Because of a power transmission problem in the city's IT system (essentially, the city's IT infrastructure is no longer capable of meeting demand for online services and was starting to overheat), the city plans to shut down most of its online services for most of five days starting August 31, Mayor Mike McGinn announced this morning.

"If you want to do business with the city, get it done by [next] Thursday," McGinn said. Or wait until the following Wednesday when everything will be back online.

The city will eventually need to upgrade its system to add more capacity.

Although 911 and other emergency services will still work, you won't be able to pay most bills, take care of parking tickets, or renew pet licenses online (but who will think of the animals?).

The city has a list of specific services that won't be available on its web site, but here are some of the major ones:

Utility payments;

Online court payments;

Live traffic maps;

Streaming Seattle Channel video (noooooooooooooo!); and

Business licenses and renewals.

Additionally, all but one of the city's neighborhood service centers---the Central service center, at 2301 S. Jackson St, Suite 208---will be closed.

Repairing the data center will cost the city $2.1 million.