Director and Cinematographer Ben Wolf joins us for a conversation on the twists and turns of the effort to bring about change and safety for a community at the crossroads.

Episode 2504 - Ben Wolf - Making Safe Streets, the documentary "Changing Lanes"

In this episode of the Mechanics of Transportation, I’m speaking with filmmaker Ben Wolf, whose film “Changing Lanes” tells the tale of one neighborhood’s fight to make their street safer after the death of a beloved teacher who was killed by a driver. 

Capturing one of the strangest stories in the history of our streets

This week, we welcome documentarian Ben Wolf to the roundtable to discuss his documentary Changing Lanes.

It was my pleasure to interview filmmaker Ben Wolf, Director and Producer of the inspirational documentary Changing Lanes.

Featuring Talking Heads co-founder David Byrne and former NYC Transportation Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan, Changing Lanes investigates why our streets are designed the way they are, and what it will take to make them safer and more livable.

The bike-lane project, a source of corruption charges during the Adams administration, will be finished as planned in Greenpoint, Mayor Zohran Mamdani said.

Father Studzinski Square, Brooklyn, NY January 3, 2026

Post-screening discussion at The Center for Brooklyn History.

There’s been a lot of change on McGuinness Boulevard, and we don’t just mean recently. 62 years ago, then-Councilman Joseph T. Sharkey put forward a proposal to rename the stretch of road connecting the Pulaski Bridge and BQE once known as Oakland Street to McGuinness Boulevard.

This year's festival — running Nov. 8-9 at the Ukrainian National Home on Second Avenue in the Village — is headlined by "Changing Lanes," director Ben Wolf's documentary about the the joy, pathos, bathos and exhilaration of the McGuinness Boulevard bike lane saga.

In recent years, the redesign of McGuinness Boulevard in Greenpoint has emerged as a neighborhood flashpoint, sparking deep-seated debates about car culture, public space, gentrification, and environmental issues. Changing Lanes, a new documentary from Ben Wolf, traces the journey to implement the redesign and the impact it has had on Greenpoint.

Changing Lanes Director Ben Wolf, Former NYDOT Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan, and NYT Architecture Critic Michael Kimmelman

A new documentary showcases the controversial redesign of McGuinness Boulevard in Greenpoint, Brooklyn.

The film also highlights some of the larger changes in the city’s streetscape over the decades, including the impact mayors from John Lindsay to Mike Bloomberg have had on the use of city streets.

Ben Wolf, the filmmaker, joined NY1’s Bobby Cuza on “Inside City Hall” Friday to talk about the documentary, “Changing Lanes.”

Reminding New Yorkers of the new corruption allegations against two of Mayor Eric Adams’ associates, Democratic mayoral nominee Zohran Mamdani campaigned at McGuinness Boulevard in Greenpoint, Brooklyn.

It’s a bike safety project that ex-Adams’ senior adviser Ingrid Lewis-Martin allegedly took bribes to alter on behalf of a powerful area family.

Before Ingrid Lewis-Martin was indicted on bribery charges, she was one of the most powerful people in Mayor Eric Adams’s orbit. Now she may hasten his fall in New York.

Two members of a powerful Brooklyn theatrical production family bribed Mayor Adams's chief adviser to block the safety redesign of McGuinness Boulevard, court papers show.

Ingrid Lewis-Martin, the former chief adviser to Mayor Eric Adams, is accused of taking bribes in exchange for acting on behalf of favor-seekers across New York City.

Imagine destroying everything you've spent decades building to stop the city from building a bike lane. Welcome to Gina and Tony Argento's world.