Trump says he won't tear down Kennedy Centre arts venue but it needs to be closed for repairs

Washington, Feb 3 (AP) President Donald Trump said on Monday that he's “not ripping down” the Kennedy Centre but insisted the performing arts venue needs to shut down for about two years for construction and other work without patrons coming and going and getting in the way.
     The comments strongly suggested that he intends to gut the John F. Kennedy Centre for the Performing Arts as part of the process.
     “I'm not ripping it down," the Republican president told reporters in the Oval Office. “I'll be using the steel. So we're using the structure.”
     Such a project would mark the Republican president's latest effort to put his stamp on a cultural institution that Congress designated as a living memorial to President Kennedy, a Democrat. It would be in addition to attempts to leave a permanent mark on Washington through other projects, the most prominent of which is adding a ballroom to the White House.
     Shortly after taking office last year, Trump dismissed Kennedy Centre board members who had been appointed by Democratic presidents and replaced them with loyalists, who voted to make him chairman. He helped choose the recipients of the 2025 Kennedy Centre Honours, a program he avoided during his first term. He later hosted the event, and the board voted late last year to rebrand the Kennedy Centre by adding his name to the building and website.
     Trump announced Sunday on social media that he intends to temporarily close the performing arts venue on July 4 for about two years “for Construction, Revitalisation, and Complete Rebuilding," subject to board approval.
     The announcement followed a wave of cancellations by leading performers, musicians and groups since the president took over leadership of the arts institution. Trump did not mention the cancellations in his announcements or during his comments on Monday.
     Kennedy Centre Arts Workers United, which includes several unions representing the institution's arts workers, said in a statement that it was aware of Trump's announcement but had received no formal notice or briefing about his plans. The group pledged to enforce its members' contractual rights.
     “Should we receive formal notice of a temporary suspension of Kennedy Centre operations that displaces our members, we will enforce our contracts and exercise all our rights under the law,” the statement said. “We expect continued fair pay, enforceable worker protections, and accountability for our members in the event they cannot work due to an operational pause.”
    
     Promising the highest-grade everything'
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     Recalling his past career in construction and real estate, Trump said, “You want to sit with something for a little while before you decide on what you want to do.” Speaking of the Kennedy Centre, he said: “We sat with it. We ran it. It's in very bad shape,” asserting that the building is “run down,” “dilapidated” and “sort of dangerous.”
     Roma Daravi, a Kennedy Centre spokesperson, said in a social media post that “decades of gross negligence” have led to USD 250 million of deferred maintenance needs and that temporarily closing the institution “is the most logical choice to allow for comprehensive renovations, efficient project completion, and responsible use of taxpayer dollars.”
     Deborah Rutter, the Kennedy Centre president who was ousted by Trump, declined comment Monday. In the past, she has said allegations from Trump and others about the centre's management were false.
     A representative for David Rubenstein, the board chairman who was also pushed out by Trump, said Rubenstein was not available Monday to comment.
     Trump, citing the complaints of a workman he said has been laying marble at the Kennedy Centre, said the closure is needed because "you can't do any work because people are coming in and out.”
     He pegged the cost at about USD 200 million, including the use of “the highest-grade marbles, the highest-grade everything.”
     “We're fully financed and so we're going to close it, and we're going to make it unbelievable, far better than it ever was, and we'll be able to do it properly," Trump said.
     Congress earmarked USD 257 million for the Kennedy Centre in a tax cut and spending bill that Trump signed into law last summer.
    
     What kind of work is involved
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     The White House said after the president spoke that some of the maintenance includes work on the building's structural, heating and cooling, plumbing, electrical, fire protection and technical systems. Work on the building's exterior, security standards and parking are also included.
     Daravi, the Kennedy Centre spokesperson, declined to comment when asked how the closure would affect the annual Mark Twain Award and Kennedy Centre Honours events this year.
     Trump said last October, also on social media, that the venue would stay open during construction. But on Monday, he said that the plan was no longer feasible.
     “I was thinking maybe there's a way of doing it simultaneously, but there really isn't, and we're going to have something that when it opens it's going to be brand new, beautiful," Trump said.
     “The steel will all be checked out because it'll be fully exposed,” he said. “It's been up for a long time, but as everybody knows, it was in very bad shape. Wasn't kept well, before I got there,” he said. “So we're going to make it, I think there won't be anything like it in the country.”
     The Kennedy Centre opened in 1971.
     Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., who in November opened an investigation into the Kennedy Centre's financial management, said the planned closure is part of Trump's “demolition tour of Washington.” Whitehouse is the senior Democrat on the Environment and Public Works Committee, which oversees public buildings, and is an ex officio member of the Kennedy Centre's board.
     Since Trump returned to the presidency, the Kennedy Centre is one of many Washington landmarks that he has sought to overhaul in his second term.
     He demolished the White House East Wing and launched a massive USD 400 million ballroom project, is actively pursuing building a triumphal arch on the other side of the Arlington Bridge from the Lincoln Memorial, and has plans for Washington Dulles International Airport. (AP) SKS
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(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)