The meeting. . .

Where to begin. . .
We are both grateful that two busy zoo staff members (Carmen Hannold and Jim Gilbert) were able to sit down with us for an hour and discuss this issue. We both found that Jim seemed much more sympathetic to the cause and may actually prove to be our greatest ally at the zoo.

There were many, many "shoot-downs" to our ideas and, as I said, many "foot-in-mouth" incidences. We were both shocked (from a PR perspective) that when the discrimination case was brought up, it was noted, "Well, the unfortunate thing about that is that there is nothing we can do about it now." After the meeting, we discussed the fact that there is actually a LOT that can be done, even now. I had the woman's card with me in case they asked for it, but they never did. Maybe we were hoping that they would request to contact her directly to try and get more information (where did this occur? when? does she know the staff member's name?) and offer a personal apology. Didn't happen. Maybe they don't realize the lawsuit that could have been slapped on the zoo for something like this, or possibly the bad press. I mentioned the fact that they don't realize how fortunate they are that the woman was so nonchalant about it. I provided the facts that when Delta asked a woman to cover-up while nursing, and then proceeded to kick her of a plane (it was grounded!) they had the worst press possible. There were protests and nurse-ins at hundreds of Ticket counters across the country, they had to make a public apology, and they settled with a monetary sum for the nursing mom.

Ultimately, when we left after the meeting, we were promised that the zoo will look into potential areas where a nursing room could fit. (It was mentioned that there is an unused janitor's closet at one location that could possibly work. . . ) We were told that their first step NOW will be to educate staff. We did not get more clarity on that, and this could be anything from a sentence at the end of an employee newsletter, to a requirement for all new employees and volunteers to be briefed on the laws and where nursing moms can have access to if they request privacy. Staff meeting info? Staff training? Not sure.

We also were given a commitment that the zoo would take a look at the First Aid rooms and try to figure out how to make them more accommodating for nursing moms. If a new nursing room was to be built, the earliest timeline for that would be Fall 2010. In the meantime, the possibility of an outdoor, "off the beaten path," space may be created for this summer for nursing moms to step off the path and nurse away from the 8,000 people walking by.

The meeting took a sour turn towards the end when this blog, chronicling the process, was mentioned. It was pointed out that one of the two staff members felt that we were "targeting the zoo" and nowhere else in Portland. To which we replied that: No other place in Portland hosts over 1.5 million guests a year, requires admission cost, receives public funding, whose primary demographic includes moms with children, does not have a nursing room facility, and who has discriminated against nursing moms. Who else would we "target?"

We hope that our thoughts and requests are taken seriously and commend the zoo for taking the next steps to look into this. We have many other insights from the meeting and would be happy to discuss further if anyone needs more info. Let us know! We'll keep you all (all two of you) posted!