Public dialogue on the year 2000 problem has centered around its potential impact on businesses and government and 'the economy.' Little attention has been paid to the potential impact on communities--which are, after all, where we live--and on what preparations would be prudent to support communities (that's us!).

Please use these questions. If enough of us ask them in public forums, we can trigger vital community-oriented public dialogue and public policy on Y2K. And please, today, share them with your friends and associates. The sooner these questions get asked by lots of people, the faster we'll get creative responses. Feel free to print, publish, broadcast, distribute, or use this material in any way that you think will stimulate positive approaches to Y2K.

Now is the time for us to demonstrate to politicians and officials at all levels that citizens are aware and concerned about Y2K. Our representatives should be educated about what needs to be done to prepare for potential disruptions. We have designed the following questions to lift Y2K into the political dialogue. Before each question, we provide an opening background statement questioners may use to inform their audience and the politician or official. Then we give the question, phrased to get politicians and officials to say how they will handle the Y2K issue being raised.

Government officials may be asked these questions any time, especially at public meetings. If they're asked these questions repeatedly, we'll probably see coordinated government responses to Y2K rising to the top of everyone's agenda. We suggest you have your local groups attend public meetings, call in to radio and TV talk shows, write letters and ask these questions. Together we can launch our constructive Y2K agenda into the national consciousness. We can push officials to:

? help us get more information about basic infrastructure readiness,

? address how Y2K will affect communities, and

? encourage communities to work together to prepare for disruptions.

We could also send these questions to the offices of public officials, saying that we're spreading them by e-mail. We can suggest that the official prepare answers. We might even provide a website that has all the answers (our answers) on it. (Unless they do their own research and come up with their own answers, which is also fine.)

Statement l: The year 2000 problem may just be a big inconvenience, or it could really mess up our lives and communities. I want to know how the important institutions we depend on are doing in fixing their computer systems and embedded microchips. Most companies and governments are holding back information. They don't answer our questions--or they give us PR responses or legalese that doesn't tell us where they're at. They leave us no choice but to prepare for the worst, because we have to assume that they're really behind and are going to fail in January 2000. We should be able to know what is really going on; or at least they could tell us that they don't really know what will happen in January 2000.Question 1: What will you do to make it easier for citizens to get real information about how companies, utilities and agencies are doing in their preparations for Y2K?