I'm on the move in six of the greatest cities of the world
and I'm on the trail of their top movers and shakers.
They're not all cut from the same cloth.
'In our globalised world,
'don't make the mistake of thinking everywhere's now the same.
'Each great city marches to its own tune.'
My background's diplomacy, cultivating networks.
As an ambassador, my job is to get to know
some of the most powerful people in the world,
and find out what really makes them tick.
'Crime, glamour, power and influence - it'll all be there.'
In these six cities,
I'll grapple with the dark Machiavellian heart of politics.
I'll witness, up close, the lives of the immensely rich
and I'll get into the minds of those who really rule the roost.
This is journey to uncover the networks of power.
(SIRENS AND CAR HORNS BLARE)
New York is the most powerful and seductive symbol of the American dream.
It has been a magnet for people seeking to better themselves
ever since European settlers bought Manhattan for just $24.
400 years on, there are few cities in the world
to match its power and influence.
It's terrific to be back in New York City.
There's a real energy in the air.
I'm sort of tingling almost from the sort of vibrations of the Big Apple.
I used to come here regularly when I was ambassador down in Washington,
just to get a shot of adrenaline.
But that was ten years ago, and things change here very rapidly.
Ten years is a long, long time in the life of New York City.
'This city has always known the value of its power networks.
'Who's up, who's down, who knows who,
'and how all that converts into money,
'which lies at the heart of every New York power nexus.
'So where better to start than Forbes magazine?
'A century-old institution world famous for ranking the rich and powerful.
'And if anyone knows where the power now lies in New York,
'it's managing editor Bruce Upbin.'
Sir Christopher. Hey, Bruce. Welcome to Forbes. Thank you very much for having me. Sure.
Are you a New Yorker? Yes, I am. Yes, yes.
So how do you define yourself as a New Yorker, for example?
Impatient, aggressive. Loving change, loving difference.
I need to be shocked. I've seen it all. I'm proud of my jadedness.
If I'm looking for the top ten rich and powerful in New York City...
Mike Bloomberg is the most powerful man in New York.
The number one in New York? Yeah. And think about why.
He's got... He's the mayor, he's also the second richest man in New York,
and he is a major philanthropist, and has major opinions on everything.
No smoking and no fried food, and you can't walk across the street...
There's no traffic jams, you can't come in to the city unless you pay.
So he's very active in all spheres.
The city is made up of networks within networks within networks.
No matter what room you're in, there's always a more powerful room to the side,
and even there, there's another more powerful room - the inner sanctum.
What do I need to survive this experience?
When you're in New York, you have to stick your fingers
into the sockets of power, money, wealth, action, media.
It's all happening here.
Sockets of power?
The question is, which to choose?
Well, there is one that packs quite a charge,
is quintessentially New York, and manages to cut across
all the networks Bruce has talked about - fashion.
Forget London, Milan or even Paris,
New York style radiates global influence
and it boldly claims to be the fashion capital of the world.
While I'm no fashionista,
I have been given a special invitation
to attend the biggest event in the calendar.
Welcome to Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week at Lincoln Center.
Eight days that bring in over $400 million,
and it's all under the control of just one very influential woman.
'Meet Stephanie Winston Wolkoff,
'director of fashion at Lincoln Center
'and one of the most powerful women in the industry.
'At six foot one, decked head to toe in black,
'I'm frankly feeling a little intimidated.'
Stephanie? Yes, hi, Sir Christopher. How are you?
I'm extremely well. Thanks for having me this afternoon.
Such a pleasure to have you here. Well, I'm quite nervous. I've never been to a fashion show before
and I'm not quite sure what I'm going to be seeing.
You know what, I've got lots to show you. Let's go! OK, let's go.
'Stephanie is making a beeline
'straight towards the underground car park.
'And I thought I was on the VIP tour!'
So what's behind this curtain? Behind this curtain is Los Angeles,
but like you've never seen it before.
(HE CHUCKLES)
Now, imagine. This is a garage. This is a garage? This is a garage.
So I might have parked my car coming to the opera or something? Yes.
'Confused? You're not the only one.'
So here we're in a kind of redwood forest.
