Barstow's State Senator opposes area code changes

“Those three little numbers are such a big part of our lives, so when somebody says change them, the consequences are real.”

State Senator Roy Ashburn, R-Bakersfield

State Sen. Roy Ashburn has come out against a plan to assign a new area code to new area phone numbers.

In a letter to Michael R. Peevey, president of the California Public Utilities Commission, Ashburn, R-Bakersfield, favored an area code split over a proposed overlay as a solution to the dwindling numbers available in the vast 760 area code region. He said constituents from in his 18th District, which includes Barstow, had called asking him to oppose a change to their area code.

The split would force residents in northern San Diego County to adopt the new 442 area code and allow the rest of the 760 area code to stay the same. A competing proposal, known as an overlay and favored by those in north San Diego County, would make new numbers in the 760 area code use the 442 distinction.

“A proposed overlay might be confusing as same households might have different area codes,” Ashburn wrote in his letter. “Many of the people that reside in the counties of Inyo and San Bernardino work and do business in one area code. They do not exist in the ‘multiple area-code life style’ that is the norm in urban areas.”

Few people went to a public meeting held at the beginning of the month in Victorville to discuss the change. In Carlsbad, in danger of losing the 760 area code, more than 200 people protested the split and favored the overlay.

The utilities commission is scheduled to vote on the fate of the 760 on Oct. 16. Area code changes could go into effect in May.

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(760) 256-4121 or aaupperlee@desertdispatch.com