Page 103 - Trump Never Give Up: How I Turned My Biggest Challenges into Success

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T R UM P: N E V E R G I V E U P

POSTSCRIPT TO THE WOLLMAN
RINK STORY—21 YEARS LATER

Government bungling of the Wollman Rink project was made
possible in part thanks to a terrible New York State law passed in
1921 called the Wicks Law. It requires local governments under-
taking renovations or new building projects that cost more
$50,000 to hire four separate contractors (general construction,
plumbing, electrical, and heating and ventilation). Local govern-
ments must hire the lowest bidder in each of these areas, even
though they could save a lot of time and money by hiring a single
general contractor who oversees all subcontractors. Instead of
allowing competition, what it does is increase up to 30 percent
the cost of building anything for the government in New York.
Fortunately, there may be some new hope for getting rid of
the Wicks Law thanks to recent media attention. On May 29,
2007, the New York Times ran an article by Dorothy Samuels in
their Editorial section which was titled From Donald Trump to
Eliot Spitzer: Still Battling Over a Wasteful Law. Ms. Samuels has
always been an insightful writer who writes about significant
issues. In bringing up the Wicks Law, she retold the story of
how I saved Wollman Rink from government bungling—and
managed to educate the citizens of New York City about some-
thing they probably weren’t aware of, unless they are in real
estate construction. It’s something that affects them by driving
up government costs and taxes. I have to say, it was nice to be
remembered 21 years later as someone who tried to make a dif-
ference, and did. Let’s hope this situation will be remedied
soon—it will benefit everyone.

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