Seaside signal. (Seaside, Or.) 1905-current, September 27, 2019, Image 4

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Newspaper Page TextA4 • Friday, September 27, 2019 | Seaside Signal | SeasideSignal.com SignalViewpoints A conversation on diversity in the lodging industry Minority report SEEN FROM SEASIDE R.J. MARX ‘W hat is your company doing to promote people of color and minorities in your organization to really reﬂ ect the culture of your hotels and businesses?” This question, delivered by Al Mungia, co-owner of the Hood River Hotel, at the conclusion of a ﬁ ve-man panel discussion “Adapting and Winning in a New Hospitality Landscape,” brought quick responses and an apology for the failure to diversify the panel. Panelists included industry representa- tives, part of the two-day Oregon Restaurant & Lodging Association Hospitality Confer- ence in mid-September at the Seaside Civic and Convention Center. With a diverse workforce, minority own- ership and women in the workplace, the lodg- ing industry offers welcome, training and opportunities for all by creating an environ- ment of respect and understanding, panel members said. Consultant and moderator Seth Gruschow called it “an industry of opportunity.” Mungia pressed the issue, asking for spe- ciﬁ c measures to back up the claim. A hand shot up from the audience. B.J. Lefever, general manager of the Ebb Tide Oceanfront Inn, responded directly to Mungia. “Sir, I appreciate your passion,” Lefe- ver began. “I’m a Paciﬁ c Islander. I’m one of those stories: from dishwasher to executive chef and now to the front of the hotel. I’m very passionate about this: Do not treat me any differently because I’m a Paciﬁ c Islander. Lefever turned to the audience. “Thank you, guys in this room who don’t treat any- body differently and just work with them based on their skills and their ethics. I appre- ciate that a lot.” As the panel session came to a close, the conversation seemed unﬁ nished. Is diversity part of the lodging industry culture, and what, if anything, should be done to increase opportunities for all? We met with Mungia and Lefever between conference breakout sessions.  Q: Mr. Mungia, What prompted your remarks today? Was it the composition of the members of the panel? Mungia: Partly. We have a very diverse industry. Yet when the leadership that pre- R.J. Marx B.J. Lefever and Al Mungia present thoughts on diversity at the meeting of the Oregon Restaurant & Lodging Association in Seaside. sented is all-white straight males, to me, you can’t tell me that there aren’t other voices that need to be heard. That’s an issue. Q: Do you accept the moderator’s com- ment that they attempted to provide a more diverse panel? Mungia: Not at all. Only because I didn’t hear any meat. The fact that you put an ad in a gay paper is a marketing opportunity. That is not a diversity initiative. What I heard them say was, “We all have things in place, it’s written down — so there- fore we’re good.” I’d like to hear more about what they’re doing to actually train and educate minority employees in their establishments for leader- ship positions. What is the company doing to actually promote people of color into leadership posi- tions? What training are they being offered? Have biases in their postings and job descrip- tions been addressed? Q: Have you witnessed discrimination? Is it inbred in our culture? Mungia: There are inherent biases, preju- dices in our system. Have I been a victim of racism? Not that I’m aware of and not that I have let it affect me. Does it exist? That is a different question. Lefever: It’s a little bit different for me. The island I’m from is a U.S. territory. Everybody’s pretty open about what they are, straight, gay, trans — that’s been a nonissue for at least me in my mind as long as I can remember. I came up being a chef in this industry. I haven’t really had a lot of backlash for being “of color.” It’s always been about my work, my skill sets. My drive is what pro- pelled me into leadership from the dish pit. There are times when I give dinners and I step out on the ﬂ oor and some people give a weird look, like, “Oh, it’s not who I thought it was going to be.” Other than that, I have plenty of room to grow. When it comes to leadership programs, there is more acceptance. Q: Talk about national policy. How does that affect your industry? Mungia: You’ve got a president who’s obviously racist. You can’t tell me that we’re in a better place place and everything is ﬁ ne at this