"See Something, Say Something"

 It's getting harder to write positively when things are still progressing in authoritarian directions, but I owe it to myself and my readers to keep trying. Certainly just because misinformation is the norm is no excuse to stop trying to counter the false narratives. I loathe seeing the title headline in the newsletter every week. It is taken from a warlike, paranoid playbook and really offensive when all the info in the paragraph is really just providing the info that we have paid Security and a number that you can call to report things to clean up or address. It's drama. 

This week we hear in the newsletter that "there are many more complaints than ever before" but although I agree that this is true, I find them legitimate, and don't want to dismiss them. "The amount of vitriol exhibited by members, old and new" is noticed, but what is not addressed is why this might be so, if it indeed is (I don't believe it is.) The suggested remedy is to join a committee and expect people to not agree with you, but keep offering solutions. "Keep in mind that your problem, and solution, may not be what the group wants."

True enough. What's left out is our current reality which involves power dynamics of control and domination, a lack of transparency, and dysfunctional committees where volunteers are not wanted unless they are compliant with the top-down official program. Efforts are continually made to recruit new volunteers while those who have disagreements and persist in bringing them into the system are pushed out, shut out, not listened to, not responded to, and threatened with termination of their membership. They are even named personally by officers in negative election campaigns. I don't know many people who would persist in trying to volunteer in that atmosphere, whether they are being shut out, or being pressed to be the ones to do these authoritarian tactics against their fellow members.

What I see operating is that because the macrocosm is so horrifying, with the demented Prez and his power structure that is focused on loyalty and compliance, most people are having to tune out to a huge degree because it is so unbelievable and so destructive. So when it comes to our microcosm with some similar difficulties and trends, it is impossible for our members to see and admit the systemic things that are happening to our member-driven market. We don't want to believe that things could get that far from what we think we are doing. But I am here to say that some people lie, and are able to charm others into supporting them in actions that are highly destructive and nothing like what we have ever done before. Our atmosphere of trust is gone and people complaining is not what has broken it.

Speak to any older member or any former staff and they will say "We don't terminate members." We never have in our long history, unless they are egregious in not following rules or break the actual laws. I remember we did have to kick out one guy who was caught dealing pot and caused a bit of a riot when he asked his neighbors to defend him against the police. That was in the 90's. Another guy got kicked out for being actually violent. Generally people would be suspended for a year, asked to get some training in things like anger management, or just left alone to right themselves and make amends for straying from the norms. We find it in ourselves to welcome people back and let them have ideas and opinions of their own that don't agree with ours. Membership is voluntary and we are equals. No one should be put into the position of fighting against another member, and there should not be an atmosphere where dissenters are seen as enemies. That truly is not who we are. 

But one thing that is different now is that we have no stable structure when it comes to what I consider the vitals: a dependably honest public record that is diligently kept, and an overly cautious and responsible financial management structure that protects us from insolvency and provides the place where our many vulnerable members can exist. Our mission to be a business incubator includes the unspoken component that many of our members can not thrive in the regular mainstream business environment. That includes old people, disabled people, neuro-divergent people, people in various social and personal transitions, as well as those trying out new careers and businesses hoping to get a foothold that will support them. This component of our membership is probably a lot larger than the part that is financially successful. They're not always the type of people who are the easiest to deal with...they can be frightened, easily discouraged or confused, insecure, or young and passionate with great ideas that are new to us.   

The members have a level of interest that is sparked when things happen that bother them, and fades away when they are satisfied, doing well, and looking forward to more of that. That's the surface dynamic, but we are so much more complicated than that. We are easy to manipulate with false narratives, and we see the disturbing trends, but we are also generally unwilling to spend a lot of time volunteering that we need to be putting into our own lives and businesses, which are not hobby-level for the most part. Most of us don't want to or can't spend even 50% of our time volunteering and putting in a few years on a committee that doesn't welcome us or listen openly to us is just far too frustrating.

