SOUTHLAND: BRIEFLY : 626 AREA CODE OPPOSED FOR VALLEY.

The Los Angeles City Council voted Wednesday to support a recommendation by the state Public Utilities Commission to maintain the 818 area code throughout the city's portion of the San Fernando Valley.

Pacific Bell has applied to overlay a new 626 area code for a portion of the 818 area code, but a proposal to put the new code in parts of the San Gabriel Valley is being fought by cities there, raising the possibility that it could be shifted to include part of the San Fernando Valley.

SOURCE: - Daily News Lake View Terrace playground opens

LAKE VIEW TERRACE - Culminating five years of planning and fund-raising, Fenton Avenue Charter School in Lake View Terrace opened a newly resurfaced playground Wednesday for the school's 1,270 students.

The 3-acre playground was rededicated at a ribbon-cutting ceremony attended by students, faculty members, administrators and community leaders who helped raise money for the $114,000 project.

Second-grader Bernice Loza and first-grader Rosa Penate helped cut the ribbon and made short speeches in English and Spanish, thanking the community for its support.

The playground resurfacing cost about one-fourth the original estimate, according to Joe Lucente, the school's executive director, who said Fenton's charter status gave him the freedom to shop for the best deal.

It was funded in part by grants from the Lopez Canyon Amenities Trust Fund, set up to offset the impact of the nearby Lopez Canyon Landfill, and from the Alliance of Schools for Cooperative Insurance Programs.

SOURCE: - Daily News Bureaucrats to get manners lessons

Los Angeles city bureaucrats will be put through charm school as part of a $200,000 program approved Wednesday by the Los Angeles City Council to make local government ``friendlier'' to the public.

At least 3,000 city workers will receive training in the art of providing friendly and efficient service as a result of the proposal by Councilman Joel Wachs, who said it is ``essential to erasing the negative stereotypes which the public has of city employees.''

The motion approved by the council also will result in the city conducting public satisfaction surveys and setting up a toll-free telephone line for public complaints and suggestions for improving city service.

SOURCE: - Daily News Sentence imposed in beating of man

A man who had been arrested under numerous aliases received a 2-1/2-year jail sentence for beating a homeless man, a city prosecutor said Wednesday.

Van Nuys Municipal Court Judge Alice Altoon sentenced Abraham Aguirre Corona, 28, of Panorama City on Tuesday. The attack violated Corona's probation because Corona had seven previous criminal convictions, officials said.

Los Angeles police patrol officers arrested Corona on Feb. 21 after an ``apparently unprovoked attack'' on a homeless man in a Parthenia Street self-service laundry, said Deputy City Attorney Debra Siedorf.

SOURCE: - Daily News Firm fined $60,000 for polluting water

SUN VALLEY - A Sun Valley firm was fined $60,000 for discharging industrial wastewater that exceeded federal pretreatment limits for toxic chemicals, it was announced Wednesday.

The fine levied against Hawker Pacific Inc. for violating the Clean Water Act was announced by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

In compliance with a consent decree lodged in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles, the company has installed a vacuum evaporation system to eliminate Hawker Pacific's discharge of industrial wastewater.

SOURCE: - City News Service Public Works Board still in L.A. budget

Two years after Mayor Richard Riordan proposed eliminating the full-time Public Works Board, an official disclosed that next year's budget retains the board but increases its president's power over the Public Works Department.

Board President J.P. Ellman disclosed the proposed change to the City Council's Budget and Finance Committee, which questioned whether Riordan was backing away from his promise to eliminate a board whose members are paid $70,000 a year.

``This is a long way from abolishing it,'' said Councilwoman Rita Walters.

Ellman said the change would designate the board president as general manager of the Public Works Department, but added: ``I think there is still some intention to eventually do away with a full-time board.''

SOURCE: - Daily News