By BJ Austin
http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/kera/local-kera-903218.mp3
Dallas – To bid, or not to bid a lucrative concession contract at Dallas Love Field That's the question for city council members. KERA's BJ Austin says a special committee is working to answer that.
Some council members want to put two lucrative concession contracts out to bid when they expire next summer. They say it's the right thing to do, and could increase airport revenue. Others want to stick with the current vendors through construction of the new terminal, and because the vendors stuck with the airport during difficult times after 9/11.
Dallas Mayor Tom Leppert opposes the no-bid award to the concessionaires, including State Representative Helen Giddings. He says concession sales dropped only 7% after 9/11, and construction is not going to have the negative impact others claim.
Leppert: You have roughly the same number of passengers that are down below as they will be in the wing that is completed. It is the same proportional number of gates. The reality is that for most all of the construction period there is absolutely no change.
But Assistant City Manager A.C. Gonzalez says extending the current concession contracts would ensure good service in the new terminal.
Gonzalez: The proposal of bringing on the incumbents, we felt that they were going to be reducing risk by the fact that they knew the airport. They had been working in a quality way.
Gonzalez did tell the committee that three years ago, the city staff recommended putting concession contracts in the new terminal out for bid, but met with opposition from some city council members, who favored the current vendors.
Mayor Leppert says this is the largest contract the city's going to do for a long time, with "hundreds of millions" of dollars at stake. It's the committee's job to find a solution, and make a recommendation to the full council next month.