LEADERSHIP CORNER
Chinatown recovering from SARS rumors
Interviewed by David Butts
Advertiser Staff Writer
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| Advertiser library photo |
Title: President of the Chinese Chamber of Commerce of Hawaii; attorney; clients include Harry & Jeanette Weinberg Foundation
Age: 67
High school: Iolani High School
College: University of Hawai'i and University of Illinois College of Law
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Q. What is the situation with SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome) and its impact on Chinatown?
A. There were rumors to the effect that there was SARS in Chinatown. However, the Board of Health investigated the matter and has determined that there are no reported cases of SARS in Hawai'i and certainly none in Chinatown. Nevertheless, rumors have an effect upon business people.
To assure the public and the Chinese community that there is no SARS in Chinatown, I led a group of about 25 presidents and leaders of about 25 Chinese societies to have a "Taste of Chinatown." We went to five Chinese restaurants and one roast pork shop (on April 19), so that people would see us and so the public would know that SARS is not a problem in Chinatown.
The governor, to her credit, recognized that this type of rumor would have an adverse impact upon the Chinese merchants. She and members of her staff also ate at five or six Chinese restaurants.
Q. Have you noticed an easing of the situation?
A. Yes. I was just having lunch Tuesday at one of the restaurants, and was talking to the owner there and he said business is coming back. At the peak of the SARS rumor, business went down anywhere from
20 percent to 50 percent depending on which business it was. The eateries suffered a greater negative impact. (Now) most stores are getting closer to what it was prior to SARS.
Q. What might have happened if the scare continued?
A. You would have had major unemployment. If those restaurants closed, you could have 500 people unemployed. If Chinatown closed down, you can have 1,000 unemployed.
Q. Where did the rumor originate?
A. Rumors have a funny way of starting ... we did not focus on that.
Q. What did you learn from this?
A. If we learned anything it is that you need to try to get on it very quickly and try to resolve it before it becomes more damaging.
Q. Is there an element of Chinese discrimination in the Chinatown SARS scare?
A. No, I don't think there is any discrimination. I think it is the reality of life that a lot of people in Chinatown travel to Hong Kong and to China, so consequently the risk is higher.
Q. Would you travel to China now?
A. No. Our government has issued advisories against going to Hong Kong and China. I think it is sensible to follow such advice.
Q. What was your connection with Harry Weinberg (the late Hawai'i businessman who took an active, some say contentious, role in such companies as Honolulu Rapid Transit and Maui Land & Pineapple)?
A. I was Harry Weinberg's personal lawyer for 19 years and for his Weinberg companies until he passed away in 1990. During the 19 years I would basically have lunch with him every day, except if he was out of town or in court. I continue to represent the Weinberg entities as well as the Harry & Jeanette Weinberg Foundation.
Q. The conventional wisdom is Harry Weinberg was almost universally hated while he was alive and is almost universally loved after his death. Is that true?
A. Basically, I think that's a fair statement. I think the universal hating is really not true except that came about because he had very bad press. I can recall when Hurricane 'Iwa came about and Harry Weinberg made a sizable contribution to Kaua'i. I think it was $25,000, which at that time was quite substantial. There was maybe two or three lines in the newspaper. Somebody, on the other hand, made a $5,000 contribution and it was like a quarter page. So I think a lot had to with the media.
Around 1980 when Palama Settlement was undergoing a massive remodeling program ... building a gymnasium and a whole bunch of things. At that time they were looking for $500,000. Mr. Weinberg made a contribution of one-fifth of the amount, $100,000, but nobody gave him credit for it. The newspapers don't pick him up. So how does a person get a good reputation if the good things are not publicized?
Q. What generated the dislike for him?
A. I think they considered him an outsider. An outsider coming into the businesses controlled by those who were primarily, shall we say, old-time kama'aina, who themselves came to Hawai'i, but they came earlier, and when Weinberg came he was a newcomer and as a result they treated him as an outsider.
Q. You've dealt with hundreds of businessmen. Was Weinberg particularly aggressive or obnoxious?
A. I would say he was particularly brilliant. I don't think he was any more aggressive than other business person. I don't think he was any more obnoxious. I think he is brilliant. Having had lunch with him for 19 years, I would jokingly say, I received my MBA from the Weinberg school of business.
Q. Did it bother him that he didn't get credit?
A. No, it never bothered him. Harry Weinberg was never looking for publicity. He just continued doing his thing, making money ultimately for charity.
I remember on a plane trip to Maui he was telling me that, "Everything I make is going to go to charity." He mentioned that to a number of businesses, but they never really believed him. In reality he was trying to make money, so the money could be used for charity. He formed the Harry & Jeanette Weinberg Foundation for that purpose.
At the end of his 82 years of life he amasses a fortune at that time of over $900 million not for himself to use or spend but for charity. Today that $900 million now is probably worth $2.5 billion.
Q. Whose idea was it that the donations from the foundation should be used for buildings and those buildings should have his and his wife's names on them?
A. His concept was that the money should be used, or a good portion of it, should be used for capital improvements. We all know in the business world if you allocated money for operating business in a year or two executives would take the money and it would be gone. That's not to say they will use it for themselves. They will use it for this or that, but then after a year or two a hundred thousand would disappear and there is nothing to show for it. But if you put $100,000 into a building, the building will be there. The idea of the name came about through the trustees. It wasn't my idea.
