But just a few hours before he was in Brooklyn, at a hospital where two New York cops were being treated for gunshot wounds - injuries from a wild-west kind of shootout in the Crown Heights section that killed two people.
The supposed rebirth of one section of the city, juxtaposed with the death-on-streets in another seems bitterly ironic. But there are more than a few people in New York who wonder just how much of a rebirth Lower Manhattan is undergoing, and whether, given the seeming uptick in violence, New York is as safe as is touted.
Yes, there are more stores and homes now near Ground Zero than there were after the terror attacks. And that's great. But how many big business tenants have signed up for those huge towers that are going up? Not nearly as many as needed. In fact, dang few, relative to the space available.
As for crime, we've done plenty of reporting about allegations that the NYPD has somehow "cooked the books" regarding crime stats - to try to put a good spin on the numbers. The police department has always vehemently denied it - insisting that the numbers are valid.
But there's no denying the violence these past few days. 48 people shot over the long Labor Day weekend. Is it because there are now 6,000 fewer cops on the streets than just a few years ago? Is it because there are too many illegal guns (in a city that already has tough gun control laws)? Is it because of the economy, with so many people out of work, and angry?
I don't have the answers - I'm just askin'. And so are our viewers, which is why we're looking into those questions, tonight at 11.
We'll also have any breaking news of the night, plus Meteorologist Lee Goldberg with his AccuWeather forecast (how much more rain will be get?), and Rob Powers with the night's sports. I hope you can join Sade Baderinwa and me, tonight at 11.