We're in a redwood forest. It sounds like a jungle.
We are in a jungle. As I said, this is...
I mean, our world is a jungle and everyone has to...
Survival of the fittest. So fashion is the law of the jungle?
'Which at least helps explain all the fur.
'As I join the pack devouring the latest collection from Juicy Couture,
'I'm still not sure how this works,
'but clearly Stephanie knows what she's doing.
'The protege of legendary Vogue editor, Anna Wintour,
'she has deftly orchestrated the industry's rising status.
'It seems every jungle must have its Amazon queen.'
Tell me what you think that you actually bring to this party.
I am able to play in everyone's sandbox.
I am able to pick up and develop something amazing with Vogue,
and then I can also do something with InStyle, Harper's Bazaar.
You've got to electrify yourself.
You have to engage with everyone in order to make the right decisions.
I'm more of an ambassador to the industry. I'm Switzerland.
And there's only one Switzerland in this industry,
But the fact of the matter is, however "Swiss" you may be,
if you take decision A instead of decision B or vice versa...
There are always implications. It has a big...
could have a big commercial implication. It could.
'Behind Stephanie's effortless serenity,
'she's working night and day to stay at the top.'
So you are one of the great power centres of the world,
based here in New York City?
I wouldn't say one of. I'd say "the".
"The". And you are sitting on top of the heap.
I'm sitting on a very large heap.
(THEY LAUGH) And on that poetic note...
'But before I go,
'Stephanie wants me to see menswear designer Marlon Gobel.
'She's such charming company, it's easy to forget
'that one word from her can make or break a career.'
For every Marlon Gobel, there are how many who have
wanted to be here today... Yes. ..and you've had to say no to?
25, 50? Hundreds. That gives you huge power.
'I'm intrigued to see what's made the grade.
'I'm reliably informed that this collection
'is themed on a jewellery robbery.
'Not the quickest getaway I've ever seen.
'Even with the benefit of Stephanie's expert instruction,
'I still couldn't tell you if Marlon is the next big thing.
'But what she has given me is an insight into how
'not just this industry, but this city works.
'Behind its glamorous, free-spirited image,
'fashion here is not so different from diplomacy.
'Politics, patronage and front are all needed in getting your way.
'That, and a fearsome work ethic,
'are pre-requisites for power in any New York circle.
'In truth, they're the key ingredients to the city's outstanding success.
'Roll on tomorrow, where I grill a billionaire over breakfast
'and also place myself in the hands of a desperate housewife.'
I'm leaving Manhattan -
America's commercial, financial and cultural capital -
for somewhere much closer to Anytown, USA.
Jamaica is a neighbourhood in the heart of Queens,
a sprawling New York City borough
Manhattanites only encounter on the way to the airport.
Or sometimes on a Sunday.
I've got the gospel in my spirit.
Hallelujah!
Sometimes it makes you run, sometimes it makes you jump.
It's the gospel!
6,000 people come to the Greater Allen Cathedral every Sunday
and thousands more watch over the internet.
Even after all those years I spent living in the States,
I always make a point of reminding myself
just how fundamental God is here.
I need Jesus.
Only 13% of New York State residents admit to being non-religious
and the city alone has the largest Jewish population outside Israel
and more Catholics than Rome,
which explains why New York's most ambitious public figures
have graced these pews, all keen to be seen here.
Come and worship the Lord!
'The truth is this shared faith in a higher power
'underpins the very power dynamic of this city,
'with its earnestness, drive, unshakable self-confidence
'all spilling into every part of secular life.'
Truly wonderful service. Thank you, sir.
Inspiring. Thank you.
A handshake and a hug. Powerful. The power of the gospel.
Thank you, sir. Alright, alright. You ready to go preach now?
I might. I might do that.
I feel so inspired. God bless you.
What's your name? I'm Bernard. I'm Christopher.
Christopher. God bless you. God bless you, too.
It's a big community centre.
I mean, it's not just church and worship. It's...
You get everything here.
Yeah. The mayor comes here, doesn't he?
We've seen everybody except... We haven't seen Obama yet.
