Second, in the event we do have some giant freak CME, it wouldn't do very much to us. Our magnetosphere extends many earth radii and most of the radiation would be deflected. I think you are imagining that at the poles, there is a hole in our magnetic field. This however is not true. The field is perfectly strong and allows for deflection at the poles. When radiation hits the pole, it will bounce back out along a gyroradius. A lot of the radiation will also hit the upper atmosphere and cause a stunning aurora (which may not be able to be seen due to NYC lights). Almost none of the radiation will not penetrate to the ground.
There is a chance radio sources and satellites will pick up static noise for a short time though. So at most, you'll probably hear more fuzz on your radio and some sensitive satellites might be knocked offline for a short time. But other than that, nothing too serious would occur and it wouldn't be too different than now.