

Have you checked out the TB2000 Preparation Archives recently? If not, click here.

-- Stan Faryna (info@giglobal.com), September 22, 1999.

ditto stan. i live in fairfax and am pretty concerned about the community's plans. just look at their Y2K web site. plus i have an acquaintance in the risk management office there who seemed to indicate that she was having a hard time getting people motivated regarding Y2K. i thought there was a world of difference between the falls church city website and fairfax's. what a bunch of bureaucrats!

-- tt (cuddluppy@yahoo.com), September 23, 1999.

Good point, at least they are looking.

Bad point, they won't be able to get them, nor hook them up safely to the right buildings and power panels, or fuel them from ???, or install them on ??? foundations and mounts, or protect them (environmentally, noise-wide, or from damage and looting/destruction.) These things (ones big enough to matter) require a lot of work to locate, purchase, ship, position and mount, get in place and get hooked up. If they don't do it ahead of time, they can't get all these done in time to be useful.

Bad point. If the best prepared counties are looking for generators, what are the regular and poorly prepared counties going to do?

Unknown, but scary point. What information has convinced Fairfax county that generators are worth spending the time, money, and effort when the PTB are telling us that preparations are not needed?

-- Robert A. Cook, PE (Marietta, GA) (cook.r@csaatl.com), September 23, 1999.

If you will find my thread in the archives from late August, which begins with "Fairfax County Meeting" in the title, you will see why. I spoke personally, and with another gentleman known to Stan, at length outside the marble palace (County Bldgs.) at length with the head of Y2K Planning, whose name is Happy (I kid you not!!!) See our conversation there.

They are not going to even CHOOSE which high-schools MIGHT be used IN CASE there is a blackout until it happens!!! Talk about Fix On Failure!!! This county, just outside DC, is toast. No amount of reasoning could change either woman's mind with whom I spoke...no, whom I implored to reconsider this foolish delay.

I used the City of Manassas's excellent plan and preparation of their high-school as a model they could follow...to no avail.

Please pray for those of us who cannot escape this area.

-- Elaine Seavey (Gods1sheep@aol.com), September 23, 1999.