He's got to come. But he's probably on his way!
I remember there used to be another Sunday ritual
no self-respecting New Yorker could afford to miss.
Weighing in at up to six pounds,
Sunday's New York Times is a mighty tome.
Self-important and sanctimonious, it set the agenda.
But times have changed.
It now has to struggle in the most competitive media market
in the United States, against 200 newspapers, 350 magazines,
cable channels, and the internet,
stuffed with celebrity gossip and reality TV.
But there is one titan from the golden age of television
who has survived it all, and is a close friend of mine.
'The undisputed queen of television news,
'who's been at the heart of every major story for the last 40 years.
'Barbara Walters is meeting me in her dressing room.'
OK, let's go because you're going to lose me.
OK, alright, let's go.
Because I'm so late already and it's my fault.
I need to navigate the powerful.
You must do your homework. I am zealous about that.
I am boring about that.
You should certainly speak to our mayor.
I think he is unique.
He's in his third term, he's a billionaire.
Besides the mayor, who matters in New York today?
Other than the politicians, who has real power in New York?
You might want to meet one of the members of the Tisch family,
because they are real estate people.
Larry Tisch at one point owned CBS.
They are very successful businessmen,
and they can give you a picture of the city that I can't give.
'Barbara is surprisingly modest, but this is the woman who has
'interviewed every president since Nixon.'
Would it be right to say there is nobody that would not
pick up the phone if they heard that Barbara Walters was on the line?
You have no idea how many people do not pick up the phone.
They don't want to do the interview, they don't want to do it with me...
But you have a pedigree of interviews which is peerless,
and sometimes it made history.
Fidel Castro... Those interviews you can't do today.
..Begin... You just don't get the time. ..Anwar Sadat.
On the programmes on which I work,
we are not interested in most international leaders.
We are not interested in your prime minister,
we are not interested in Mrs Merkel in Germany.
Are we more interested in reality TV shows today
than foreign leaders 25 years ago?
Well, are we more interested in reality television now,
than we are interested in most anything else?
Forget news. We have now The Real Housewives Of New Jersey,
we have The Real Housewives Of Beverley Hills,
we have The Real Housewives Of Atlanta,
and that's what we are showing all over the country.
Is this reality stuff just a passing phase, a burp, as it were?
No. I mean, everything today, and anything today,
can be reality television.
My task is to track down New York's networks of power,
and, if Barbara Walters insists that media power now lies
'with reality television, then that's where I need to head next.
'Today the city of George Gershwin, Andy Warhol and Woody Allen
'is hooked on reality television and is exporting it worldwide.
'And the zenith of the genre would appear to be
'The Real Housewives Of New York.
'This is the Countess LuAnn De Lesseps, a huge star,
'who has made the most of her 15 minutes to become an author,
'jewellery designer and even pop star.
'I've not hooked up with many reality TV stars before,
'but I learnt in my diplomatic career
'that flattery is usually a good mask for ignorance.'
If I may so, you're looking magnificent, LuAnn.
I'm going to call you LuAnn. Yeah.
If you call me Sir Christopher, I'll call you Countess.
You just follow my lead, honey! I will. That's what I normally do.
Your reality show is Real Wives Of New York, is that right?
The Real Housewives of New York. OK... Close!
It's kinda like, you know, Desperate Housewives meets Sex in the City.
I think New York City is our biggest asset.
I count it as one of the housewives, do you know what I mean? Yeah, yeah.
Are you syndicated all round the US?
We're syndicated all over the world. You are?
And I would say it's even more popular in New York City, of course,
because people in New York like to watch the show,
because they notice that's the restaurant that they went to,
"Oh, I've been shopping in that store,"
"Oh, I know that part of Central Park."
'For all her sophistication,
'there is unmistakable grit and graft beneath the glamour.'
Is it a tough town?
I think New York can be a tough town,
but I think, if you're persistent and you really want something,
this is the place you can make it happen.
New York City is a place where you really do have to network
to get anything done.
On every level. That's not a problem for you, Christopher.
Use you English accent, you dress impeccably.
Oh, dear. My English accent is slipping out. I know.
You're making me blush.
