Kennedy Center closure to last a week for emergency repairs
The Kennedy Center’s main building will close for at least a week for emergency repairs, according to executive director Matt Floca in court filings on Thursday. Floca decided on Wednesday to cut off public access after determining there were “acute risks to public safety” due to structural damage in parts of the performing arts center.
“During this temporary closure, which will last for seven days, unless extended, I intend to assess existing safety risks to those portions of the main building exhibiting severe structural deterioration,” Floca wrote. He added that any extension would be evaluated on a weekly basis.
The filing cited a summer assessment of the roof terrace canopy by an engineering firm and a recent water leak that caused a piece of ceiling plaster to collapse in the Grand Foyer as the immediate reasons for the closure.
An email sent to Kennedy Center staff on Wednesday also pointed to safety concerns with “soffit panels” and “electrical infrastructure,” telling nonessential employees not to report to the building.
The Justice Department defended the closure as independent of the board’s Tuesday vote, arguing that Floca’s decision complies with a federal judge’s previous order barring a prolonged shutdown.
“No part of the Court’s preliminary injunction order forbids a temporary closure like this one,” DOJ lawyer Brantley Mayers wrote.
Fencing went up around the building on Wednesday, a day after President Donald Trump’s handpicked board voted for a second time to close it for repairs.
Rep. Joyce Beatty (D-Ohio), an ex officio board member challenging the closure and the board’s renewed attempts to add Trump’s name back to the façade, has asked U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper to hold an emergency hearing over the board’s latest vote.
“Closing the Kennedy Center without Judge Cooper’s approval appears to directly violate his order. This is an assault on the rule of law,” her attorneys Nathaniel Zelinsky and Norm Eisen said in a statement on Wednesday. “The board cannot simply ignore Judge Cooper’s rulings whenever it suits them. In this country, no one, including the president, is above the law.”
Trump was seen Wednesday night through an Air Force One window looking at a poster board with the words “Kennedy Center DEMOLISH,” though the full image was not clear.
“I think that the Trump administration should certainly have recognition because, frankly, if we don’t do that, it’s going to close,” Trump told reporters Wednesday in Charlotte, N.C. “It’ll end up being ripped down.”