I personally was spending 90% of my time volunteering since our manager left in mid-2021. I was keeping the public record and archiving the historical record and working in the office with the managers and acting managers and whomever on staff needed support. Obviously that was not sustainable for me but I had skills the market needed and I gradually left my OCF volunteer positions to focus on SM, the KF, and other things I do in the community. At certain points I had to let go even when I could not find someone to replace me, and now I can see how scary it really is to not have an accurate public record. Having someone who values accuracy and honesty in that position is something everyone would support, but that is not where we are right now. 

I found it impossible to carry that weight when information was being withheld, controlled, and gates were being erected to keep members from seeing the reality. The whole secret termination effort directed at two food booth owners was shocking and wrong in so many ways. Sure I complained, but minds were made up to follow through with a false narrative and being on a committee would not have made a single piece of difference in having my complaints be effective. In fact, things I tried to do were subverted and blocked, long before I resigned. I was an officer, and I had no influence, so one can see how an ordinary member with no power would be easily frustrated and resort to complaining. 

Members who go through that type of oppression take a long time to admit they are being manipulated, because we value trust and we like to assume people are doing their best and sharing our goals as an organization. I am here to tell you that we aren't there right now. We haven't had any type of retreat to discuss goals and common values since about 2018. We lost all of the tracking efforts we had in place to monitor our financial and members situations so for years we didn't know what we were able to do or how to be wise about things. Some financial tracking has been restored, thanks to dedicated volunteers on the Budget Committee, but their recommendations are still not regarded as informed directions for our operations. We're spending savings that took decades to put away, on things that used to be in place, and are fully restorable, and we are not drawing on our considerable human resources for our continuity and accountability. People who try to bring such things forward are dismissed as complainers and told to volunteer more and longer and expect others not to agree with them.

That doesn't sound like a membership of equals. Now that the bylaws have been changed to allow staff to be members, are they acting like equals to the rest of us? I don't see it. What will that actually look like? Would our equal members have decided to cancel selling days and spend savings without consulting the rest of us? Would they be keeping things secret so we won't know the truth or their plans? I don't think so. However, we apparently have a board that supports these actions and we don't know about most of it except if we hear it as rumors, while being advised to just support whatever the power structure does. I do not support spending savings to cover for lack of financial management skills. I do not support cancelling selling days. Those are our paydays. 

Involving members in real ways can be messy. We have people who get angry and people who will fight hard for what they see as justice. It's not that hard to take them down one by one, shut them out and take away their rights. It should be harder to do that. I think if we weren't in such a toxic macrocosm, we would have more ability to protect our microcosm.

The financial picture for ordinary people at our income level is dire. All of our costs are rising, some unimaginably, and we are going to lose healthcare, access to vital services, and support from the federal, state and local governments that we have little ability to change. We have this one way we can protect ourselves from all of this, our community, where we can use our values to support each other, shore up our systems so we can still survive and even thrive at our economic level, and work together to preserve this precious opportunity we built over the last 55 years. 

We can't be fighting with each other. We can't be shutting out everyone who is inconvenient to deal with. We can't be kicking out members who have an aversion to authoritarian tactics and are obviously distressed and vulnerable. They need our safe place, they need our income opportunities. They need us to work with them and for them, while we work for ourselves.

We saw the X-tian proselytizers return this week with the students. What I saw from my space which was not right on the corner in the midst of it, was a market stubbornly refusing to be ruined by it. We didn't stop doing what we do best, and even just a few spaces from the corner we showed that we were a safe place by the many PRIDE flags and political signs we display in our spaces. We didn't let it become our fight, and to my mind this was because the top-down drama we have been seeing was on vacation. This is not our fight and we do not have the resources to make it our fight. We need to focus on our own issues.

We do need to pull together, use our maturity and experience to solve our recurring issues, and not panic. We have the ability to do whatever is before us, and have done most of it before, many times. There is no crisis that can't be managed. If people feel they cannot manage this without panic, secrecy and things that may not even be legal, much less sensible, than they should step aside, resign or replace themselves or just stop trying to fix the wrong things. Our problem is not our members complaining. It would be a bigger problem if they stopped.   

