Earthquakes, DSK and Bloomberg

It's been a busy couple days... I know...it's been more than couple days since I have written, but that's ok, I'm catching up now.

First things first. The earthquake that hit New York today. I didn't feel a thing. I know, very anti-climactic. I was on the subway at the time.

Now, the subway ride today was an event in itself. Who walked into my subway car but Jeff Candelmo.



For those of you who don't know Jeff, we used to work together in Orlando at 540. What were the odds he would step into my subway car on my subway train in NYC??? Even in New York it can be a very small world!

After I got off of the subway, I had a planned interview to do very quickly, then I started talking to people about the quake. Many people were congregating outside, looking at a TV screen through a window, trading stories and trying to figure out if there was damage and if anyone was hurt. It was quite the 'community' feel.



First, with the 10 year anniversary of 9/11 just around the corner, they were very relieved that it was just an earthquake.

But as soon as the relief had come.. then they started asking where it hit, if anyone was hurt, and if there was anything people needed. I was touched by the instant 'caring neighborhood' that formed standing on a sidewalk in Manhattan.

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This morning, I saw a little more ugly side of things... I was sent to the NY Criminal Courthouse for the DSK case. I was covering a group protesting outside the courthouse. But as I was walking to the courthouse, I happened on the neighborhood where DSK lived. The media was waiting for him to come out and make the drive to the courthouse. Sure, you see the images of him coming out of the apartment... but here's what it really looks like from the other side of the street - a media circus..

See those crazy guys on motorcycles up front? Say hi to the paparazzi! When they take off there are two on each motorcycle... One driving, the other holding on tight while rolling the camera. They zip around the vehicles trying to get the best shot... They're crazy.... I mean really crazy. Like driving in NY is not bad enough, that you want to make it even more risky?!?!?!

And yes, I found my protesters.. and the signs that you will NOT be seeing on the news.....



And here is where I will level a complaint. When I arrived, the protesters were just beginning. They were chanting and all those things you expect.... but that didn't last long. They seemed to tire out of the chanting and yelling (except with a woman who was calling the maid in the DSK case a prostitute) and then just stood around. Why do I care? I was counting on the chanting as background noise for my live reports, but they had tired out by then and I got no such thing.

*****

My final picture to share comes from Monday's coverage of the Mayor's press conference on production companies calling NY home. The short version is that 23 TV shows are filming in new york and literally pumping billions into the local economy. Simply put, New York City's jobless rate is at pre-recession levels. Pretty darn impressive. Well the press conference was at the set for Pan Am (Coming to a TV near you this fall) and that left for some cute shots of the Mayor and the Pan Am girls... with a green screen behind him...Wow, he could get in a lot of trouble depending on how they edit that :)