We were shocked when we heard that Bushwick Council Member Rafael Espinal was quitting — effective immediately — but we were pleased that Mayor de Blasio set the special election for April 28 to pick someone to serve until the end of the year. There will be another election in November to pick someone to finish the term — meaning there’ll be a third election in November, 2021, to finally pick a new, four-year council member.

If April 28 sounds familiar, it’s because it’s also the day of the New York state primary, when turnout is expected to be decent. Still, almost anyone can win a special election if he or she puts her back into it — and some were already measuring the draperies.

We're looking into it very strongly

— Good Idea Dave (@DaveCoIon) January 28, 2020

In other news:

• MTA Chairman Pat Foye took a grilling in Albany about Andy Byford’s departure. (NY Post)
• The Times finally got around to doing the Garment District seesaws story — two days before the fun public art project is removed.
• Meanwhile, the Wall Street Journal got around to the question Streetsblog has been asking for weeks: When is the congestion pricing panel going to start work on … congestion pricing?
• Republicans in Connecticut are balking on charging tolls on trucks. (WSJ)
• We were happy to see that Friend of Streetsblog Ben Smith, the editor of BuzzFeed News, had gotten a job as the media columnist for the New York Times. We’d be remiss if we didn’t a) congratulate Smith on the new post and b) urge him to set aside his very first (OK, second or third!) column to analyze the pernicious effect of car culture on the way stories are assigned, reported and, most important, paid for by advertisers. He can start by interviewing Metro Editor Clifford Levy!
• From the assignment desk: Comptroller Scott Stringer says he’ll make a “major” announcement about affordable housing this morning at 10 at the YM & YWHA of Washington Heights & Inwood
  on Nagle Avenue. Maybe something constructive can come from last week’s MLK Day speeches?
• Apparently Jeff Goldblum doesn’t wear a helmet, Gov. Cuomo! (Bike Snob via Twitter)
• Some people (namely, the Schneps family) say we’re too harsh on the Schneps family as it consolidates its hold over local media outlets. You decide: The Villager website (now owned by the Schneps) has not been updated since Jan. 15. But the Village Sun, started last year by Lincoln Anderson after he was fired by the Schneps family, is updated every day.
• Finally, as slow a news day as it was for the MSM, we had lots of great stories yesterday on Streetsblog:
  • More pols want answers on the NYPD’s “jaywalking while black” policy.
  • The mayor simply won’t ban cars around schools, even though cars are killing and injuring kids.
  • The city will make a good-news announcement about protected bike lanes in Brooklyn today.
  • More death, but the same lack of punishment.
  • Yes, Gov. Cuomo, car helmets are a thing!
  • Yes, Mayor de Blasio, there is a way to fix Northern Boulevard.
  • The MTA is holding the disabled hostage so it can get its $3 billion from the city.

See? We were busy!