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268 LAND AND POWER oIN HAWAII 8 /Hawaii:Subdividing Lava Fields 269
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<br /> in their front yard.The application was supported by the Big Island Plan- MATAYOSHI, MIDORI and ZENKO. Parents of County supervisor and then
<br /> Hing Commission and the island's two Land Use Commission members. It councilman Herbert T.Matayoshi.Limited partners.
<br /> was turned down.) MIZUHA,MRS.JACK H.Wife of Supreme Court justice.Limited partner.
<br /> Political figures from Oahu also invested in Big Island speculative subdi- NAKASHIMA,SUMIO.Former Territorial representative,district court magis-
<br /> visions. Republican US Sen. Hiram L. Fong's Finance Realty Co. was the trate.Limited partner,attorney.
<br /> developer of Fern Forest Vacation Estates and Royal Hawaiian Estates. USHIJIMA,JOHN T.State senator.Law firm represented company before Ha-
<br /> Democratic State Rep. Robert C. Oshiro (later a leading campaign coordi- waii County government.
<br /> nator for Gov.Burns and a confidant of Gov. Ariyoshi)was one of the attor-
<br /> neys for Kalapana Corporation. Republican legislator Ralph K.Ajifu, first Sources: Hawaii County Planning Department files on Royal Gardens; Gwenfread E.
<br /> Allen,ed.,Men and Women of Hawaii:ABiographicalDirectory of Noteworthy Men and Women
<br /> chairman of the Land Use Commission,invested in Milolii Syndicate. of Hawaii(Honolulu, 1966);Betty F.Buker,ed.,Men and Women of Hawaii 1972:A Bio-
<br /> Kauai Republican politician Clinton Shiraishi also invested in Milolii graphical Directory of Noteworthy Men and Women of Hawaii(Honolulu,1972);Department
<br /> Syndicate. of Commerce and Consumer Affairs,Business Registration Division;State of Hawaii,
<br /> Legislative Reference Bureau,Directory of State,County and Federal Officials:Supplement to
<br /> As for the company that developed Royal Gardens, the following"table. Guide to Government in Hawaii(published occasionally,most recently annually);Cham-
<br /> (Table 16) shows that investors included several state legislators, among ber of Commerce of Hawaii, Who's Who in Government State of Hawaii(various years);
<br /> them future Gov. George Ariyoshi, who obtained his partnership share in Hawaii State Archives;miscellaneous references in newspapers and periodicals.
<br /> trade for drafting the partnership registration statement.Another investor
<br /> was the wife of an associate justice of the Hawaii Supreme Court.The par-
<br /> ents of County Supervisor Herbert T. Matayoshi, who later became the is- ously a part-time judge.Engineering consultants included the former chief
<br /> land's mayor, invested,as did university agricultural extension agent Yukio of the Hawaii County Department of Public Works, and a former deputy
<br /> Kitagawa,who later became deputy director of the State Department of Ag- director of the State Department of Transportation.
<br /> riculture and chairman of the Honolulu Planning Commission.The attor- As mentioned,lava flows entered Royal Gardens beginning in 1983 and
<br /> neys who represented Royal Gardens before county agenciesincluded the destroyed 22 homes.With this in mind,it is ironic to note that among those
<br /> law firm of State Sen.John T. Ushijima and an attorney who was simultane- who invested in Royal Gardens in the 1960s were several people connected
<br /> directly or indirectly, then or later, with government response to natural
<br /> TABLE 16 disasters such as volcanic eruptions.
<br /> PUBLIC OFFICIALS,PUBLIC EMPLOYEES AND FAMILY MEMBERS Investor Arthur Ishimoto was in 1983 state director of civil defense.En-
<br /> INVOLVED WITH ROYAL GARDENS AS INVESTORS,ATTORNEYS, gineering consultant Yoshio Inaba had approved Royal Gardens creation as
<br /> CONSULTANTS county engineer.As county engineer he also had some responsibility for Big
<br /> Note:Governmental position is as of the time of the work on behalf of Royal Gardens or Island civil defense.plans and operations. Onc of Royal Gardens' lawyers,
<br /> during the period that the investment was held. George Ariyoshi,was the state's chief executive when.the volcano erupted.
<br /> The son of two other investors, the Matayoshis, was the Big Island's chief
<br /> ARIYOSHI, GEORGE R. State senator, lieutenant governor. Attorney who executive in 1983. Thus, in a small way, these people in the early 1960s
<br /> drafted partnership registration statement in part for share as limited partner.
<br /> helped to bring into existence a subdivision in a US Geological Survey high-
<br /> HIROTA,SAM O.Former deputy director State Dept.of Transportation.Engi- risk zone that was repeatedly hit by lava beginning in 1983, requiring ve-
<br /> neering consultant.
<br /> peated evacuations and continual civil defense help.This is not to say that
<br /> INABA,ALBERT Y.Principal Molokai High and Intermediate School.Limited i these people acted cynically in putting their money into or working on
<br /> partner.
<br /> Royal Gardens—it was just that back at the start of the Big Island boom
<br /> INABA,YOSHIO.Former Hawaii County chief engineer.Engineering consult- most of those involved,all the way from individual investors to the govern-
<br /> ant.
<br /> ment bodies that approved such subdivisions, had their eye on real estate
<br /> ISHIMOTO, ARTHUR U Hawaii National Guard staff supervisor, later state profits rather than natural hazards.
<br /> adjutant general.Limited partner.
<br /> a
<br /> KITAGAWA,YUKIO.Assistant extension agent,University of Hawaii Agricul- * * *
<br /> tural Extension Service.Limited partner. Besides natural hazards, also ignored in at least one Big Island specula-
<br /> KUSHI,MASANORI.District court magistrate.Attorney. i tive subdivision were native.Hawaiians:
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