Hints and Allegations

Last week’s article in Eugene Weekly about the WOW Hall contained false and inaccurate statements about Friends of WOW Hall (FOWH), the voting process and events surrounding the annual membership meeting. 

FOWH views the WOW Hall as one of our most treasured community owned resources and wants to save it by making it more accessible to all. The article describes FOWH as “wanting to make drastic changes to the longtime music stalwart.” 

In fact, FOWH proposes modest changes compared to the 400 percent budget deviations under the current board. Spending $70,000 from the reserve fund in just two years to make payroll is drastic compared to the conservative budget FOWH proposed while the hall is closed by the pandemic. FOWH wants to bring the WOW back to its chartered tax exempt uses as it has operated for most of the time the Community Center for the Performing Arts has existed. Music shows would continue but more culturally diverse educational programming for all ages would return.

Despite past and present divisions, we must now come together to elect a competent WOW board. That board must be capable of meeting difficult challenges like the COVID-19 shutdown and the hall’s negative income trajectory in recent years. The current WOW board should work with FOWH to mutually ensure that the next meeting on Sept. 8 is fairly facilitated and include a safe, secure and transparent election of the new board.

David Zupan

Authorized media representative of FOWH

Editor’s note: We stand by our reporting, and EW recognizes the future of WOW Hall is a fraught and important community issue.