NYC Deputy Mayor: Y2K Won't Rot The Big Apple

When the clock strikes midnight on New Year's Eve, New York City, the world's financial capital, will be the focus of enormous attention. The metro area's 15 million residents and workers will wait to see if they'll be all right, and investors around the world hope that the New York Stock Exchange won't crash at the hands of the Y2K bug. "We're going to be working that night, but we'll be watching football the next day," says Joseph Lhota, Deputy Mayor for Operations of the City of New York. He says the city is ready for Y2K and is far ahead of most other U.S. cities. "The thing I worry about the most is losing power," Lhota says. He adds that he doubts Consolidated Edison, the local power utility, will go out, but the City's contingency plans must cover traffic control if stoplights, and the computers that control them, fail. Nonetheless, the City maintains a command center, which will be fully staffed during the Y2K conversion period. Lhota says the city has done a lot to counteract negative Y2K hype, including television public service announcements and meetings throughout the five boroughs.