Or is it the booze? I don't know. Cheers. Thank you.
Oh, look at that. It's started to snow a little bit.
'Our Countess is unexpectedly good company,
'and while I'm not sold on reality TV, there is no doubting
'its real 'soft power', mesmerising millions with a mirage of glamour.
'Which all helps to build the mythology of New York,
'the full-on 24/7 city which never sleeps.'
A beautiful morning in the Big Apple,
and it's time to leave behind soft power,
to enter one of the sanctuaries
of real influence where power is wielded quietly,
behind closed doors, and where the really big decisions are made.
'I'd selected my hotel with great care.
'To the untrained eye, it doesn't look like much,
'but, every morning, for the last 30 years,
'some of the most powerful in this city gather behind the drab facade,
'because the Regency
'is the home to New York's legendary power breakfast.
'And if you want to reach the great and good,
'you need to get past this person, maitre d' Rae Bianco.'
So, Rae, this is the legendary power breakfast room of New York City.
So they say.
You are the arbiter of these powerful people who come in here.
I mean, you decide where they sit, WHETHER they can sit.
How do you do it? I have to talk very quickly
and keep them entertained while they're waiting for tables,
and make them feel that the table that they get
is the best one in the world for them.
Big job, this. It is.
I don't sleep well.
Show me some of the tables. This is where Jeb Bush was.
Former Governor of Florida? Yes.
Brother of George W Bush? Yes, sir. Yeah.
Yes, this is Jeb Bush possibly future presidential chair.
You're centrally located.
Yeah. Mirrors help you see the whole room. Mirrors.
You can check to make sure your hair's parted correctly.
(HE CHUCKLES)
Yeah, fine. My hair's still there.
'While Jeb Bush's table isn't bad,
'I'm actually angling to get to the top table,
'reserved for the owners of the hotel, the Tisch family,
'whom Barbara Walters tipped as second after the mayor in New York power.'
Is there anything I could do, like sing you a song,
or bring you a bunch of roses
that might get me in there faster than would otherwise be the case?
Well, maybe. It depends on the day.
Do people do that? Do people really...? Oh, they try everything.
Theatre tickets, carry you off to Hawaii or something like that...
(SHE LAUGHS)
I don't know. That one hasn't happened yet.
'However, even being buddies with Rae
'doesn't guarantee talking to a Tisch.
'Ultra-rich and ultra-powerful,
'the Tisch family are as near as New York gets to aristocracy.
'They avoid publicity, but if you know where to look,
'you'll find the family name on great buildings across the city,
'and family members at the heart of the city's key institutions.
'Fortunately for me, they also own the American football team,
'the New York Giants, who have just won the Super Bowl.
'And riding this wave of goodwill,
'I've been granted my very own power breakfast
'with the head of the family, Jim Tisch himself.'
Good morning, Rae. Good morning, Sir Christopher. How are you?
I'm very well. It's a pleasure to see you again.
'It's not often I share eggs over easy with a billionaire.'
Whoever heard of a hotel restaurant
being THE place to be for breakfast of all places?
Would you see the mayor here? Generally not.
But what you do see are the people that are running for mayor.
Truth be told, I come here because my office is across the street,
so it's really, really convenient.
I like to keep my life in a small area.
But...how can I put it?
Morally and politically, you reach across the entire city,
for example, through your philanthropy.
Philanthropy is very, very important in New York City.
No doubt about it. And it's probably unlike any other city in the world.
Whether you like it or not, generosity becomes
an instrument of influence and of authority
and, in some degree, of power in this city.
Power and standing, yes.
'Philanthropy has a rich history in this city.
'So many of its great buildings were put up by great benefactors,
'Rockefeller, Carnegie, Guggenheim,
'all driven by a sense of moral duty to give something back,
'and immortalising themselves in the process.'
I don't want to make things over-simplified,
but who actually runs the city?
It's what I would call organised anarchy and what comes out of it,
usually, is not nearly as bad as the inputs that go in to it.
Are you optimistic? About? The future of this city?
We've got an election coming up two years from now,
and so a big question will be who's going to be the next mayor
and how will the city be managed?
