"Council votes 8-5 to retain Paradies Shops as KCI concessionaire"

Friday, November 30, 2001

Council votes 8-5 to retain Paradies Shops as KCI concessionaire
By LYNN HORSLEY
The Kansas City (MO) Star


The City Council voted Thursday to retain Paradies Shops as Kansas City
International Airport's concessionaire, despite opponents' pleas to wait
three weeks for an auditor's report on the selection process. 

The council voted 8-5 to extend Paradies' contract for the news, gift
and specialty retail shops at the airport, ending weeks of acrimonious
debate and a minifilibuster on the council floor by Councilman Paul
Danaher. 

Danaher argued that the council should wait for a city audit, due Dec.
19, on whether the process that selected Paradies over rival vendor
Hudson Group was impartial and proper. Critics had argued that the
selection process gave Paradies an unfair advantage. 

"We should hear what (Auditor Mark Funkhouser) has to say about this
process so we can make a vote that is more enlightened," Danaher said. 

Danaher filibustered for about 40 minutes before the council moved to
limit debate, and the vote was then taken. Supporters of Paradies were
Mayor Kay Barnes, Aviation Committee Chairwoman Teresa Loar, Ed Ford,
Bonnie Sue Cooper, Becky Nace, Jim Rowland, Evert Asjes and Charles
Eddy. 

Besides Danaher, opponents were Mary Williams-Neal, Troy Nash, Terry
Riley and Al Brooks. 

The lucrative 10-year contract generated extensive debate at City Hall. 

Paradies Shops, based in Atlanta, has operated at KCI since 1992. The
city sent out a request for proposals earlier this year because terminal
renovations forced some shops to close. 

The Aviation Department's recommendation to stick with Paradies angered
some black leaders, including former Mayor Emanuel Cleaver, Jackson
County legislator Ron Finley and the Rev. Nelson Thompson. They objected
to the company's decision not to keep Creative Concessions and its
principal owner, Denise Gilmore, as its minority subtenant. 

Hudson Group, of East Rutherford, N.J., would have employed Gilmore as
its executive manager at the airport, and several black leaders lobbied
the council on Gilmore's behalf. 

Supporters also argued that Hudson Group's minimum guaranteed rent
proposal would mean at least $3 million more for the city over the
10-year life of the contract. 

But Paradies supporters said that Paradies had always exceeded the
minimum guaranteed rent and that more relevant criteria for judging
qualifications were sales, customer service, product variety, retail
concept and design and quality of improvements. 

Loar said that she thought both companies were excellent and that
nothing the council would learn from the audit would help it make a
better decision. 

"We needed to just move forward, and I'm very comfortable with the
company we selected," she said.

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