As a non-New Yorker, non-American outsider, I would have to say that NYC is without doubt one of the most important cities on Earth, definately the most important in the Western world. Just the fact that it's the centre of the Western economy, somebody from every nation lives there, the business and media centre of the current superpower and home to the United Nations speaks volumes. It sounds like a crazy guy talking, but if aliens wanted to destroy the Earth, which city would they go to first?