point when you have a president who is inherently racist. Lefever: I do think it’s caused ripples. Yes, we do have illegals, and yes, they do make up 40% to 60% of the — Mungia: Undocumented, not “illegal.” Lefever: Right. Mungia: That is part of the bias. It’s the word choice. We need to be aware as an industry of what we say, how we say it and what we’re doing. And let’s not pretend we are perfect, because we’re not. Protesters say ‘use your voice’ to ﬁ ght climate change We have some wonderful people in our industry and I’m not calling them racist by any shape or form. I am not. But there is a problem in our industry that we are not addressing. Just to simply have a policy on the books is not addressing the issue. We need to be doing more. I want to know, for example, how many hotels are educating their housekeepers in English in order to prepare them for a lead- ership role? I bet very few, if any, are doing that. How many are supplying actual training so people in line-level positions can move up into the next role? Lefever: But when it comes to culture, it’s less of an issue than it was ﬁ ve, 10 years ago. I know in our company, speciﬁ cally we just had a housekeeper go to head house- keeper, head housekeeper to assistant GM, and he’s learning leadership skills. It’s not a speciﬁ c program for people of color. It’s a program that’s offered to all of our employees. Inclusion isn’t about excep- tions, it’s about inclusion of all. If we’re really looking to be on an equal playing ﬁ eld with everybody, why do we need programs speciﬁ cally for us? Mungia: Because it’s not equal now. You need to level the playing ﬁ eld. Lefever: But if we get speciﬁ c programs for us, then it’s no longer equal again. Half my housekeeping force is of color — yes. The other half happens to be white. Those opportunities are for all of our employees. It’s one of our core values. I think the best thing this industry has done for me is not treat me any more special or different, just to treat me as a person in the company who’s working to get ahead. For our entire company, we allow anyone who’s interested in a leadership position those opportunities to learn and grow with mentor- ship. Anyone who wants to learn, grow, we support that. We want people to succeed. Mungia: That’s my point. You’re saying: “We’re doing a lot.” Give me an example. One! One example. What are you doing to change the culture and to promote that? I’m not hearing anything speciﬁ cally. We have a huge base in our hotels, in our restaurants, of people of color. What pro- grams do we have in place to promote these and educate them to become future leaders? Q: Where does this conversation go from here? What is the next step? Mungia: Honestly, just this. This is it — it’s about discussion. At least one person in that room today went, “Hm, interesting point. Gotta look at it. What are we doing as a company?” PUBLIC MEETINGS SEASIDE VIEW FROM THE PORCH EVE MARX Monday, Sept. 30 City Council/Planning Commission Workshop, City Hall, 989 Broadway. kept my expectations low last Friday when I turned out for the Global Cli- mate Change Strike that took place in Seaside on the corner of Broadway and Roosevelt Drive in front of the giant chair. I knew thousands were gathering in major cities around the world including Delhi, Seoul, Cape Town, London, San Francisco, New York, and Washington, D.C. I knew big events were planned in Melbourne and Brussels, Lisbon and Tai- pei. Thousands were expected to gather in strike in Kenya, Dublin, Edinburgh, Syd- ney, Paris, Tokyo and Prague, but this was Seaside, Oregon. So I was very surprised at the high level of energy and number of people (there were hundreds) in Seaside who came out in united protest. An hour or so before the event, which took place between noon and 1 p.m., I was getting coffee in Gearhart, where a few peo- ple I spoke with were under the impression the strike was a student thing. Inspired, of course, by the teenaged Swedish climate change activist, Greta Thunberg. And indeed it is teens leading the charge. Last March an estimated 1.4 million school- children, following Greta’s lead, walked out of their classrooms to march in cities and towns around the world. As it happened, a dozen or so students from Seaside High School came out for the Seaside Climate Change strike, but the vast majority of protesters were, like me, quite a bit older. Gray heads, gray beards. A few people I spoke with said the last time they protested anything, it was the war in