Judge orders Kennedy Center to give 30-day notice before any major changes — including demolition
A tarp covers portions of the sign at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts on Wednesday. A judge has ordered the centre's board to give 30-day notice before making any major changes to the building. (Allison Robbert/The Associated Press)Social SharingA U.S. federal judge on Thursday ordered the Kennedy Center to provide 30-day notice before making any major physical changes to the building, including demolishing it as President Donald Trump has threatened to do.
U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper said his ruling would "avoid any confusion on that score given more recent events," including the sudden closure of the building to the public on Wednesday.
Matt Floca, the Kennedy Center's executive director and chief operating officer, said he closed the iconic performing arts centre temporarily due to "acute risks to public safety resulting from continued structural deterioration" of the aging building.
The building will be closed for at least seven days to "assess existing safety risks in those portions of the main building exhibiting severe structural deterioration," Floca said.
The temporary closure, which occurred without notice Wednesday, is separate from a vote Tuesday by the Kennedy Center's board to close the performing arts centre indefinitely for repairs, Floca and other officials said. The closure was based on an inspection of the roof terrace canopy and a partial ceiling collapse earlier this month, Floca said. The closure may be extended after evaluation next week, he said.
The announcement of the closure came in response to a court case filed by a Democratic congresswoman who is a trustee and sought an emergency court hearing to prevent what she called the building's "unlawful closing."
Rep. Joyce Beatty, an Ohio Democrat and an ex-officio member of the Kennedy Center board, has led efforts to block Trump's name from being added to the building. Beatty had a verbal confrontation with the Republican president Tuesday during a virtual board meeting.
Beatty's lawyers said in a court filing Thursday that the board members' "rationale that they are only temporarily closing the Kennedy Center is a plain pretext to justify shutting down the Center permanently. The facts before the Court are deeply concerning."
Cooper denied a request by Beatty's legal team to hold a hearing to clarify the board's actions and intent. But he agreed to their request "to make crystal clear" that his order prohibits demolition of the building.
The Trump-aligned board, chaired by the president, voted to close the centre after a federal judge blocked the institution from returning Trump's name to the building.
Trump, who was named the Kennedy Center's chairman last year by loyalists on the board, said Wednesday that his efforts to restore the aging building deserve recognition, "because frankly, if we don't do that, it's going to close. It'll end up being ripped down. It's in very, very bad shape, very dangerous shape."
Barbra Streisand arrives for the Kennedy Center Honors in Washington on Dec. 7, 2008. (Jacquelyn Martin/The Associated Press)Congress has allocated $257 million US to cover the repairs, but Trump said they only would happen if the board was permitted to move forward with plans to add his name to the building.
Barbra Streisand, a Kennedy Center honoree in 2008, on Thursday questioned the closing of the centre for repairs and called the controversy surrounding its operation "galling and painful to witness."
The Kennedy Center board voted in August to inscribe Trump's name on the Kennedy Center's facade so it would read "The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts Restored and Renovated By President Donald J. Trump." If the Trump Kennedy Center Fund reached $100 million US, another inscription would be added reading "Endowed by the Trump Kennedy Center Fund."
The plaza in front of the Kennedy Center would also have been renamed in Trump's honour.
All of those proposals were shot down Tuesday by Cooper, who ruled that nothing could happen "without Congress's blessing."
Cooper ruled in May that the Kennedy Center illegally added Trump's name to the building, ordering it removed. The institution's leaders complied in June but left a tarp and scaffolding in place where Trump's name was once displayed.
