By Bob Ray Sanders
Star-Telegram Staff Writer
Posted on Sun., Aug. 7, 2005

When (DFW Airport) first set up its new concession program, the board was clear that it wanted local minorities to be included. The program, largely, has been a success. More than 50 percent of the terminal concession contracts awarded under the new program have gone to minorities. The problem, says (Kenneth) Walker (attorney for a black New Jersey businessman who operated Benjamin Books at DFW), is that "'local' is a buzzword for discrimination and cronyism."

At least one other concessionaire says he had an experience similar to Crews; when he couldn't consummate a partnership with a minority the staff recommended, he lost his permit. In the mid-1990s, Jeff Haynes, a white California businessman, had a temporary permit to operate several airport shops that sold luggage on wheels. His business grossed about a $1 million annually. He says the airport staff told him the only way he could continue doing business at the D/FW was if he brought in a local minority partner.

The staff suggested Gilbert Aranza, who has numerous restaurants at the airport. When negotiations broke down, Haynes formed a partnership with Jim Rodriguez, a dentist, who also had been recommended to him by the board staff. Haynes claimed that Mario Trevino, head of the airport's department of minority affairs and economic development, dragged his feet in approving his partnership. Although Trevino eventually signed off on the agreement, Haynes says that Pat Gleason, head of airport concessions, told him it was too late and canceled his permit. Gleason then turned around and, without seeking bids for the space, gave Aranza several of Haynes' concession locations. He used them to open Fossil watch franchises.

The Hispanic dentist Rodriguez, meanwhile, entered a joint venture with Tie Rack, a British company that had several kiosks that sold ties and other assorted accessories at the airport. (This occurred without any one else competing for the partnership, according to airport files.) The terms of the agreement, according to files provided to the Dallas Observer in an open records request, show that all the dentist paid into the joint venture was $400, in return for 40 percent of the business.

And then there is the case of Victor Puente, a Fort Worth businessman who owns several newsstands and other concessions at the airport. Board member Adelfa Callejo recommended Puente among several other people to Crews as potential partners. Puente was one of only two people who responded to the airport's bid process for the Benjamin partnership. Airport records show that Puente got a piece of one of the most lucrative white-owned concessions at the airport, the Thomas Cook Currency Exchange, which grossed $16 million in 1997, according to airport records. Cook financed Puente's investment, meaning he did not have to put up a cent in return for 17 percent of gross revenues, according to the records.

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The staff also delayed the process for selecting local minority partners. They were revamping the process and wouldn't be finished until the fall. Crews didn't know then that not all businesses were required to go through the bidding process to find a minority partner. Out of frustration, and in an effort to speed things up, Crews called board member Adelfa Callejo in August and asked her for some recommendations for possible minority partners. Her list included Dallas furniture storeowner Ray Quintanilla and Fort Worth businessman Victor Puente, who owned several newsstands at the airport, as well as dentist Jim Rodriguez, Dallas Independent School District board president Rene Castilla, and Dallas lawyer Regina Montoya, who worked for Westcott Communications. Montoya is also the wife of Paul Coggins, the U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Texas.