pgoat

do it, just be smart and trust your gut, and be prepared as others have stated. Don't do anything dumb, like riding a flashy $8000 bike with delicate sewups.

And keep your ears open. Check police blotters. There are areas like Harlem and Bed-Stuy, as mentioned above, that have awful reputations that are somewhat out of date. I'd still be careful in BS but I wouldn't worry about it for commuting.

There are other areas in NY that you would never think are problems but have been recently (eg, machetes used to bike jack in Williamsburg). I used to go through there every day, I was very surprised to hear it; but then you have lots of hipsters riding regularly past the as-yet non-gentrified fringe areas by the bridge on their Bob Jackson fixies, so its not that hard to comprehend it happening eventually....I think that died down very quickly, tho.