WASHINGTON -- Gordon Davidson is an unlikely prophet of doom. With his mop of speckled gray hair and a quirky smile that never quits, Davidson looks more like an amicable ice cream truck driver than someone who spends his days warning communities of possible food shortages and blackouts.
But if towns and local governments don't act now, Davidson believes that's exactly what the Y2K computer snafu will beget.
"Very reputable and solid people who understand the problem are thinking this could be serious," he told a roomful of 40 local activists who gathered Monday evening in the offices of the Washington DC-based non-denominational group he heads, the Center for Visionary Leadership. "How do we make sure everyone is adequately prepared?"
Frustrated by naysaying neighbors, misleading media coverage, and recalcitrant bureaucrats who refuse to recognize the potential for calamity, these folks are raising awareness the old-fashioned way: They're doing it themselves.
A plan of action is gradually developing during these weekly meetings in the center's offices on Wisconsin Avenue, just up the street from the National Cathedral. A broad outline discussed Monday includes a coordinated assault on the collected forces of Y2K ignorance and denial: communities, local leaders, and the media.
A team of organizers trekked in from Shepherdstown, West Virginia, to recount a cheering tale of Y2K success. Curt Bury, a telecommunications consultant, described how the four awareness meetings he helped to organize drew a total of 130 locals -- a respectable turnout for a small town of just 1,200.
In Tacoma Park, the city council has OK'd the creation of a Y2K group, and plans are being laid for a citywide forum in Washington DC next month. Fledgling organizations are taking wing in nearby Greenbelt and Friendship Heights.
"Unless everyone is prepared, none of us is prepared," Davidson says.
