LAWMAKERS LOOK AT OPTIONS FOR I-5 SIGN TO AREA'S AUTO ROW.

Byline: JUDY O'ROURKE Staff Writer

SANTA CLARITA -- After last month's flap over a failed proposal to rename a section of Magic Mountain Parkway to identify Valencia's auto dealers, state legislators are exploring options for a freeway sign alerting motorists to auto row, a cash cow for Santa Clarita.

The lawmakers approached the state Transportaion Department last week to look at options for erecting signs on Interstate 5 in Valencia.

``Sen. (George) Runner and I met with Caltrans officials to receive clarification on whether or not a Caltrans sign advertising a private business could be placed on the freeway,'' said Assemblyman Cameron Smyth. ``Caltrans said it's against their policy to authorize that. However, we're asking for clarification and parameters in writing.''

Smyth, R-Santa Clarita, will relay the decision to the auto dealers' group.

At the behest of the local auto dealers -- who churn roughly $7 million in sales taxes each year into the city's coffers -- the city considered changing the street name on a portion of roadway east of Interstate 5, within its jurisdiction. The remaining block-long strip of Magic Mountain Parkway leads to its namesake park and is across the freeway and in the county's jurisdiction.

Public outcry squelched the effort.

Los Angeles County Supervisor Michael D. Antonovich, whose district covers the Santa Clarita Valley, gave thumbs down to the proposal, calling the name change an insult to the landmark and the move ``ill-timed,'' as it coincided with uncertainty about whether Six Flags would sell Magic Mountain and neighboring Hurricane Harbor.

The company since has decided to keep the properties, but Antonovich's concerns helped prompt last week's meeting.

Auto row's two dozen dealerships lie about a mile from I-5, invisible to the tens of thousands of potential shoppers whizzing by on the freeway each day. The dealerships are the city's single-largest sales tax revenue generator. Since 2001, the city has championed a ``shop local'' campaign, contributing $60,000 to the auto dealers' group for several years running.

Don Fleming, co-owner of Valencia Acura and vice president of the Santa Clarita Valley Auto Dealers Association, said the street-naming was conceived in a meeting attended by auto dealers and city officials after Caltrans rejected an earlier plea for a freeway sign.

In the continuing saga, Dave Bossert, president of the West Ranch Town Council, blogged Tuesday that City Manager Ken Pulskamp instigated the name-change plan to cajole Six Flags to annex its two theme parks.

Pulskamp flatly denied it.

``Mr. Bossert is certainly entitled to his opinion and to exercising his First Amendment rights,'' Pulskamp said in a prepared statement. ``We would prefer that in the future, Mr. Bossert kindly fact-check prior to publishing stories about the city to assure accuracy.''

Bossert could not be reached for comment Tuesday. Pulskamp plans no legal action and has not asked Bossert to retract his statements.

Web logs are increasingly written by and read by those interested in alternative information sources, but they are not a free-for-all. A media expert from Loyola Law School in Los Angeles said bloggers' comments can, in some cases, be considered defamatory.

``Bloggers are not insulated from potential defamation liability,'' said Jay Dougherty, professor of entertainment and copyright law. ``I don't think a blog would be treated much different from other publications. I don't think there would be a special privilege for blogs.''

Fleming also sits on the West Ranch council, and with Bossert, is part of a three-man committee formed in early January to explore Stevenson Ranch's governance options -- forming its own city, holding fast with the status quo, or annexing to the city.

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