Visitors Walking to Getty Create a Parking Mess

Nobody could have guessed that Angelenos would be willing to walk--let alone walk nearly a mile--for the privilege of visiting a museum.

But walk they have by the hundreds during the Getty Center’s inaugural days, wreaking traffic havoc on the adjoining streets of Brentwood and Bel-Air.

Those unable to obtain parking reservations are leaving their cars on residential side roads and hiking their way up to catch the tram--to the severe displeasure of many residents, who say their streets have been paralyzed.

“You cannot believe what’s going on up here,” said Myrtle Atlas, 78, who lives eight-tenths of a mile downhill from the billion-dollar center and says getting in or out of her driveway now requires her 80-year-old husband to go into the street and stop traffic.

In response to complaints, the Los Angeles City Council on Tuesday gave what one council member characterized as a Christmas gift to the neighbors: a 30-day reprieve during which parking on surrounding streets will be restricted to two hours when the museum is open, with an exemption for residents and their guests.

But don’t expect help past 30 days, many council members cautioned, sensitive to the political consequences of showing favoritism toward the many well-heeled neighbors of the Getty.

“This is not a good example of how preferential parking should be used,” said east San Fernando Valley Councilman Richard Alarcon, the lone dissenter in Tuesday’s 9-1 vote. “We should try other measures first.”

At the Getty’s Malibu villa, which is now closed for renovation, museum officials had tried other ways to keep the peace with neighbors. At that site, walking in was not an option. Visitors had to have parking reservations, proof that they had taken an MTA bus, or ridden a bicycle or been dropped off by taxi or car at the entrance kiosk.

At the new center, walk-ins are welcomed, but officials have encouraged patrons to make parking reservations or take buses, a spokeswoman said.

“The policy that applied to Malibu had to do with the particular agreement we had with those homeowners in that neighborhood,” said Lori Starr, a spokeswoman for the Getty Trust. “The Getty Center [policy] comes from a different relationship with those homeowners.”

In the name of furthering a good relationship, Starr said the Getty had encouraged residents to apply for designation as a restricted parking area, similar to many congested areas throughout Los Angeles.

Starr said she hopes that the turmoil will ease when the initial enthusiasm over the Getty Center calms.

“The crowding definitely had to do with the newness of the place and the holiday season,” Starr said. “It is a curiosity factor.”

Of the Getty’s 47,514 visitors during its first week, more than 10,880 took buses or walked. (The center did not make a distinction between those two methods of getting to the facility, although they believe that bus riders have far outnumbered walkers, Starr said.)

It was in hopes of limiting traffic that the Getty was forced by its conditional-use permit into building only 1,500 parking spaces.

But in September, when the center began taking reservations for those spaces, the spots quickly filled up. At this point, anyone wanting weekend parking reservations has to wait until April, Starr said.

Many, however, have been unwilling to wait.

“People are resourceful,” Starr said. “It’s to be expected with a brand-new facility like this. It sparked people’s imagination.”

It also sparked dozens of complaints to Councilman Mike Feuer, who sponsored Tuesday’s motion. Some even claimed to have seen private valet services that ferry people from the neighborhood to the Getty.

“I don’t want to discourage people from using the Getty,” Feuer said. “As much access as possible is a good thing, as long as we can ensure that access along with ensuring quality of life for the residents.”

But Alarcon and Councilwoman Jackie Goldberg--who spoke of the “large driveways and large garages” she saw throughout much of the neighborhood--were among those skeptical of a preferential parking plan.

Atlas said she and her neighbors are in need of more than a temporary solution.

“We don’t even have a place to put out our trash cans,” she said. “There’s not one inch of space on our streets.”