Knowledge is needed

I'm just going to post my letter to the Board since it wasn't put into the Board packet as I requested. 

 8-13-25

Dear Board of Directors,

I am writing to request that access to the digital Board Packet materials be returned to me for archiving purposes. The importance of a digital archive in this time period does not need to be explained. As paper archives become less complete, I have been carefully saving member email notifications and all documents shared digitally to paper, at my own expense, but to not be able to save and make available digital files takes away a great amount of usefulness from any archive.

For those who do not know me personally, I have been a trusted, solid volunteer for nearly all of my fifty years of membership. From serving in many roles, including as Secretary and Board Chair beginning in the early 1980’s, I have been involved with and contributed greatly to most of the organizational efforts to date. I’ve supported every administration, including this one, with my skills. I’ve often been the person to explain concepts such as confidentiality, most of the parliamentary procedures and structures we use, and most importantly I’ve been able to find and share historical information that has been vital in decision-making. I am committed to the archives and would like to continue to be.

However, I am not asking strictly for myself. As a mutual benefit organization or even as a hybrid c-corp and not-for-profit, our members are shareholders and must be active participants in the decisions made with their assets and in their interests. They keep informed by reading the minutes of the Board and Committees, the newsletters, discussions on social media, and by networking with their fellow members. Many more people stay informed than can be served by the newsletters alone, which are curated by staff with selected details in limited space. It isn’t possible for all of us to attend meetings, even with zoom, which provides only partial understanding due to the technical difficulties. It’s imperfect to just listen to neighbors during the busy day at the Park Blocks. Members need all the available sources of information, sometimes repeatedly, and in context, to perform our own Duty of Care. Gatekeeping and controlling the primary sources of information keeps people in the dark and does not encourage participation.

We are experiencing a drop in volunteer energy and part of the reason is the lack of trust and open communication from the power structure to the members. Not being able to see financial reports, discussions of vital changes in policy and operations, and complete reports of actions erodes interest and trust and creates dissension. Board minutes have always been comprehensive to include discussion points so interested members can know if their particular concerns were part of the decisions made. Communications with the members have traditionally been more inclusive of detail than those of other types of businesses. It’s a tremendous waste of staff time to have to explain things repeatedly one-on-one when our newsletters and board packets can convey information to many members at once.

The analogy I found most useful in group decision-making was that there is an elegant solution in the middle of the table, which can only be revealed by the careful crafting of individual members contributing without reservations to the whole. Members have to feel safe, welcomed, and important to the group process. An atmosphere of trust has always been operating in our organization, which sometimes does require courage but is always worth working on.

Restricting the Board Packet and free access to the business of the organization is shutting down the possibility of the elegant solutions we need. We can’t stay current, we can’t be helpful, and we can’t participate when we can’t freely access the details and have the opportunity to make informed feedback before decisions are made. Please restore transparency and trust to our organizational operations. We would not have survived this long without this vital aspect of our culture.

Sincerely,

Diane McWhorter

The reply (not from the Board itself...):  

Hi Diane,

I am sending you the digital copy of the Board packet from the August meeting. I understand as the archivist, it can be frustrating as this new Board settles in and finds their footing. The information was not being withheld from you, the Board just needed to figure out the direction in which they wanted to distribute the information electronically. I was always planning on getting the documents to you after a decision had been made by the Board.

I am sure you remember a time when if you wanted to see the P&L or the Policies and Procedures Document you had to come into the office to view it. It was not distributed and copied like it has been. I still aim for transparency but also must temper that with the organization’s safety in mind. I apologize if this caused any inconvenience to you.

The packet was sent a month later, so it was withheld. I do not know if it was restored to anyone else. As far as I know, the issue was not discussed although the minutes might show some discussion...I'll have to wait for the minutes like everyone else. For the record, there was never a time when the intent was not to share the P&P document with the members...there was just no staff expertise on google documents for a couple of years. An editable version was shared and of course that had to be restricted...anyone could change anything in there. When we didn't have a GM it was not widely available to anyone, because of that edit aspect. It took a long, long time after Kirsten left to keep our policies and procedures safe. There was a link in every agenda for members to go and look at it, going back to when it was created, but of course you had to see the agenda to find it. Now the digital versions are in a format that isn't copyable and the link doesn't work. You have to ask for it. Gatekeeping.

