State Agency Urged to Preserve 562 Area Code

Insisting that an area code change would cause irreparable harm to city businesses and generally confuse local callers, residents and representatives of business on Wednesday urged public utility officials to preserve the city’s 562 area code.

At a public hearing, representatives of the California Public Utilities Commission met with residents to outline options for changing the area code. The code change--the fourth in a decade--is necessary because all available phone numbers in the code will be used up by the end of 2001, according to the commission.

Residents are reluctant to change, however. “I’m tired of having my area code changed,” said Long Beach resident Bettee Dillon. “I’m sick of it.”

The utilities commission must decide whether to split the 562 area code into two individual area codes, with one maintaining the old 562 area code, or create a so-called overlay district. In an overlay district, the area code for existing telephone connections does not change, but new lines are assigned a different number.

While residents complained that the change would confuse their out of town friends and relatives and require them to correct the phone number on personal checks and other items, business leaders said the change would have dire consequences for commerce.

Linda Dimario, president of the Long Beach Area Convention and Visitors Bureau, said Long Beach has struggled to be recognized as a tourist destination and changing the area code would harm that effort.

Dimario and Ryan Alsop, of the Long Beach Chamber of Commerce, asked the commission to approve a code split that leaves Long Beach with its 562 area code.