Vietnam. I PUBLISHER EDITOR Kari Borgen R.J. Marx Joint Tuesday, Oct. 1 Community Center Commission meeting, 10:30 a.m., Bob Chisholm Center, 1225 Ave- nue A, Seaside. Seaside Library Board, 4:30 p.m., Seaside Pub- lic Library, 1131 Broadway. Sunset Empire Park and Recreation District, 5:15 p.m., board workshop, Bob Chisholm Community Center, 1225 Avenue A, Seaside. Members of the Great Vow Zen Monastery in Clatskanie provided a meditative atmosphere. I was impressed with the signage. “No Jobs on a Dead Planet!” “Use Your Voice!” “Planet Over Proﬁ t!” “Pro- tect Mother Earth,” and my favorite, “Our House is on Fire.” Westin Carter, a Seaside High School student, said he came out for the protest because it’s his generation who has the most at stake. He’s aware some older people might not care so much about the planet’s future because they won’t be around to experi- ence it. He wants to live. And breathe. I was heartened to see a dozen Bud- dhists from the Great Vow Zen Monastery in Clatskanie. Their monastery was founded in 2002 and is operated by the Zen Commu- nity of Oregon. They offer weeklong med- itation retreats and special events through- out the year. When I asked how they found out about the Seaside event, they said they found out about it from a posting online. Bravo for social media. Mark Rolofson is relocating to the Sea- side area from Boulder. He was wearing a CIRCULATION MANAGER Jeremy Feldman ADVERTISING SALES MANAGER Sarah Silver-Tecza MULTIMEDIA ADVERTISING REPRESENTATIVE Kim McCaw PRODUCTION MANAGER John D. Bruijn SYSTEMS MANAGER Carl Earl CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Skyler Archibald Darren Gooch Joshua Heineman Rain Jordan Katherine Lacaze Eve Marx Cara Mico Esther Moberg Tulsi Gabbard T-shirt and carrying a sign advising the number one user of fossil fuels is the Pentagon and they should cut the mil- itary budget. For the entire hour, the indefatigable Eric Halperin of Gearhart chanted into a bull- horn while his wife, Bebe Michel, kept a steady beat on a drum. “Join the Alliance, Unite Behind the Sci- ence” was the most popular refrain. Doz- ens of the Climate Change strikers lined Roosevelt and there were lots of support- ive honking horns. Despite the slowdown in trafﬁ c, very few drivers seemed perturbed. In fact, they seemed enthusiastic. Despite some snarky comments I saw about the strike on Facebook, there’s a lot more support for climate change action in this region than is commonly reported. Laurie Caplan, who was at the event along with about 20 others from Indivisi- ble North Coast Oregon, said she was very pleased by the turnout. The next call to action is Friday in Astoria. Be there or be square. Bring signage. Seaside Planning Commission, 7 p.m., City Hall, 989 Broadway. Wednesday, Oct. 2 Seaside Improvement Commission, 6 p.m., City Hall, 989 Broadway. Gearhart City Council, 7 p.m., City Hall, 698 Pa- ciﬁ c Way. Thursday, Oct. 3 Seaside Parks Advisory Committee, 6 p.m., City Hall, 989 Broadway. Thursday, Oct. 10 Convention Center Commission, 5 p.m., Sea- side Civic and Convention Center, 415 First Ave. Gearhart Planning Commission, 6 p.m., City Hall, 698 Paciﬁ c Way. Monday, Oct. 14 Seaside City Council, 7 p.m., City Hall, 989 Broadway. Tuesday, Oct. 15 Seaside School District Board of Directors, 7 p.m., 1801 S. Franklin, Seaside. Seaside Planning Commission, work session, 7 p.m., City Hall, 989 Broadway. Seaside Signal Letter policy Subscriptions The Seaside Signal is published every other week by EO Media Group, 1555 N. Roosevelt, Seaside, OR 97138. 503-738-5561 seasidesignal.com Copyright © 2019 Seaside Signal. Nothing can be reprinted or copied without consent of the owners. The Seaside Signal welcomes letters to the editor. The deadline is noon Monday prior to publication. Letters must be 400 words or less and must be signed by the author and include a phone number for veriﬁ cation. We also request that submissions be limited to one letter per month. Send to 1555 N. Roosevelt Drive, Seaside, OR 97138, drop them oﬀ at 1555 N. Roosevelt Drive or fax to 503-738-9285, or email rmarx@seasidesignal.com Annually: $40.50 in county • $58.00 in and out of county • e-Edition: only $30.00 POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Seaside Signal, P.O. Box 210, Astoria, OR 97103. Postage Paid at Seaside, OR, 97138 and at additional mailing oﬃ ces. Copyright © 2019 by the Seaside Signal. No portion of this newspaper may be reproduced without written permission. All rights reserved.