The willingness to share financial documents changed with GMs, according to their feelings of trust and the surety of accuracy. There were times when dozens of copies were made so that anyone who wanted one could have one, and when the financial statements were offered monthly in every Board packet. Generally out of respect individual staff salaries were not shared, but the total staff wages and benefits was in there. There are some number of us who do understand how to read and analyze financial statements, and every new Board got a tutorial on how to read them at an open meeting so everyone could learn.

And the whole discussion of what our legal status is was part of every Board Orientation. If people believed me, there would not have had to be months of  confusion and anxiety about it. It's public record. I used this template for a few years to orient the new Board members.

Just go to https://data.oregon.gov/business/Active-Nonprofit-Corporations and search for Saturday Market.

Drama and panic that didn't have to happen. It is so important to keep our experienced members in the organization. 

I did notice that a Board Orientation document was finally created, which I hope is accompanied by some discussions about the things that aren't easily documented but more about experience with Board and group process. I hope that will be one of the tasks of the Governance Committee. Knowledge is power. 

 

A seasonal lull

 This past Saturday was by far the lowest sales of the season for me, one-fourth of my usual level of sales. I spent more at the farmers than I made, and also bought food from our members because we are all in this same boat. The financial crisis got to us right away this time I think, when in the past we have seen a lag in how quickly we were affected. 

It's so expensive to come to a football game now, with the increases in tickets, travel, lodging and food, that football fans who do make it to market before the 12:30 start time generally don't spend much. They don't need produce, they eat the continental breakfasts at their hotels, and they eat some overpriced hot dog at the stadium. We had our regulars, but plenty of people had next to zero sales and the market wasn't full. So we're seemingly on a downward income trend that is much more severe than last year. None of my high sales days have been as high, and my lows are lower. The hopeful news is that last year by the middle of September my sales inched back up as the students returned, but then I had to miss October due to my broken wrist so I don't know what would have happened. A lot depends on the time of the game, and on the schedule I have, none of the upcoming games have a listed time, so I don't have much prediction accuracy. Next week is an away game but it starts at 9:00 am, so that might not affect us much. But the pandemic high sales have fallen off. So I fervently hope the Board does not put another fee increase on us. We're just getting hit from every financial side and we need our market to be on our side and find ways to reduce spending instead.

I guess not having a promotions manager will save some money...I hope that this Board also remembers all the ways we have learned to do promotions that don't cost money. I was talking to one member and we agreed that partnering with other arts organizations is one way to do that. Bring members of the symphony or the ballet down to perform and fundraise. Let groups use our platform for our mutual benefit. Network like crazy to make sure people remember us and don't allow ourselves to become part of the Eugene wallpaper. Of course that will be hard without someone to channel those opportunities with skill and professionalism. Setting up those interviews with members who have interesting things to say, doing the work of going to community groups and meetings to bring Market energy in, all those types of things need skilled professionals with the training to show us in our most authentic, loveable way, and not fall into that old, same tie-dye and macrame market image that some people still hold of us. I hope some people step up.

Raising fees just isn't going to be sustainable as we close out the opportunity for the new, maybe inexperienced members to build their businesses. There isn't an endless supply of crafters out there for us to draw from. If there were, you would see Whiteaker and the farmers bursting at the seams and that is not what we are seeing. 

But the market seems to be continuing in this contraction mode where people are feeling shut out and lied to and dismissed. I wrote to the Board and asked that my letter be in the Board packet, but it wasn't so my message wasn't received. I was on the agenda and because I don't attend Board meetings there was no effort to read the letter, and my issue was only addressed for me, not for everyone as I had requested. Whatever, requests are not demands and they said no with their inaction, and I have again been dismissed. I have learned to expect that. Many of us have. Trends like this have happened before, and they won't last forever, but they are damaging. We've seen it before, when membership declines, people get mad, market becomes less important to the community, and we have a slump. 

