Victim Becomes a Cycling Samaritan

Dear Diary:

Late on the evening of May 30, I was in a pretty serious cycling accident on the Williamsburg Bridge: a hit and run. I was left with smashed bones in my face and a profusely bleeding gash in my forehead.

Against all odds, a good Samaritan on his bike happened past with an ice pack in his backpack. It helped stop the bleeding and may have just saved my life.

Three months later, while cycling down the West Side greenway with samples for a citizens’ water quality testing program chilling in a cooler, I came upon a downed cyclist, also the victim of a hit and run. I gave the guy, a tourist, my ice pack for his swollen wrist.

I knew I was lucky the night of my accident, but I never expected to pay it forward quite so literally.

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New York Today: Showdown

Illustration: Michael Kolomatsky/The New York Times Joseph J. Lhota and Bill de Blasio may pull few punches tonight.

With three weeks left in the mayoral campaign, Joseph J. Lhota will go face-to-face tonight with the man who has been trouncing him in the polls.

So how does Mr. Lhota, the Republican, score points against his Democratic opponent, Bill de Blasio, in the first of three debates?

We asked one of the journalists who will be asking the questions, Jennifer Fermino of The Daily News.

Body language is crucial, she said.

“Lhota might address de Blasio directly a little more,” Ms. Fermino said. “That’s probably something the campaigns are talking about â€" ‘Should you look at him?’”

The show starts at 7 p.m. on WABC-TV. Our Times colleagues Michael Barbaro and Michael M. Grynbaum have prepared a handy guide.

Debates present challenges for panelists, too. In August, The Times’s David W. Chen told us that he prepared for a mayoral debate by having his daughters choose his outfit.

Ms. Fermino recalled that for two earlier debates, she had worn black dresses, despite a caution from her mother about how that would look.

Mom was right: a councilman asked her if she had worn the same dress twice.

Here’s what else you need to know for this Tuesday.

WEATHER

The streak of suspiciously perfect weather continues. Blue skies, a bright yellow disk and a high of 70.

COMMUTE

Subways: Fine so far. Click for latest status.

Rails: Fine so far. Click for latest Metro-North, L.I.R.R. or New Jersey Transit status.

Roads: No major delays. Click for traffic map or radio report on the 1s.

Alternate-side parking is suspended through Thursday for the Muslim holiday Id al-Adha. Meters remain in effect.

COMING UP TODAY

- Before the debate: Mr. Lhota is on Bloomberg TV‘s “Market Makers” at 11:38 a.m. and honors union members who helped rebuild after Hurricane Sandy. Mr. de Blasio’s calendar is empty.

- Mayor Bloomberg’s Board of Health is expected to pass rules cracking down on tanning salons. [New York Post]

- Annual silly P.R. ritual: the Ocean Spray cranberry bog, 1,500 square feet of floating tart berries, returns to Rockefeller Center at 8 a.m.

- The school system’s Panel for Educational Policy will vote on plans to move charter schools into more than a dozen existing school buildings. 6 p.m. at the Prospect Heights school complex in Brooklyn.

- Like maps? The New York Public Library seeks citizen cartographers to build a “virtual atlas” of the city. Main branch, 3:30 p.m.. [Free]

- Philip Glass talks about his music and his partnerships with other artists at C.U.N.Y.’s Graduate Center in Midtown. 6:30 p.m. [Free]

- The a cappella ensemble Roomful of Teeth sings works by the Pulitzer-winning composer Caroline Shaw at the Winter Garden in the World Trade Center. 7 p.m. [Free, and broadcast live on WNYC's "New Sounds"]

- The CMJ Music Marathon begins. Brokelyn (via The Skint) has a guide to free shows.

- For more events, see The New York Times Arts & Entertainment guide.

IN THE NEWS

- What motivates a candidate who has no chance of winning? Meet Adolfo Carrión Jr. [New York Times]

- One holdout tenant refuses to leave his rent-stabilized apartment in an East Village building that has been gutted around him. [DNAinfo]

- Hot real estate deals are to be found on odd-size plots of city-owned land. [New York Times]

- Attention Thanksgiving Day shoppers: Macy’s will be open. [Associated Press]

- Gorillas do not make ideal hospital patients. But the Bronx Zoo’s health center can handle them. [New York Times]

- That study that said that Hunter College High School was the saddest spot in Manhattan on Twitter? It was wrong. [New York Times]

Joseph Burgess contributed reporting.

New York Today is a morning roundup that stays live from 6 a.m. till about noon.

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