Where I Stand — Mike O’Callaghan: Sleepless in Archie Grant

Friday, July 9, 1999 | 9:06 a.m.

Mike O'Callaghan is the Las Vegas Sun executive editor.

YOU ARE 95 years old and live in a city of Las Vegas Housing Authority apartment. Because of loud noises caused by nearby plumbing you get very little sleep at night. The people managing the facility tell you they will correct the situation, but it still continues week after week and month after month.

After complaining to your friends, they call the top man in the agency and you are taken to see another apartment, which is much too small for you and your possessions. You tell them thanks, but no thanks, and this gives them an excuse to shut you and your problems out. The following week you receive a notice that "we are removing your name from our transfer waiting list of eligible applicants." This is because you refused to be put into inadequate living quarters.

Early this week you spent two nights with a friend to get some sleep. Frazzled nerves and disrupted sleep are again part of your life after returning to your apartment. How long can you take this before coming apart at the seams? Being sleepless in Archie Grant Park makes "Sleepless in Seattle" the bowl of cherries it was in the movie.

You have written a letter telling Mayor Oscar Goodman of your plight. "Oscar will do something to help me," you remarked. Knowing Oscar, I'm sure he has his priorities in proper order and will get back to you after reading your letter. It's evident that you need and deserve the mayor's help.

Good luck in receiving the help and the decent treatment you have earned after so many years contributing to our society. * George Toshio Enomoto was born and raised in Las Vegas during the Great Depression and right now he's upset. After graduating from the Fifth Street Grammar School and Las Vegas High School, George majored in architecture at USC, graduating in 1956. In 1972 he was appointed to the Nevada Board of Architecture and served for more than nine years.

In 1985-87 George was on the Advisory Board for Affirmative Action of the Clark County School District. It was here that George, a minority, helped set standards for the fair treatment of all people. What George practiced and promoted 12 years ago he believes is now being thrown in his face in the form of reverse discrimination. Yes, he adds, it's happening right here in his home state with the full power of the U.S. government.

The planning, design and construction management services for 23 homes on the Walker River Housing Authority caught George's eye. This is a $3 million HUD project for the Walker River Indian Reservation at Schurz, Nev. So George went ahead and applied for the job? No, he soon found out that he didn't qualify when learning that: "The Statement of Qualifications and cost amounts will only be accepted from qualified Indian-owned economic enterprises and Indian organizations. We expect that in order to provide the requested services in most cases an architect and general/prime contractor will form a team to provide complete services. In those cases only one of the firms must be a qualified Indian-owned economic enterprise or Indian organization. In the case where one firm is providing all requested services the firm must be a qualified Indian-owned economic en terprise or Indian organization."

This restriction came as a complete shock to George, who had long ago concluded that tax money should be spent in a manner that would deliver the most bang for the buck. At least, he told me, he wanted the opportunity to compete on a level playing field.

When I asked George about what had taken place, he responded, "I am totally dumbfounded that the Department of Housing and Urban Development, a branch funded by the U.S. government, is encouraging, aiding and abetting the act of discriminating of, not only other minorities, but also of the white majority under the guise of helping the poor and poverty stricken Indians.

"I am a minority (Japanese-American) architect, born in Las Vegas, Nev., and I thought the U.S. government would always be equitable to everyone and not discriminating against any ethnic group, including the white majority."

It will be interesting to see what our Washington delegation tells George in reply to a letter mailed last month. What is probably all legal doesn't make good sense to one Las Vegas architect, who believes that minorities should be given some special opportunities but not by sacrificing quality and stifling accepted bidding procedures when tax money is being expended.