Judge bars Kennedy Center from adding Trump’s name to building
The Washington Post reports:
BLUF: The center’s Board of Trustees is also set to consider a proposal to shut down the building for renovations.
By Jonathan Edwards and Grey Battle
A federal judge on Tuesday barred the Kennedy Center from once again adding President Donald Trump’s name to the performing arts venue and presidential memorial.
U.S. Judge Christopher Cooper reiterated much of the ruling he made more than three months ago when he ruled that the center’s Board of Trustees had illegally voted to add Trump’s name to the building’s facade and ordered them to remove it.
On Aug. 13, the trustees voted to put Trump’s name on the building once more, but Cooper said that, too, would violate the law and his previous order, “which reflects Congress’s decision to memorialize President Kennedy, and no one else, at the Center bearing his name.”
The center’s board is scheduled to meet Tuesday afternoon and had originally prepared to consider yet another proposal to recognize Trump on the building’s exterior. But late Monday, Justice Department lawyers told a judge that the board would only focus on the resolution to immediately close the center’s main building.
In the materials dropped from Tuesday’s agenda, center leaders say they have exhausted their financial resources and could be unable to make payroll or pay routine maintenance bills “within a matter of weeks.”
They had claimed that without “appropriate recognition” on the building, Trump is unlikely to oversee the renovation or “lead the fiscal rescue of the Center.”
The warnings sharpen a financial crisis The Washington Post documented last month. Internal budgets and forecasts showed that by May the center expected to collect only about $124 million of the $220 million in revenue it budgeted for the fiscal year that ends this month, leaving a projected $23 million deficit even after substantial spending cuts.
Center leaders have blamed previous management for the institution’s financial problems and said Trump’s name has attracted new donors. But the confidential financial records show that ticket sales and fundraising plunged after trustees added Trump’s name to the building in December.
Cooper has already intervened in the center’s disputes. In May, he ruled that only Congress could rename the Kennedy Center and ordered Trump’s name removed, months after leaders had it installed atop John F. Kennedy’s. In the same decision, Cooper temporarily blocked an earlier attempt to close the building, finding trustees had acted on insufficient information and failed to adequately consider the consequences. He left them free to reconsider after a fuller review.
Trustees did so in August, again approving a roughly two-year closure and separately voting to inscribe “Restored and Renovated by President Donald J. Trump” on the facade. Rep. Joyce Beatty (D-Ohio), a Kennedy Center trustee, is challenging those actions.
Trustees are still set to consider a resolution to immediately close the center as its administrators warn that staying open would endanger the public.
Management says new evidence has made the closure urgent. During a Sept. 4 storm, a roughly four-by-five-foot section of ceiling plaster broke loose in the Grand Foyer and fell about 60 feet. No one was injured. Inspectors subsequently identified at least seven other areas with visible water-related deterioration.
By Monday, portions of the Kennedy Center were already cordoned off. Gift shop windows were papered over and a caution sign blocked a set of doors. Inside the John F. Kennedy Exhibit, Kennedy’s “We Choose to Go to the Moon” speech played to an empty room. The box office remained staffed, but the center had no upcoming performances scheduled in the main building.
If trustees approve the closure resolution Tuesday, programming would continue at the Reach and off-site venues, including performances by the National Symphony Orchestra. The Kennedy Center Honors and Mark Twain Prize would also move elsewhere while the main building undergoes renovation.
AI Generated summary of 383 readers’ comments on this article:
The comments express strong disapproval of Donald Trump's involvement with the Kennedy Center, criticizing his attempts to have his name on the building and blaming him for its financial troubles.
Many commenters accuse Trump of selfishness, vanity, and a lack of genuine concern for the arts, suggesting that his actions have led to the center's decline.
There is a call for accountability and a desire to preserve the Kennedy Center as a memorial to JFK, free from Trump's influence.
BLUF: The center’s Board of Trustees is also set to consider a proposal to shut down the building for renovations.
By Jonathan Edwards and Grey Battle
A federal judge on Tuesday barred the Kennedy Center from once again adding President Donald Trump’s name to the performing arts venue and presidential memorial.
U.S. Judge Christopher Cooper reiterated much of the ruling he made more than three months ago when he ruled that the center’s Board of Trustees had illegally voted to add Trump’s name to the building’s facade and ordered them to remove it.
On Aug. 13, the trustees voted to put Trump’s name on the building once more, but Cooper said that, too, would violate the law and his previous order, “which reflects Congress’s decision to memorialize President Kennedy, and no one else, at the Center bearing his name.”
The center’s board is scheduled to meet Tuesday afternoon and had originally prepared to consider yet another proposal to recognize Trump on the building’s exterior. But late Monday, Justice Department lawyers told a judge that the board would only focus on the resolution to immediately close the center’s main building.
In the materials dropped from Tuesday’s agenda, center leaders say they have exhausted their financial resources and could be unable to make payroll or pay routine maintenance bills “within a matter of weeks.”
They had claimed that without “appropriate recognition” on the building, Trump is unlikely to oversee the renovation or “lead the fiscal rescue of the Center.”
The warnings sharpen a financial crisis The Washington Post documented last month. Internal budgets and forecasts showed that by May the center expected to collect only about $124 million of the $220 million in revenue it budgeted for the fiscal year that ends this month, leaving a projected $23 million deficit even after substantial spending cuts.
Center leaders have blamed previous management for the institution’s financial problems and said Trump’s name has attracted new donors. But the confidential financial records show that ticket sales and fundraising plunged after trustees added Trump’s name to the building in December.
Cooper has already intervened in the center’s disputes. In May, he ruled that only Congress could rename the Kennedy Center and ordered Trump’s name removed, months after leaders had it installed atop John F. Kennedy’s. In the same decision, Cooper temporarily blocked an earlier attempt to close the building, finding trustees had acted on insufficient information and failed to adequately consider the consequences. He left them free to reconsider after a fuller review.
Trustees did so in August, again approving a roughly two-year closure and separately voting to inscribe “Restored and Renovated by President Donald J. Trump” on the facade. Rep. Joyce Beatty (D-Ohio), a Kennedy Center trustee, is challenging those actions.
Trustees are still set to consider a resolution to immediately close the center as its administrators warn that staying open would endanger the public.
Management says new evidence has made the closure urgent. During a Sept. 4 storm, a roughly four-by-five-foot section of ceiling plaster broke loose in the Grand Foyer and fell about 60 feet. No one was injured. Inspectors subsequently identified at least seven other areas with visible water-related deterioration.
By Monday, portions of the Kennedy Center were already cordoned off. Gift shop windows were papered over and a caution sign blocked a set of doors. Inside the John F. Kennedy Exhibit, Kennedy’s “We Choose to Go to the Moon” speech played to an empty room. The box office remained staffed, but the center had no upcoming performances scheduled in the main building.
If trustees approve the closure resolution Tuesday, programming would continue at the Reach and off-site venues, including performances by the National Symphony Orchestra. The Kennedy Center Honors and Mark Twain Prize would also move elsewhere while the main building undergoes renovation.
AI Generated summary of 383 readers’ comments on this article:
The comments express strong disapproval of Donald Trump's involvement with the Kennedy Center, criticizing his attempts to have his name on the building and blaming him for its financial troubles.
Many commenters accuse Trump of selfishness, vanity, and a lack of genuine concern for the arts, suggesting that his actions have led to the center's decline.
There is a call for accountability and a desire to preserve the Kennedy Center as a memorial to JFK, free from Trump's influence.