And Mayor Bloomberg can't run again even if he wanted to?
Well... Could he?
Truth be told, when he started his second term,
the rule was you couldn't run for a third term... Yeah.
..and he made it so that he could.
Not shades of Putin, but almost.
You know, I'm, I'm, I'm a believer in a benign autocracy.
I think the mayor has done a phenomenal job.
If he could, or would, run for a fourth term,
I'd certainly vote for him.
Billionaires backing billionaires?
Is this where the hard power lies?
The wealthy conservative elite control the city
and, as long as they do it well, nobody minds too much.
And at the very top sits a man worth a cool 22 billion,
one of the most philanthropic men in America and mayor for over a decade,
plugging him in to every socket of power.
So that's City Hall and inside there
works Mayor Michael Bloomberg and his staff.
And I can almost touch it, I'm almost there.
By hook or by crook, I've got to go that 100 yards,
climb those steps, open those doors and get in and talk to him.
If money is power, this is the place to be,
the undisputed financial hub of America,
home to the world's largest stock market,
the New York Stock Exchange,
with a market value of over $9 trillion
and a few very powerful individuals.
I used to know a lot of these people personally,
and they were never shy about coming out to play and discussing their business
and telling you, pretty frankly, what the prospects were.
What has happened? Everybody's gone to ground.
It seems after the financial crisis none of the really famous names
want to talk to me about the power of the big banks.
But hard times don't mean fortunes can't be won and lost.
Four miles north, on the corner of Central Park,
is the billion-dollar hedge fund Octavian.
'The company state that the turmoil in worldwide markets provides
'a perfect backdrop for Octavian's unique style of investing.'
Good afternoon. I'm Christopher Meyer
and I'm here to see Mr Hurowitz. Sure, we're expecting you.
'One of the least regulated and most profitable sectors in finance,
'hedge funds are discreet, invitation-only affairs for investors with serious money.
'The brains behind Octavian is its CEO Richard Hurowitz...'
Hi, how are you? Richard. Hey, thanks for seeing me.
'..someone Tom Wolfe would describe as one of New York's
'masters of the universe, pretty powerful when all's said and done.'
Obviously, I've done a little bit of homework before coming here,
but you focus on really interesting areas, like distressed debt.
So one side of things we do is
we invest in companies that are going through distress of some form.
They're usually very good companies, but just have too much debt,
like a lot of people and governments as well.
So you can see today all that red is Greece, right.
The red is when the market goes down and the green is when it goes up.
I mean, there's plenty of distress in Greece.
It's almost as if the crisis is the boom that enables you
to create the business model.
Yeah, it is a big opportunity.
On the other hand, you know,
even when people make money out of a crisis,
it's not as much fun when a lot of people are losing money.
'Octavian is now one of the world's richest hedge funds.
'It's this eye for opportunity which is typical of the city and its traders.'
You're pretty optimistic, then, about the future of this city?
The United States, for sure, is still going to be
probably the most important economy for the next century
and I think New York is right in the middle of that.
The thing that would concern me more than anything
is if we go through a period of time where we decide to shut our borders.
New York is obviously at the heart of immigration,
but the thing that's made this country great over the last, you know, several hundred years
is really the fact that we do attract great people from all over the world.
You can come here and, if you're hard-working and you're smart,
and you're kind of ambitious,
you can make a success and you can improve your life.
'Like everyone in New York, Richard can recite the American dream,
'but Manhattan is a bubble of money and privilege.
'And if that credo is really so vital
'to the city's continued prosperity, I need to find it elsewhere.'
'So I'm heading back to a less affluent part of town, Queens,
'where immigrants make up half the population.
'I've arranged to meet the people who know -
'taxi drivers - so often recent immigrants.
'My contact - their trade union boss Fernando Mateo.'
Christopher, we've been waiting for you, sir.
Are you Fernando? I'm Fernando, how are you?
Great pleasure to meet you. It's good to see you.
I'm doing great. Likewise.
I hear you're the man to see round here, is that right?
Well, actually, these are the guys to see. All these guys? Yeah.
You know what? The city could not function without us.
Am I right, am I wrong?
