February 3, 1999

WhatÍs our next area code?

Are you a second class citizen? Am I? If you live in Pacifica, or the rest of San Mateo County, the answer is easy. Yes. We definitely are.

Of course, there are worse situations. The folks in Contra Costa County are third class citizens.

How can you spot a first class citizen? Those are the folks who live or work in a community that has not changed its area code since the first area codes were decreed many years ago. It was back then that 415 served a huge area of California. At some point in the past so ancient that the mind of man (at least the mind of this man!) does not recall, the 916 and 209 area codes were created to serve the needs of folks in the Central Valley, and the 213 area code to serve the Los Angeles basin.

As the need for new phone numbers has risen, areas have been split, again and again. Consistently, the central business core, anywhere it is located, has been treated with kid gloves. When the day comes that the 415 is again split, it would be a real sucker bet to assume Marin County and the Richmond District will keep 415. You know that the Financial District will be favored, and The Richmond and Marin will get the new area code.

New area codes cost the recipients millions of dollars, as I was reminded when I noticed that my personal business cards still have 415 on them. Think of all the stationery, advertising, envelopes, desk furniture and signs of all sorts that have to be replaced when an area code is changed.

The 650 Area Code has cost Pacificans in myriad ways, and I must guess, at a minimum, one million dollars.

At the least, which area gets the new area code should be determined by a coin flip or other random and public event. I realize that Pacific Bell, with its hq in downtown SF, might be penalized, but why not?

I mentioned that Contra Costa folk are third class citizens. Oakland is the suburb of San Francisco, so it got area code 510 back in the early nineties. Oakland is the urban core that includes Contra Costa, so it kept 510 and Walnut Creek got 925 when it once again was split a short time ago.

Pacifica and San Bruno are not as important as Palo Alto, so when 650 is split in the predictable future, Pacificans will once more have a new area code. DonÍt buy a ten year supply of business cards, folks.

I have heard of only one situation where the special needs of a smaller community were taken into consideration in assigning area codes. That was the city of Turlock, which happens to be the place where all emergency calls go when someone with a Medic Alert bracelet is in need of assistance. If you are in Portland, Maine or Portland, Oregon, and you are discovered in a coma, if you have a Medic Alert bracelet, that 209 area code phone call may save your life. Area code changes could be lethal in that kind of situation. So, I understand, the decision was made to keep 209 in Turlock. A reasonable decision, considering the alternative.

I'm curious which numbers will be used for our next area code. And good luck to the folks in Palo Alto, whose business cards will last a lot longer than mine.

Paul Azevedo is old enough to remember the futile efforts of the Anti-Digit Dialing League to keep FLanders, ELmwood and DOuglas. He also remembers the days before Zip Codes, when postal clerks were encyclopedias of obscure small towns.