It has also reinvented itself pretty much every decade or two to remain in the vanguard of the U.S. economy. 

Sports scholarships, etc.The point is, don't reinvent the wheel.

The fact that the existing rent control ordinance is working 99.98% of the time, the Housing Department should have left it alone and enforced what's currently on the ordinance instead of reinventing the wheels.  

This is a longstanding successful business plan that does not require the reinvention of the wheel.

. - why re-invent the wheel?  

Don't try to reinvent the wheel, use what is working for everyone else.

I'd like to model and adapt to my needs but also don't want to reinvent the wheel if someone would share. 

Wacky colors, bad videos, weird copy, removed our forms and tried to reinvent the wheel... those types of customizations almost always reduce the performance of their site vs. the way we built it. 

But know that within your research time, a lot of people have already successfully done the research, so don't spend an inordinate amount of time reinventing the wheel.

You can partner up and skip elementary school altogether.Whatever you lack, someone else has it.You lack money - you can partner up with people with money.You lack PM skills, renovation skills, etc - there are people who know more than you - so why reinvent the wheel?