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Who wants 10-digit number?

CPUC must have bad connection. They aren't hearing local customers' area code concerns.

The Bakersfield Californian | Tuesday, Oct 7 2008 6:51 PM

Last Updated: Tuesday, Oct 7 2008 6:52 PM

Some choice. Dial 10 digits for a simple local call or change to a new area code entirely -- and pay for it by reprinting business cards and letterhead.

Those seem to be the options for Ridgecrest and eastern Kern County residents as the state Public Utilities Commission weighs how to ease call congestion in the 760 area code.

The 760 area code covers one of the largest geographic regions in the state -- from Bridgeport in Mono County to Calexico near the Mexican border, and west to the beach communities of northern San Diego County. Much of the area is empty desert -- or was, until the population boom in northern San Diego County used up so many phone number combinations. All of them will be exhausted in 760 by the third quarter of 2009.

The judge who originally ruled northern San Diego County would have to switch to 442 has tentatively reconsidered. Now -- pending a final decision this month -- new phone customers in the 760 area will be issued 442 numbers -- part of a so-called overlay system that allows existing customers to keep their old numbers.

This is an improvement? It's much cleaner when an area code corresponds with a geographic area. And that's what the judge's original decision called for -- a new 442 area code, with Kern and points north keeping 760. Then the ruling changed.

No one bothered to ask the people of eastern Kern County what they thought about the whole thing until recent days, when Supervisor Jon McQuiston held public meetings in the Kern River Valley and in Ridgecrest. Understandably, the vast majority opposed the 442 overlay.

McQuiston brought those and other concerns to a PUC hearing on Oct. 2. Among his concerns: an overlay could create operational burdens on the Naval Air Weapons Station at China Lake, which is expected to grow substantially in the coming years.

Does the PUC care? It cared enough to ask the folks in the affected areas south of here. The judge seems to have made her ruling based on their feedback. Yet a number of eastern Sierra towns hadn't even heard about the switch until a few days ago.

At least the people of eastern Kern got a chance to weigh in prior to the Oct. 16 drop-dead date. Too bad they weren't consulted earlier in the process.