LOS ANGELES -- A not-in-my-back-yard dispute has surfaced in the tony Pacific Palisades enclave, pitting culture against affluence and throwing a kink into plans to reopen the original, historic J. Paul Getty museum as a grander, new Getty Villa.
The Getty Institute proposes combining antiquity exhibitions and conservation research on its bluff-top estate, which closed as a museum in 1997, when the Getty Center opened in Brentwood. The new Getty Villa would place Los Angeles higher on the world's cultural map, supporters say.Those plans are tempered, however, by neighbors who would just as soon not have the same headaches as Brentwood residents faced when the new Getty museum opened a year ago.
Cie Allman lives just paces from the Villa's entrance. The host of a morning television workout show, "Infinite Power Workout," said it's a shame the Getty was closed, but the community doesn't need it re-opened.
"We probably have enough culture already," she said. "The Palisades is not a Mecca. We want to be left alone. That's why people like Tom Cruise, Tom Hanks and Arnold Schwarzenegger live here."
The dispute comes to a head Monday night, when the Pacific Palisades Community Council, an advisory panel to Los Angeles City Councilwoman Cindy Miscikowski, is scheduled to consider approving the Getty's expansion plan.
The local council last month recommended approval for the estate's renovation, but it remains opposed to expansion. In the end, the issue will be resolved by the City Council, which traditionally listens to the local council members.
On one side of the battle is the J. Paul Getty Trust, with its $170 million plan to revive the 53-year-old site as a museum.
On the other is the Palisades council, which believes the expansion will cause annoying evening tumult and add congestion to the already gridlocked Pacific Coast Highway.