On The Current New York Atmosphere: Today New York City is hotter than it ever was in the Roaring 20s, in the "roaring 80s," no matter what. Right now New York City is the hottest it's ever been by far. A lot of factors came together. There's a great spirit for this city. We have incredible people living here. We have an incredible will in the city. On Ownership: Owning great landmarks such as the Empire State Building, or Trump Tower, or the General Motors Building, or the Plaza Hotel -- there are certain just spectacular landmarks -- it's an honor, it's really an honor. The Empire State Building is so special, it's now been surpassed in terms of height by a couple of other buildings, most of which nobody even knows what they are, and yet the Empire State Building remains the Empire State Building. It's just a magnificent building and really has become a symbol of New York. The Empire State Building, 40 Wall Street, there are a couple of them that are just really incredible buildings. Forty Wall Street is probably the most beautiful tower in New York. And having that and having brought it back to health, brought it back to prominence and health, it's something that I'm very proud of. On Being An Island: One of the reasons that New York became great was that it's serviced by many, many different rivers and waterways. You have the Atlantic Ocean connected virtually right to it, and it's serviced by the East River and the Hudson River and lots of tributaries. But perhaps almost as important -- and the reason the great skyscrapers went up in Manhattan -- is that Manhattan is an island of very powerful bedrock. It's granite and basically very high density rock that frankly, makes digging foundations unbelievably difficult. You have to blast to build in Manhattan. And the buildings went up in Manhattan because of the power of that bedrock. Once you dig that foundation -- and they dig with dynamite -- and once you dynamite out and you secure that foundation, that building isn't going anywhere. So you have one of the most powerful bases anywhere in the world. I mean the rock is as hard as it can get, and that is why the great towers have been built in Manhattan. That's even why the towers generally tend to be centered in Manhattan, because the center of the rock is actually harder than it is as it gets out to the edge.		Photo: Micahel Ian Born in New York City, Trump attended the Wharton business school and then joined his family's real estate business. He was able to begin buying and developing in the 1970s, when the real estate market was depressed, and has attracted public attention for his flamboyant and successful dealings in casinos, sports, and transportation. He bought and redid the Plaza Hotel in the 1980s, opened Trump Tower, and rebounded from serious debts in a series of shrewd business deals. He is building an 861 foot glass tower, Trump World Tower, which will be the tallest residential tower in the world. He also owns the Trump Castle, Trump Plaza, and Taj Mahal casinos in Atlantic City.