When we don't have transparency it is hard to work out what the false narratives are and what is the truth that will be helpful in building community back up. Many of us have our opinions but many others believe the opposite, and we don't move forward. Watching from the sidelines is painful but it would be more painful for me to submit to more manipulation and gaslighting so that's how I'm handling it. There are plenty of people capable of fixing these things and some of them are working on it. Some of them are breaking it into pieces that will never come back together, but that is what happens in group process. It's important to remember that things are not really binaries: right or wrong, me or you, us or them, now or never. It's way more vague and open than that when things are this complex. 

 Friendships seem to be what gets lost, but sometimes only for awhile. The routines and necessities of the selling day seem to level things out to a great degree and the community rolls along. We have seen a few people drop out though, when their situations became cruel and too much to set aside. If you support these victims you get labeled and sidelined like they were. We don't have an atmosphere where disagreement is possible yet. I think it's going to be awhile before we get back to reasonable discussions with openness and heart, but surely there are people who will bring that. I'm trusting in it.

Meanwhile, it rained today and I have a lot to do here at home. My porch and steps need a rebuild, which I am not ready to tackle, and I have to paint the south side and finish the summer pruning. The weeds are healthy and seeding everywhere. I got my bandana display working but now I have to decide now much more to invest in them, or if I should minimize the efforts and concentrate on things that sell better. I don't really need to get ready for HM but that is also on the radar. I'm sad to see summer go, as always. We should have some more of it yet, though. Maye later this week.  

 

Doing our jobs on Labor Day weekend

 This week at market we saw the return of the 1:00 football games, which have not really worked for us, to my mind because people who come to attend the game have to spend SO much on tickets, lodging, and food and travel, that they really can't buy crafts or things that they don't absolutely need. And between the incessant supply of free tote bags being given at farmers via On Point and Kaiser Permanente, and the clear bag policy at the games, tote bag sales have tanked. It's a bit of a dilemma, because of course people need tote bags for shopping at both markets, but several farmers booths sell them (it's allowed) and the free ones are showing up every week now. So sure, people need to carry things, but it's not neighborly to give away free products. I mean, what if I give away produce? That wouldn't last long without some protests from across the street, where few farms are able to sell everything they bring. Growth and success are just as challenging as other factors and farmers have chosen to use corporate sponsors and growth to pay their bills which has pushed many small farms out the door and caused a lot of food waste, which I hope is making its way to hungry people. 

Our management decided that LCFM will do their jobs on the two weeks of November between the last outdoor market and the HM, so we can sell, if we want to do it on the farmers terms. I haven't pinned down all the details, and I'm likely to consider it seriously, but just for hats. I expect there would be a very short set-up time with the 9:00 opening time and sorting out how to get a booth with no Tuesday points, but trying to sell tote bags would probably be useless. Yet I really don't want two weeks off in the buildup to holiday shopping. People who mail hats are a significant part of my sales, and they'll just go online if they can't find me.

I personally had my best day at market in a long time...not sales-wise. It was by far my lowest sales day of the season, and it wasn't because I was slacking on my job. I made a new banner for my bandanas and it slowed my set-up a bit, but people just weren't buying. I know two people who had zero or close to zero sales. I guess there's another early game next week, 12:30 this time, against Oklahoma State. Not sure how many travelers we will get from there. Guess we'll find out. But between the weather and competing events, we're seeing a 5-week drop in sales, which I hope is not true for everyone. 

I had such a good day because my faith in myself and my life with market was restored by a counseling session I had which reset my ability to handle all of the vulnerability and challenge of what has been going on. I felt cleared of oppressive thoughts and the actions of others, and way more able to be open and strong with the many things I juggle. I realized I care too much about too many people and since I can be of little help with most of their concerns and challenges (and it isn't my job to do) I need to let go of that deep love to the point where I allow them to pick up their own strengths and challenges and step up themselves. This was part of stepping back, letting others rise, and it takes time of course. 

