EXTRA: If we have to have a piece of New York, couldn’t it be the Yankees?

I don’t hate New York. It is an intriguing city unlike any other place in this country, and I think people who have hang-ups about the city are being ridiculously provincial.

BLOOMBERG: Wants a Daley

But I have to confess to finding it annoying that a couple of New York personas feel the need to get involved in the local affairs of Chicago.

NEW YORK MAYOR Michael Bloomberg is getting involved in our state’s election for governor in 2014. It seems he’s offering up support for the gubernatorial aspirations of William Daley.

As though a Daley didn’t have enough advantages, he may also wind up getting financial support from the campaign committee controlled by Bloomberg – whose help was a significant factor in allowing former state legislator Robin Kelly to emerge from a crowded pack of candidates to become the new Congresswoman from the Far South Side and surrounding suburbs.

If that isn’t enough to try to put us in a New York frame of mind, long-time activist Al Sharpton says he plans to move to Chicago later this year. Not permanently, just a few months.

Similar to how civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr., lived on the West Side for a few months in 1966 to try to draw attention to the racial tensions that existed in Chicago.

ODDLY ENOUGH, BOTH Sharpton and Bloomberg are motivated by the same issue – the level of violence that has arisen in Chicago.

I’ll be the first to say (and in fact have written several times) that I believe many people are letting their paranoia get the best of them. Or else they’re willing to exaggerate what is really happening in Chicago to suit their own ideological beliefs.

Which, when you come down to it, is what both Bloomberg and Sharpton are doing as well.

SHARPTON: Rev. King, the sequel?

The Rev. Al says he will rent an apartment come September, and work with the Greater St. John Bible Church. He wants to get into the neighborhoods and try to make change.

WHICH IS A noble goal. But not one that I think can be accomplished by someone moving in for a few weeks come autumn. Because we should be honest. By the time we get our first snowfall of 2013-14 winter, he’ll be back in the Bronx.

By comparison, Bloomberg wants to get in on the urban violence level from the top!

He gave Daley a video to be released that says the brother and son of former Chicago mayors is best for supporting restrictions on firearms and their use.

Although that aspect sounds more like Daley trying to undermine Gov. Pat Quinn – who on Tuesday was to make changes to the law permitting people to carry firearms concealed on their person for self-defense.

PURE POLITICKING. THEN again, Daley is as aspiring politician – even though his resume holds no elective offices; just appointed positions.

More interesting than Chgo baseball

All of this has me wondering what New York persona will next feel the need to come to Chicago. Not that I mind them visiting our wonderful city – so long as they don’t try to view us as some sort of battleground for their own New York aspirations with our interests and concerns coming in second to those of the five boroughs.

Which is what the case appears to be here – Bloomberg and Sharpton are trying to bolster their strength back home while on our turf. Whether our situation improves is only secondary.

If New York really has to give us something, why couldn’t it be the Yankees? Or at least the spirit that the Yankees have shown this season in managing a winning record despite suffering so many injuries that you’d have expected them to play as poorly this season as either of our city’s ball clubs.

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