Kennedy Center battle intensifies
Trump ordered to give notice before steps to demolish building
Workers replace parts of a temporary fence Thursday at the Kennedy Center in Washington.
WASHINGTON
WASHINGTON — A federal judge ordered President Donald Trump's administration Thursday to provide at least 30 days' notice before taking steps to demolish the Kennedy Center, the landmark performing arts venue that became a flash point in his efforts to reshape the U.S. capital.
U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper issued the order after lawyers for a Democratic congresswoman who is suing to keep the venue open and Trump's name off its facade submitted new evidence citing the Republican president's comments Wednesday referring to demolishing the landmark.
"I think that the Trump administration should certainly have recognition. Because frankly, if we don't do that, it's going to close. It'll end up being ripped down," Trump told reporters in North Carolina, referring to putting his name on the facility established by Congress and opened in 1971 as a memorial to slain President John Kennedy.
Matt Floca, the Kennedy Center's Trump-backed executive director, said in a court filing earlier Thursday that the building was temporarily closed to assess safety risks in areas "exhibiting severe structural deterioration."
Democratic U.S. Rep. Joyce Beatty, who sued Trump last year over his Kennedy Center plans, responded in a filing in federal court in Washington that the closure "is a recipe for defendants extending their shutdown forever and closing the Kennedy Center for the next two years — the very thing this court said they could not do without its permission."
Beatty's lawyers also cited a photo circulating on social media that depicted the president aboard Air Force One looking at a poster they said appeared to be titled "Kennedy Center DEMOLISHED." The photo was not independently verified by Reuters.
Trump's campaign to remake the center is part of his broader efforts to leave his cultural and aesthetic mark on the U.S. cap ital. His other projects include a large new ballroom to replace the
White House's East Wing, which he ordered demolished; a troubled renovation of the Lincoln Memo rial Reflecting Pool and a planned "triumphal arch" near Arlington National Cemetery. Cooper turned down Beatty's request for an emergency hearing on her lawsuit after the Kennedy Center's board, including Trump and his hand-picked appointees, voted this week to close the venue for up to two years for a $257 million renovation project.
Beatty, an ex officio member of the Kennedy Center's board, said the venue is no longer accessible to the public during normal operating hours. New barriers were visible outside the building Wednesday.
Beatty and other critics accused Trump of seeking to place his name on the Kennedy Center out of vanity. The Republican president's name was placed on the building's facade until the judge ordered it removed in May, saying only Congress can change the name.
Cooper earlier directed the board to explain by Thursday whether the administration's plan violates an earlier order he issued limiting its ability to shut its doors.
The board said Thursday morning that it was not in violation of the order, and the seven-day emergency closure was separate from the larger renovation plans.
The Trump administration said it would ask the judge by Friday to dissolve the prior order to allow for what the government called "closure necessary to complete the restoration and renovations."
The center, which is a memorial to the assassinated Kennedy, opened in 1971. Over the decades, it was home to the Washington National Opera and the National Symphony Orchestra and hosted such performers as Mikhail Baryshnikov and Wynton Marsalis.
It also hosts the annual Kennedy Center Honors, recognizing the lifetime achievements of leading artists.
In response to Trump's takeover, artists canceled performances in protest, and the opera and the symphony were forced to find other venues, while revenue cratered.
The board has warned the center's finances are so shaky that it may soon not be able to honor payroll obligations or maintenance contracts.
In a ruling Tuesday, Cooper rejected the center's latest effort to put Trump's name on the building to reflect his role in the planned renovation.
The administration appealed, and Trump said on social media the Kennedy Center "is destined to doom" if it is not permitted to close for repairs.
Trump said Tuesday the Kennedy Center renovation work would not start until an appeals court weighs in on the judge's order.
"If the ruling is a negative one, which it should not be, and is not overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court, the Reconstruction and the Renovation of The Kennedy Center will not take place," he wrote in a post on his social media platform.
