No one really knows what will happen–except that cops, firemen and techies won’t have the night off. San Francisco: Sixty self-powered towers will light the Embarcadero for those watching fireworks over the bay. BART will run through the night.

Los Angeles: The city is preparing as if for the Northridge earthquake of 1994. Buses and the 53 miles of light rail and subway are sound. The National Guard will be standing by.

Dallas: Sales of propane and guns are up. But city officials are optimistic. The rapid transit will shut down for five minutes on each side of midnight but otherwise run on a rush-hour schedule until 2:30 a.m.

Minneapolis/St. Paul: St. Paul will post staffed city vehicles with radio linkages at 72 sites, including police stations and convenience-store parking lots. Minneapolis is telling its citizenry to go to firehouses for help.

Cleveland: If power fails, motorists have been told to consider intersections with dead traffic signals to be all-way stops. The city has stocked 93,000 gallons of gas and diesel fuel for emergency vehicles, enough to last five days.

Boston: A group of six hospitals, including Beth Israel Deaconess and Mount Auburn, has tested 41,000 pieces of equipment. “At the stroke of midnight,” says a spokesman, “no patient will be alone, and everyone in the hospital will have a flashlight.”

New York: A celeb-studded bash was abruptly canned two weeks ago due to poor ticket sales. Many locals are fleeing or hunkering down, though 1.5 million are expected in Times Square.

Atlanta: Rapid transit will shut down shortly before midnight. The Hartsfield airport, 911 and water are ready. Back-end mainframes that handle the city’s administrative functions may not be. Paycheck, anyone?