All correct. Am I right, am I wrong? Yes, you're right. Alright.
Well, if you're a taxi driver, do you end up having
greater faith in human nature or less faith in human nature?
They are everything - counsellors, psychiatrists...
Valentine's Day is the worst.
Why is it? That's the worst. Last Valentine's Day,
woman's crying, she saw her ex-boyfriend at a party.
That's my fault, you know. It's my fault. (LAUGHTER)
It's my fault.
I wanna know, and I'll ask him, cos you told me I should... Absolutely.
..where does... Where is the power in this city?
That's tough, cos there's so many powerful people in the city.
We're the ones that's taking them around in the city.
We're the ones that take the lawyers,
the doctors, Wall Street, the tourists...
Some people might say Mayor Bloomberg, but would that be...?
You know, we have a mayor that, unlike any other mayor in history,
does not raise money to run for re-election.
He doesn't owe anybody anything, so he runs the city
the way he believes his conscience should run it.
He doesn't want to get on the wrong side of you,
cos you could make life very difficult for him, couldn't you?
Er... If you wanted to.
If I really wanted to, but I'm not that kind of guy.
I'm a person of reason. I go directly to the mayor.
How does it work, you pick up the phone?
I'll text him, I'll email him. Email him direct?
I'll call him on his cell phone.
And what do you say to him? You call him Mike?
I call him Mike, I say, "Mike..." "Mike, it's Fernando here,"?
I say, "Mike, what's up, what's going on? We have a problem."
When you have a disagreement with the mayor,
is it about money or is it about terms or conditions?
It's always about money. We wish we had more.
I wish I had Bloomberg's millions.
I wish that Bloomberg remembers me when he's writing his will
and says maybe, you know, "Fernando, let me leave you a billion.
"You'll live happy the rest of your life."
Probably leave everybody here a billion.
No, I will share. I will share with you guys. I promise I'll share.
We are the people, we are New York, am I right?
(ALL) Yeah! Bravo, bravo! Sir Christopher, thank you.
'Fernando is like no union boss I've ever met,
'and he's the American dream personified.
'Second generation Latino, a self-made millionaire,
'property developer, nightclub owner, and even radio DJ.
'And doesn't actually live in Queens at all,
'but back in the bubble of Manhattan.
'To cap it all, he's also president of Hispanics Across America,
'giving him national status.'
The New York Times called me one of the five most influential in the country,
along with President Clinton, Madonna, Jimmy Jones and Pat Riley.
You've got this base in the Hispanic community,
you've got this base because of what you've done for taxi drivers
and because of the Federation.
These are important, powerful bases.
I mean, they are power bases. I'm a businessman.
Go straight and turn. Just turn.
I love making money.
You know, I'm a capitalist to the max.
You sound to me like a terrific future mayor of New York City,
for example.
You know what? It's not something that's in my plans.
It's not something that I'm looking forward to doing.
But I do look forward to making sure that
whoever is the mayor of this city is the right mayor.
And I will put my resources
and my 500,000 followers behind that candidate.
With an army of 500,000 people,
it gives you a hell of a lot of leverage and influence. It does.
A hell of a lot. It does.
Phew! That was quite something. I've rarely met anybody
with more energy, more charisma, more ambition.
When I shook him by the hand and held him by the shoulder,
he was literally vibrating, his muscles almost trembling.
(RADIO HOST AND FERNANDO SPEAK SPANISH)
It's easy to talk about New York in cliches,
its vibrancy, its energy and so on and so forth,
but we've seen the living, walking, breathing reality,
and, my goodness me, it's impressive.
'Fernando is shot through with self-belief,
'the very incarnation of New York power.
'A man of the people who knows the rules of the game,
'and all the major players.'
I think we stand a good chance now. Thank you very much indeed.
'I am about to find out how strong
'New York's network of power really is'
It was 8:46 on a clear autumn morning
when the first plane hit the World Trade Center.
'I was British Ambassador when the attack took place
'and soon I found myself here at Ground Zero
'and, of all the memories I have of this city,
'that will remain with me forever.
'In a thousand years' time, people will still speak of 9/11.
