Judge orders Kennedy Center to give 30 days’ notice before major physical changes

A federal judge has ordered Donald Trump’s administration to give at least 30 days’ notice before moving to demolish the John F Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts after the US president warned that it could be “ripped down”.

US district judge Christopher Cooper issued the order on Thursday after lawyers for Democratic congresswoman Joyce Beatty submitted evidence of Trump’s comments and sought clarification over whether the building could be closed or bulldozed.

Trump said on Wednesday that his administration deserved recognition for its efforts to renovate the Kennedy Center, including by putting his name on the national arts complex in Washington.

“I think that the Trump administration should certainly have recognition because, frankly, if we don’t do that, it’s going to close,” he told reporters in Charlotte, North Carolina. “It’ll end up being ripped down.”

The Kennedy Center was established by Congress as a living memorial to slain president John F Kennedy and opened in 1971. It has hosted many of the world’s leading performers and run numerous educational programmes.

But the centre shut down this week following claims of serious structural deterioration and its board has voted to close it for up to two years for a $257m renovation.

Matt Floca, the centre’s executive director and chief operating officer, said in a court filing that the building had been closed for at least seven days to assess “acute risks to public safety resulting from continued structural deterioration”.

He said the temporary closure followed an inspection of the roof terrace canopy and a partial ceiling collapse earlier this month, and was separate from the longer-term renovation plans. The administration has said the seven-day closure does not breach an earlier court order restricting its ability to shut the centre.

Beatty, an ex-officio member of the Kennedy Center board, has challenged Trump’s takeover of the institution and his attempts to put his name on the building. Her lawyers argued that the temporary closure could become a permanent shutdown lasting two years, which they said would violate the court’s previous orders.

They also submitted an Agence France-Presse (AFP) photograph showing Trump onboard Air Force One apparently looking at a placard bearing the words “Kennedy Center DEMOLISHED”. The final letters were obscured by the aircraft’s window frame and the image does not establish that demolition was being planned.

The photo, taken by the AFP photographer Brendan Smialowski as Trump returned to Washington from North Carolina, was widely circulated on social media and included in Beatty’s court filing.

Cooper rejected Beatty’s request for an emergency hearing but ordered the administration to provide at least 30 days’ notice before taking any steps towards demolition. The administration is expected to ask the judge to dissolve an earlier order so it can proceed with what it describes as necessary restoration and renovation work.

Cooper ruled on Tuesday that the Kennedy Center could not put Trump’s name on its exterior without congressional approval. Trump’s name had previously been added to the facade by the board but was removed in June following an earlier ruling by the judge.

The board had proposed wording describing the building as the “John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts Restored and Renovated By President Donald J. Trump”, as well as renaming the plaza and adding further recognition if a Trump Kennedy Center fund reached $100m.

Those proposals were rejected by Cooper, who said changes to the institution’s name required Congress’s approval.

Trump has argued that the centre has been badly maintained and would require substantial government subsidy to remain open. “It’s in very, very bad shape, very dangerous shape,” he said. “You see steel falling down. You see plaster falling off ceilings. You see a lot of dangers.”

Beatty has accused Trump and his board of using the closure to circumvent the court’s orders. In a statement, she said the Kennedy Center was “a sacred, living memorial to President Kennedy” and said she would continue efforts to prevent it being “shuttered, or demolished”.

Hakeem Jeffries, the House Democratic leader, also criticised the plans, saying Democrats would find a way to “stop the president from another vanity project and waste of taxpayer resources”.

Trump installed himself as the chair of the Kennedy Center last year after removing its previous leadership and replacing board members with his own appointees. It has since become one of several Washington institutions and landmarks at the centre of his efforts to reshape the capital and attach his name to major projects.

On Thursday Barbra Streisand, a Kennedy Center honoree in 2008, questioned the closing of the center for repairs and called the controversy surrounding its operation “galling and painful to witness”.

Of Trump’s attempts to add his name to the centre, she said in a statement to the Associated Press: “You can easily imagine my indignation at seeing this revered institution become the subject of such a bitter struggle over one man’s name and unchecked ego.”