It seems to be counter-productive for me to even encourage people to participate because of the many false narratives being spread. I'm not trusted by the new people like I am by people who have watched and heard me working for the common good all these decades. People don't really think there are unselfish givers in the world any more. We've been told everything is a transaction and those who can dominate are more important than those who want to collaborate. Destroying the old hippie history is a goal so those of us who carry it must be pushed out to serve this narrative that new is good and old is tired and over. Those of us who still carry the old values have been silenced but we are still there so it won't succeed entirely. Still, lies and manipulation are powerful.

The false narrative that members hate staff is super powerful and you would think no one would support that story...it is demonstrably false every day. We are a team that needs each other. But staff is defensive and has been told that members are after their jobs and don't value them, so every interaction can easily take a negative turn. One happened at the end of the day this week that was shocking and essentially violent and it is not over and is ugly. The people spreading this narrative need to think again at what they are saying and why. Yes of course not all of us like or support every single staff person or the things they do, but that is not something that can be simplified into a "mean members" narrative. I know all the past staff and the reasons they left, and while there were incidents in every term, there were no clear incidences of mean members making staff quit. There were members doing their duty of care to keep the market alive and get the professional staff we are paying for. 

I did get the digital Board packet access returned to me after writing to the Board. However, I no longer trust that it is the full complement of materials that the archives require. I asked that my letter be included in the packet, but it was not. And I asked for everyone's access to be restored, not just mine. So...  

I was really glad I had the increased capacity this week so I could stop packing up to counsel my fellow member who really couldn't grasp everything that had just happened to him in his interaction with a staff member. What I saw was that with the false beliefs and no support for either party, neither of them had the skills to work through the situation to any healthy outcomes and no one felt it was their job to intervene. I tried to prevent it from getting much bigger, but I could only advise a cool-down period and the ugliness that was revealed is not going to be forgotten by those who witnessed or engaged in it. I don't see it playing out well. It has already become part of the story that won't just go away.

There are so many cracks in the facade that everything is fine that I know people are falling into those cracks. I was able to counteract my own fears and re-engage with people I have unresolved issues with, because we all value that Saturday experience where we sell next to each other as companionable equals, setting aside the issues that have to be sorted through in the long term and just doing our simple jobs of bringing our wares to the center of town and creating a magical space for others to enjoy. 

It's never all about money so when my sales are low I just hope that means other people are having good sales and it's a continuum that extends long past one day. There are always enjoyable encounters that don't result in a sale and I have plenty of those, particularly when I feel safe and open to what comes to my space. I like my banner, which got me to sew something for a change, and it changed how things work in my space, so now I have to rearrange again and get a better balance of display so my more expensive products aren't hidden by my lovely but not as valuable bandanas. I like evolving, especially now when it is tempting to do things the same every week and minimize effort. I am doing the opposite and have to keep leaving earlier every week to make these changes work. I am sure it will settle into something workable.

But this is what is called the shoulder season, past the peak of tourism and summer vacations, into school days but not quite to the return of the student traffic we enjoy. It has generally been our practice to advertise more heavily during that time but we're not seeing that. The advertising budget was cut to accommodate other types of spending and respond to the shocking shortfall of $30,000 last year which was still not fully dealt with as far as I can see. We're still spending more and now will be the months that determine how solvent we can get. There are a lot of factors in play. We only have Saturdays and HM fees to make that money we will need. I'm grateful we have a diligent Budget Committee and I hope that's enough to get us through.

I will work hard to hang onto my increased capacity and reclaim my joy in Saturdays and how full of life they are. Nobody gets to ruin that for me. We've endured a lot as a membership and I will always work for that common good as I have been doing, regardless of people's knowledge of it or appreciation for it. It can't matter what other people think unless it helps fortify what is actually the common good, which of course I am not in charge of and can't fully know. Somehow, I do still have faith in it.