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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Sunday, October 13, 2002

EDITORIAL
Feds should investigate state housing agency

Clearly it's time for a criminal investigation of charges that have surrounded the state's public housing agency since Advertiser reporter Jim Dooley began raising questions about it in July.

In his latest report, Dooley writes that key documents are missing from contract files for some questionable — and expensive — projects. Those documents might — had they been available — have explained why the executive director of the Housing and Community Development Corp. of Hawai'i, Sharon Miyashiro, awarded contracts to firms headed by her ex-husband and his brother.

The company that designed the award-winning first phase of the massive Kalihi Valley Homes renovation project, Group 70 International Inc., was found by Miyashiro to be less qualified than Pacific Architects to do the second phase, even though Group 70 had been named "overall and grand award winner" for best large remodeling project in the state.

The president of Pacific Architects is Dwight Mitsunaga, brother of Miyashiro's former husband, Dennis. Miyashiro is also under HUD scrutiny for awarding a nonbid contract to Dennis Mitsunaga.

Key paperwork from the Kalihi Valley Homes project file, among others, is missing, Dooley reports.

Previously, Dooley reported that the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development has accused Miyashiro of violating conflict-of-interest rules in making such awards. Now, with crucial documents missing from the files of such transactions, there's the obvious concern that we're not just looking at careless management or sloppy record-keeping, but something far worse.