New York Today: Empty Chair You can find out tonight when Joseph J. Lhota and Adolfo Carrión Jr. face off at 7 p.m. on NY1 - without Bill de Blasio. Mr. Lhota, the Republican, and Mr. Carrión, from the Independence Party, will probably spend a fair bit of time addressing the absence of Mr. de Blasio, the Democrat. Mr. de Blasio is following a classic front-runner's strategy. But his spokesman, Dan Levitan, noted that Mr. de Blasio had agreed to three other debates, "more than any campaign in a generation." Two debates are the minimum required by city law. "It's a shame that he won't debate," said Mr. Lhota's spokeswoman, Jessica Proud. And it's not surprising given that polls have found that New Yorkers are against him on the important issues of this election: crime, education reform, charter schools and jobs. Mr. Lhota will have to wait until a debate next Tuesday to look Mr. de Blasio in the eye. Mr. de Blasio could still change his mind about tonight. His public schedule shows nothing after 9:40 a.m. Mostly cloudy, with a high of 67. Not as nice as yesterday, but better than tomorrow, so enjoy the present. Rails: Click for L.I.R.R., Metro-North or New Jersey Transit status. You can still register to vote in the November election. Friday is the deadline. Click to register online. Or register in person at the places on this list. Mr. Lhota goes on the John Gambling show at 7:40 a.m., addresses a Christian leadership conference and visits a senior center in Corona, Queens. Mr. de Blasio's public appearances are confined to the radio dial - WWRL-AM (1600) at 7:30 a.m. and on a Spanish-language show on WPAT-AM (930) at 9:40 a.m. A hearing on Con Edison's proposed rate increases at state offices at 90 Church Street downtown. 5:30 p.m. Eat fancy pizza for $1 a slice while raising money for the Food Bank for New York City. Church of St. Anthony in the Village. 6 p.m., till the pizza runs out. The annual 10-day festival of French intellectual and cultural exchange, Walls and Bridges, opens with a panel on the ethics of famine and food distribution at N.Y.U. 6:30 p.m. All aboard for aging boy-band high jinks: tickets for next June's New Kids on the Block Cruise to Bermuda go on sale at 10 a.m. An off-duty police detective is the sixth motorcyclist arrested in last week's attack on an S.U.V. driver uptown. More than 40,000 New Yorkers have signed up for insurance under the Affordable Care Act. The president tapped a Brooklyn native to head the Federal Reserve. A former cemetery in the Brooklyn Navy Yard will become a park. Brownstoner Mr. de Blasio spoke out in favor of the venerable Brooklyn pizza spot Di Fara's on an Ask Me Anything session on Reddit. A Dutch photographer took some lovely portraits of subway conductors. Slate Fast-food fans: the first Sonic in New York City is coming to Staten Island. Staten Island Advance Rangers lose to Sharks, 9-2. Islanders beat Coyotes, 6-1. Devils bow to Canucks, 3-2 in overtime. On this date in 1940, a future New Yorker named John Winston Lennon was born in Liverpool, England. To celebrate, an annual show of Lennon's artwork returns to 72 Greene Street in SoHo. It includes 100 drawings and handwritten songs Lennon created between 1964 and 1980. Admission is free, but a $3 donation goes to City Meals on Wheels. The show, which opens at noon, is up through next Monday.