Half of big cities lagging in Y2K efforts

The nation's largest cities are lagging in preparing themselves for the 2000 date change, according to a new study by Congress's watchdog group.

Only one city, Boston, is Y2K ready, while half of the remaining cities plan to be ready by Sept. 30, and the remainder between Oct. 1 and Dec. 31, according to a General Accounting Office report scheduled to be released Thursday. While most cities have completed work on transportation and telecommunications systems, few have finished upgrading water treatment systems, public buildings and emergency services.

In a number of cities, services such as electric power and healthcare facilities are operated by counties or states.

The 10 cities that expect to be ready by Dec. 31 include: Los Angeles, Chicago, Phoenix, San Antonio, Detroit, San Francisco, Baltimore, Columbus, Ohio, El Paso, Texas, and Washington, D.C.

The GAO report was prepared for the Senate's special Year 2000 committee. The panel, headed by Sens. Robert Bennett, R-UT, and Christopher Dodd, D-CT, has held a number of hearings over the past two years studying various aspects of Y2K readiness.

While federal programs are expected to be ready for the date change, officials are concerned that state and local organizations haven't prepared enough to handle Y2K-related glitches early next year.

A recent National League of Cities survey of 400 cities found that 92 percent of their critical systems will be Y2K-compliant by Jan. 1, 2000. Two-thirds of the cities have contingency plans, and of those that don't, 48 percent say they are planning to develop one.