Kennedy Center board votes again to renovate building and inscribe Trump’s name on it – report

The board of the John F Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington is said to have voted once again to move forward with Donald Trump’s controversial plan to temporarily shutter the building for substantial renovations, as well as to inscribe the US president’s name on the facade of its building, despite a federal order for his name to be removed from the signage.The board – mostly handpicked, staunch allies of the president – voted “to close the Kennedy Center’s main building, while keeping a newer addition to the campus, known as The Reach, open for limited programming and to operate as an active memorial to John F Kennedy”, according to the New York Times, which was first to report the results.Shortly after, the board also reportedly voted to add an inscription beneath the signage of the institution’s name that reads: “Restored and Renovated by President Donald J Trump.”The result was confirmed by Joyce Beatty, a Democratic US representative of Ohio who sits on the board, and lawyers.In May, the US district judge Christopher Cooper ordered Trump’s name to be removed from the building’s facade after the president had it added last year. Cooper ruled that the addition had been illegal, as only Congress had the authority to change the institution’s name. The center removed Trump’s name in June, but is appealing the decision.“This latest development is a transparent effort to circumvent the Court’s ruling, and flies in the face of the statutes that Congress passed,” Beatty said in a statement. “I will continue to fight for this treasured national monument.”The Kennedy Center was contacted for comment. The decisions will be subject to approval by a US federal judge.Cooper also issued a temporary block on Trump’s demand to close the arts institution for two years of renovations, which had been due to start in July after the board voted unanimously in favor in March. But Beatty sued over the decision.Cooper shut down the initial plan, on the basis that the decision to halt operations during the renovation appeared “ill-informed and seemingly preordained”.“In ratifying President Trump’s closure announcement, the Board was derelict in discharging the full range of its responsibilities to the Center,” he ruled in May. “More specifically, the Board based its decision on an insufficient, one-sided presentation of information and neglected to consider the full range of its statutory obligations and potential adverse consequences of closure on programming and memorial functions.”Cooper also said in his order that the board had a legal obligation to maintain the facility as a memorial to JFK.Ahead of the meeting, the Kennedy Center’s management said it would present the board with three approaches for consideration, according to the Associated Press.The options were said to include a complete closure or a partial closure that would allow “some continued public access and limited programming in spaces unaffected” by the work. A third option would “consider a highly limited series of phased closures to address only the Center’s most serious infrastructure needs while scheduling and maintaining a full slate of programming”.The New York Times reported further details, including that the board was presented with a lengthy plan for a $250m “renewal” project including significant repair work, new marble floors and “acoustical” improvements, and a bid to “temporarily move the famous 3,000-pound bronze bust of JFK to another building” on the Kennedy Center’s campus.The Kennedy Center has until next week to share its plan with Cooper, who will review his decision to consider whether the board carried out sufficiently thorough due diligence ahead of the vote.