Hahn Urges Moratorium on Area Code Overlays

Opposition to the proposed overlay of the San Fernando Valley’s 818 calling area mounted as City Atty. Jim Hahn asked the Public Utilities Commission to place a statewide moratorium on area code splits and overlays.

In a written statement to the state commission this week, Hahn also asked the PUC to consider alternatives that would ease the problem of telephone number shortages.

“The problems associated with area code exhaustion should be resolved on a statewide basis,” Hahn wrote. “The policy decision the PUC may make in other parts of the state will have an impact on what happens in Los Angeles and vice-versa.”

The proposed 818 overlay would create a new area code for all new phones in the Valley. Also, all callers in the Valley would have to dial 1-818 and the number to reach other 818 numbers.

Hahn’s comments were accompanied by written opposition from Assemblyman Wally Knox (D-Los Angeles), Assembly Speaker Antonio Villaraigosa (D-Los Angeles), and others. The City Council and the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors have also publicly opposed the overlay.

An alternative that could ease phone number overcrowding, according to Hahn, could be to create special area codes for ATM and gas station credit card machines, which are believed partly responsible for the additional phone number demands.

The Public Utilities Commission had scheduled a vote on the issue Aug. 5, but will postpone the vote until Sept. 2, said Timothy Sullivan, a PUC spokesman.