'It changed the way New Yorkers see themselves and the world.'
The first thing that struck me was...
..it was like a vision of hell.
Smoke and steam were coming up out of the ruins everywhere you looked.
The whole thing, of course, was intended to be
a massive blow against New York's power and prestige.
And here we are, just over 10 years later, and it's all been rebuilt.
It's all going up again. It's moving.
And it's huge. A statement to the world.
This is the most ambitious development in the United States.
One World Trade Center alone is running at a cost of $3.8 billion,
making it the most expensive single building on earth.
With premium land on Manhattan at record prices,
the only way to expand is up.
This is the first building to be completed - Tower number 7.
I'm going to meet the most powerful woman in New York City.
She's not a politician, she's not a hedge fund manager,
she's an estate agent.
'Manhattan is 23 square miles
'and has to find room for four million people every day
'making competition over who gets what increasingly cut-throat
'and in the thick of it is Mary Ann Tighe.'
Mary Ann. How are you?
I'm extremely well. Welcome to the World Trade Centre.
Thank you so much for seeing me this afternoon.
Thank you so much for coming down. It's quite emotional for me,
because I was here, not in New York, I was in DC on 9/11.
It's such a great testament to both the city's resilience,
but also its endless capacity for reinvention.
You have, I believe, been voted the most powerful woman in New York City.
Having "power" in New York is like having beauty in Hollywood.
You know, wait 24 hours and there's somebody else that comes along.
That is good, can I quote you on that?
'But Mary Ann's influence will last a lot longer than that.
'She's been responsible for over nine million square feet of New York construction -
'more than four times the Empire State Building.'
Isn't land the very basis of everything in this city?
Well, if you asked me where I'd take my power,
if there were buckets you could pick from, land is it in New York.
But you are doing something slightly different, aren't you?
We're the intersection of supply and demand.
A kind of matchmaker. That's right, we are matchmakers is what we do.
And we play it at a very high scale,
and it's great because what it does is, first of all,
it allows you to know people across all different parts of society.
As you rise in success, your network becomes more extensive,
more exclusive. Absolutely. And more influential.
I mean, you need to go to a hospital, we represent that hospital,
what do you need at the hospital?
I could go down a list of every conceivable category.
So Mary Ann, you're the person to come to for anything. No!
'And fortunately for me, Mary Ann has pulled a few strings
'to get me to the very top.
Whoa-oh! 'I'm glad to have returned to Ground Zero
'to find it is literally rising from the ashes.'
But the greatest power on earth
couldn't prevent the devastation of 9/11.
No wonder rebuilding confidence in this city
requires more than bricks and mortar.
As the great American saying goes,
"the price of liberty is eternal vigilance."
And in New York, that means security is now the overriding priority.
Tens of millions have been spent
transforming the country's largest police force, the NYPD.
1,000 officers are solely dedicated to counter-terrorism
and I've been given privileged access to its inner sanctum,
the Executive Command Centre, by the boss,
New York's Police Commissioner, Ray Kelly.
9/11 changed an awful lot of things in New York City
and throughout the world.
We have, as a result of that horrific day,
taken on the added responsibility of counter-terrorism.
This is where we put thousands of cameras into Lower Manhattan,
about 3,000. They're accessible here.
A call comes through and there is a suspicious vehicle,
it'll come up here on this map if we click on it,
and it will go to a camera that's within 500 feet... Yeah.
..of that particular incident. So you could see, if you wished to,
assuming you had cameras in place, of course, you could see
a crime in progress, for example? Yes, and we can go back.
We keep all of this for 30 days. Maximum 30 days you can wind back?
We built in that aspect to it, because we knew that people
were concerned of keeping film indefinitely.
'Commissioner Kelly's low-key manner belies an inner steel.
'A former marine who once turned down the top job at the FBI
'to stay protecting this city.'
We have people now stationed overseas,
we have them in 11 cities, London, included.
And it adds to your personal reach, doesn't it?
No question about it, the world has become a much smaller place.
Were working now with agencies and entities
that we certainly didn't work with prior to September 11th,
and that includes a whole portfolio of foreign governments.
