Justice Department attorney Brantley T. Mayers wrote in a federal court filing Monday that the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts would need to be demolished if renovation proceeds without restoring President Donald Trump’s name to the building. The filing was submitted in opposition to a motion from Rep. Joyce Beatty (D-Ohio), who has sued to prevent the center’s renaming and is now asking the court to block the administration from closing it.
“Without those efforts, the Center will deteriorate further into an unsafe, decrepit structure that will be required to be taken down, with a determination to follow on what to build on the site, such as a large outdoor amphitheater overlooking the Potomac River that has been proposed, by some, for many years,” Mayers wrote.
The filing goes further than the demolition threat. It proposes that any replacement structure would be “simpler and more economical to build, operate and maintain” than the current building, and acknowledges that an amphitheater “would fail to adequately honor” President John F. Kennedy. The document describes the existing building as “structurally unsound, fundamentally unsafe and embarrassing to the Nation’s Capital.”
A hearing on the planned name change and closure is scheduled for Thursday afternoon.
The dispute traces to earlier rulings by federal courts. A federal judge ordered Trump’s name removed from the center’s facade, all signage and all documents related to the venue, and an appeals court upheld that ruling. Since the removal, tarps have covered the front of the building over the spot where Kennedy’s name appears on the facade.
On Aug. 19, the board, which was hand-picked by Trump, voted to put his name back on the center. The proposed name, if approved: “The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts Restored and Renovated by President Donald J. Trump.”
“The Board also underscores, and the undisputed evidence demonstrates, that without the prominent recognition of The Trump Administration, and President Trump’s efforts, the donors will not contribute, and the Center will continue to be in a financial and structural death spiral,” according to the document. “The Trump Administration, and President Donald J. Trump, should, therefore, be given the respect and dignity of acknowledgement.”
The filing states that Trump “obtained $258 million in funding from Congress for capital restoration, and has marshalled a new donor base to finance an endowment for the Center.” The document does not specify what has happened to that congressional appropriation.
In opposing Beatty’s motion, Mayers argued that Trump, given his real-estate experience, is uniquely qualified to lead the renovation. The administration, he wrote, has “committed an enormous amount of time and energy in planning for the forthcoming renovation and restoration of this building, a task which President Trump, given his unrivaled expertise and experience in real estate and construction, and prominence as President, is uniquely qualified to accomplish.”
“Even Beatty should prefer a healthy, restored Center to a decaying hulk that is doomed to inevitable destruction or collapse,” Mayers wrote. “The Court should allow the Board and President Trump to bring the Center back to a level of greatness far higher than it has ever had before. This would be the fitting tribute that President Kennedy so well deserves.”