How to get a Mayor's or Governor's Proclamation about Y2K
To get a mayor's or governor's proclamation:
- Call the city or state office and ask for the name of the person in
charge of proclamations and their fax number.
- Fax the following request and proclamation language, substituting
the appropriate name and location to them along with your contact information.
That's it! Proclamations can be used to get additional media attention,
to encourage participation etc. See below for language to use.
Sample One
TO: Judy Tuttle, Proclamation Department, City of Portand
FROM: Susan Lannis, L & S Resources and the Portland Year 2000 User
Group
DATE: 8-7-98
RE: Year 2000 Global Awareness Day proclamation
The Portland Year 2000 User Group and it's members are actively working
to prepare Portland businesses, government offices and private citizens
for any consequences resulting from technology problems infected with the
'millennium bug'. As you know, this is a global, socio-economic issue.
For a variety of reasons, many people are not either yet aware of the full
impact of the problem on their personal, daily life or they have not been
educated about what to do.
August 19, 1998 has been declared Year 2000 Global Awareness day. This
date was selected because it marks the fact that only 500 days remain in
which we can work to solve, prevent or prepare for the impact of these technology
failures that may occur as the clock rolls over to January 1, 2000.
The movement started in South Africa where major events are planned. The
purpose is to get the general public aware of the personal impact of these
potential problems so that they can prepare their homes, families and businesses.
The Portland User Group plans a media campaign to help create awareness
in Portland. Here is the proposed wording:
Whereas: August 19, 1998 has been declared Global Year
2000 Awareness Day and
Whereas: The computer problem, know as the 'Millennium
Bug' can disrupt the daily operations of Portland businesses and the lives
of it's citizens; and
Whereas: For any citizen to be safe and ready, all citizens
must be safe and ready; and
Whereas: There are only 500 days left for Portlanders to
learn about how they may impacted by the consequences of the computer problem
and act to solve, prevent or prepare for such problems
Now therefore, I Vera Katz, Mayor of Portland, hereby proclaim
August 19, 1998 as "Year 2000 Awareness Day" in Portland and encourage
all citizens to join in this observance etc?..
As time is short, please fax a copy of the proclamation to me at 503-653-1059
as soon as it is ready. Send the proclamation documents to me at the address
above.
Thank you so much for helping us add this to our Awareness Day efforts!
Susan Lannis
L & S Resources, Inc.
IMOrganizr@aol.com
Sample Two
From: Ian Wells (by way of Ian Wells <ian@rsn.hp.com>)
Subject: A possible city Y2k proclamation
Here is an example for a proclamation which your mayor or civic leader could
make that would provide a local leadership story to coincide with Y2k Global
Action Day. A similar proclamation is being proposed in Lowell MA and can
be adopted to your town. Such local publicity provides the opportunity for
local banks and chamber of commerce to tell their customers about their
Y2k preparedness seminars/programs.
Proclamation
Lowell Business Y2k Action Day
Whereas: The computer bug known as "Y2k" can
cause business disruptions or failures in Lowell
Whereas: A strong business community is the backbone of
the City of Lowell
Whereas: August 19th is Y2k Global Action Day ( http://www.y2kactionday.com
)
Whereas: Our local banks and the Small Business Association
have the expertise to help small businesses avoid Y2k failures ( http://www.sba.gov/y2k
)
Whereas: Lowell is gaining a national reputation for leadership
in community Y2k preparation ( http://www.lowellonline.org/bna/y2k
)
Whereas: President Clinton in his speech July 14th alerted
us to the seriousness of this risk: "Every business should assess its
exposure, asks vendors and suppliers to be ready as well, and develop contingency
plans, as we are, in case critical systems or systems of vendors fail as
we move into the year 2000." ( http://www.y2k.gov/new/presy2k.html
)
Whereas: A recent Walls Fargo bank survey shows that of
the small businesses that even know about the problem, roughly half intend
to do nothing about it. 330,000 businesses nationwide are at risk of shutting
down until their Y2k problems are fixed. ( http://wellsfargo.com/press/press980526/
)
The Mayor and Lowell City Council hereby declare August 19th 1998, to be
Lowell Business Y2k Action Day.
Business or non-profit failures in Lowell caused by Y2k failures are
unacceptable to the Mayor and City Council. We encourage all businesses
to work with their local bank, chamber of commerce and the Small Business
Administration to ensure they are prepared for Y2k.
Signed: