REGION: 760 fight continues
Assemblyman Garrick to file petition to ask PUC to reconsider area code decision
By GARY WARTH - Staff Writer | ∞
State Assemblyman Martin Garrick will ask the Public Utilities Commission to reconsider its April decision to change North County's area code, a representative from the assemblyman's office said Thursday.
Mike Zimmerman, chief of staff for Garrick, R-Solana Beach, said the assemblyman's office will submit a petition for modification on Friday. The document will formally ask the commission to reconsider its April 24 decision to change North County's area code from 760 to 442.
Zimmerman said he expects the petition to be before commissioners at their Sept. 4 meeting.
In July, Garrick and other local officials signed a joint letter asking the commission to reconsider its decision to split the area code, but Zimmerman said they since have learned that the commission requires either an official appeal or a petition for modification to revisit a past decision.
The deadline to file an appeal passed 30 days after the commission's April 24 decision, weeks before momentum picked up to challenge the decision, leaving the petition as a last option.
The petition for modification requires the petitioner to show proof that new information has come to light since the decision was made. Zimmerman declined Thursday to disclose what that new information was, but he did say many people were upset to learn that the change in area codes would affect mobile phones as well as land lines.
The commission decided to split the 760 area code, which covers about a third of California, because the combinations of numbers that could be used with the code were running out. The new area code is scheduled to begin in November on a voluntary basis and will become mandatory next May, although Garrick also is asking the commission to delay its implementation.
"We have a huge hill to climb here, but Mr. Garrick is absolutely committed to trying to change it," Zimmerman said.
Under the commission's decision, the new 442 area code would be specific to North County and is projected to last 22 years. The change would be the third area code for North County since 1980.
Some North County residents said they felt out of the loop when the commission approved the area code change.
Leucadia resident Scott Chatfield launched the Web site www.Keep760.org in early June to protest the change. So far, more than 5,000 people have used the site to generate letters that ask local elected officials to push the commission to reconsider its decision.
Rather than splitting the 760 area code, Chatfield said he would rather the commission create an overlay zone that would allow everyone to keep their phone numbers, while new phones within the same area would be assigned 442.
Even if he does not win his fight against the commission, Chatfield said he hopes the effort will at least inspire the commission to revise its notification process, as many people said they were unaware that the commission was considering the change.
Zimmerman said Garrick has met with commissioners individually to discuss the issue, and some were more sympathetic than others.
Garrick also has met with an attorney who has experience with the commission to help write the petition for modification, Zimmerman said. With more work ahead, however, the people who have given their energy to keep 760 in North County may be asked to pitch in financially as well
"We are working with some chamber folks and with other people involved," he said. "We're trying to be as frugal as we can, but it's definitely not going to be cheap."
Contact staff writer Gary Warth at (760) 740-5410 or gwarth@nctimes.com.
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Not Again wrote on Aug 14, 2008 8:32 PM:I had to deal with the 619 to 760 change already, now they want to change me again? When will the powers that be stop inconveniencing the same people over and over again. Without ever moving, my school district readjusted their boundary lines 3 times while my child was in grade school, each time requiring her to transfer to a new school. ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!
Umm.. wrote on Aug 14, 2008 9:35 PM:O-ver-lay. Can you say it? It works in L.A. It's not any more confusing than us being "used to dealing with multiple area codes".
Who ever appointed this board of idiots needs to not be re-elected.
EscoWatchDog wrote on Aug 14, 2008 11:10 PM:Why not change the 619 folks instead of us again? Ugh.
Ray wrote on Aug 15, 2008 2:05 AM:Geez folks..... It's only an area code. Get a rubber stamp and quit whinning.
John wrote on Aug 15, 2008 7:15 AM:WHY is the idea of REVERSING the two areas of the "new" area code, so diffucult to comprehend? WHY should the more populous areas have to switch THEIR area code? Let the Imperial Valley, Palm Springs, Blythe and Needles be stuck with the 442. There are more of us then of them! Make THEM change!
Geeze folks wrote on Aug 15, 2008 7:34 AM:it is only 3 numbers. I know the California school systems are bad but you can do it. It's not that hard to memorize 3 different numbers. There are much more important things that need to be addressed.
hello Ray wrote on Aug 15, 2008 7:43 AM:that is the answer I will buy a rubber stamp and stamp the doors on my truck and I will stamp all the business cards I have to buy for my employees and all the staionary will look so professional or I can just throw it out and buy new right RAY, thanks ... but I would rather not you rubber stamper...way to use your ... brain...
who still dials numbers wrote on Aug 15, 2008 9:27 AM:With saved numbers on my cell phone and home phone, I can't remember the last time I dialed a phone number. I understand the cost to businesses in having to reprint brochures, letterhead, etc, but I guess that's just the cost of doing business. As for private citizens, get over it and pre-program the numbers.
to hello Ray wrote on Aug 15, 2008 9:54 AM:Cost of doing business. Write it off on your taxes and get on with it. Must not be to busy if you are blogging here. Use a Sharpie and do it yourself.
Alf wrote on Aug 15, 2008 10:50 AM:Well, "Umm.." at 9:35PM on the 14th,
the CPUC does not know the meaning of
SIMPLICITY!
Regards, Alf.
I am in wrote on Aug 15, 2008 11:04 AM:760 area code, how come on some 760 numbers I have to dial 1-760-581-XXXX?
Alf wrote on Aug 15, 2008 11:07 AM:Well, "hello Ray" at 7:43AM,
it is obvious that "Ray" -
A) is not a businessperson AND
B) does not care about businesses AND
C) does not have many people in his family AND
D) does not have many friends.
To a business an area code change means -
1) cost for new business cards AND
2) cost for new business forms AND
3) cost for new signage AND
4) cost for notifying all previous clients AND
5) cost for notifying all current clients AND
6) the costs of many other unspecified things.
Who pays for all these costs?
Not the CPUC.
That's why they chose the most costly option (changing the area code in the most business-intensive area) instead of the least costly one of using an overlay system (all new customers and numbers after a certain date would be the new area code).
Regards, Alf.
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