According to this source, the Shuttle's altitude is still about 350 sm. There's really no advantage to lowering Columbia's orbit until they do the deorbit burn. I kind of doubt they'll be able to see the lights just because of the background light pollution and the distance from the orbit to NYC.

As for the ISS, it can be seen from NYC several times over the next couple weeks, so they might be able to see the light towers. According to this, people in NYC should be able to see the ISS tomorrow morning. It might be easier for the ISS crew to see the lights on the previous orbit when the city is lower on the horizon and the ground is darker. I still wonder if they'll be able to make out the light towers from all of the light pollution in the area. If they can, it'd probably be pretty.