This vision of Orwellian surveillance is the price
that New Yorkers must pay for feeling safe.
A strange thought in the self-styled land of the free,
but then we're all living under constant surveillance these days.
Indeed, the irony is not lost on me that all this time
I had been hoping against hope to film with the Mayor
and he's been filming me all along!
I've got something to read you from Laura Sabatiere
in Mayor Bloomberg's scheduling office.
Wait for it.
"The Mayor would be happy to do it."
We've landed the big one.
So on the final morning of my trip,
with only a few hours before my flight home, I'm off to City Hall.
Just time for a little more homework.
It's the climax of the week and we've only got 20 minutes.
Everybody says this is the big man in the city.
Anything short of a demigod is going to be a disappointment.
Morning. Morning, how are you?
I've got a date with the Mayor.
'Michael Bloomberg was born in Boston
'but made his billions in New York out of the Financial News service
'that carries his name.
'He paid for all his own political campaigns
'and, as Mayor of New York, he earns just a dollar a year.'
With any luck, he'll be in a really good mood
because its his birthday today, Valentine's Day, and he's 70.
We have been told he's having his birthday cake in City Hall at 2pm.
We haven't been told what kind of birthday cake it is.
Mr Mayor.
Thank you, I appreciate it,
and all of the back and forth to get together.
Well, it's very, very kind of you to do this, and on your birthday.
I'm told you're having a birthday cake this afternoon some time.
I have no idea, but invariably they will.
I went to breakfast this morning to meet a union leader,
and it turned out it was a set-up,
and my senior staff were there in my favourite Greek diner
where everybody speaks Spanish in this day and age.
I don't know why it took so long to get it arranged.
You're a New Yorker,
and, as Mayor of the city you kind of represent the spirit of New York.
What is the quintessential quality of this city?
It starts with the diversity of a population.
When you walk down the streets of New York City,
40% of the people who live here, you'll see on the streets,
were born outside of America.
The tradition of America is you come here
without the skills that you need, you get the jobs,
they may be low paying and hard working
and inconvenient hours and all that sort of stuff
and you sit there and say, "I'm never going to fulfil the great American dream,
"but my kids are going to college,
"my kids can be the next President of the United States,
"my kids can be rich."
I think we saw the living personification of what you've just said,
because, on Saturday, we went out to see Fernando Mateo,
the President of the... I know Fernando very well.
So I gather. He was at my house for dinner a couple of weeks ago.
He was absolutely terrific, but he assembled for us
a group of taxi drivers, and they must have come from...
All over the world. Absolutely.
From every continent, country... And driving a taxi is not easy.
If you want to make some money, you've got to put a lot of hours in.
Mr Mayor, what drives this city forward?
Is it quote unquote "Wall Street", is it philanthropy,
is it new technology? What is it?
You know, New York is the intellectual capital of America,
and we probably are arrogant enough to say the world,
although I'm sure the Brits wouldn't agree with us,
but lets say we're tied. But I don't think it's any one industry.
Finance is part of everything we do so, of course,
this will be a financial centre, as will London, incidentally.
Are you optimistic for the future of New York City? Yeah, sure.
You're an optimistic person?
Yeah. For New York City, you can screw it up.
Niall Ferguson, a Brit author, a very smart guy,
and he talked about how great societies don't slowly decline,
they decline precipitously and there's a tipping point.
And my recollection is Rome, he said,
in 10 years really lost all control and power,
and that's always a danger for London and the UK, for New York and America,
for any place in the world.
Do you sometimes think of yourself as the Mayor of a City State?
I joke, it's not quite true, but our Police Department I say
is the seventh largest army in the world, it's probably the 15th largest army in the world.
That's still big. It's still pretty big, sure.
I would argue it is the best job that I know of in government.
The President's got a very tough job, but I think, in many senses,
he's got a tougher job, but I've got a better job.
That was pure power. It's running through his veins.
It strikes me that he is what New York is -
workaholic, capitalist, philanthropic, perhaps a bit anxious
but, above all, the heart of a giant network of power.
It's that heady mix that has been the making of New York
and it will surely continue to power its future.
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