The Trump administration told a federal judge that the John F. Kennedy Center may be demolished unless it undergoes renovations.
According to a filing from the Department of Justice, the Kennedy Center has “become dangerously dilapidated, outdated, and decrepit. It is structurally unsound, fundamentally unsafe, and embarrassing to the Nation’s Capital. Because the Center’s finances are in crisis, the Center is facing terminal decline.”
“Like many arts and entertainment facilities, the Center has been losing tens of millions of dollars each and every year for decades, and it is projected to lose over $100 million per year long into the future,” it says. “In short, both physically and financially, the Kennedy Center is in critical condition.”
The filing adds: “The Board recognizes that President Trump’s efforts and prestige provide the sole hope for the Center’s financial survival, and structural renewal. 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. The Trump Administration, and President Donald J. Trump, should, therefore, be given the respect and dignity of acknowledgement.”
Unless restoration efforts are taken, 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.”
The John F. Kennedy Center’s board voted earlier this month to close the site for renovations and place President Trump’s name on the site. Instead of making Trump’s name part of the building, an inscription will be placed below the Kennedy Center sign that is to read, “Restored and Renovated by President Donald J. Trump,” and the physical site is to be renamed “President Donald J. Trump Plaza.”
