Transportation jobs for minorities pushed

The Utah chapter of the Conference of Minority Transportation Officials held its second annual conference recently in the Little America Hotel.

The group works to educate the public about transportation issues and to help minorities get better jobs within the transportation field. Conference participants heard from officials from a broad range of transportation areas.

Among those who spoke were David Creer, executive director of the Utah Trucking Association; Steve Meyer of the Utah Transit Authority; and Steve Goodrich, community-relations manager for the Great Basin District of United Parcel Service.

Lane Beattie, president and chief executive officer of the Salt Lake Chamber of Commerce, spoke over lunch about economic development and transportation.

"Transportation is the key to economic development," Beattie said.

For many minority transportation officials, a glass ceiling seems to exist that prevents their promotion, said Jeanetta Williams, president of the Utah chapter of the NAACP, adding that the glass ceiling in Utah is a larger challenge than in other places. "We're here to meet that challenge head on," Williams said.