Thu 5/21 @ 6:30PM
You may have seen a white bicycle installation, called a “ghost bike,” next to a street, and wondered what it was doing there. It’s a tribute to a cyclist who lost their life in traffic, a sadly too-frequent occurrence, and one that Cleveland nonprofit Bike Cleveland was founded 15 years ago to address. It’s not a Cleveland issue though — it’s a national one. (My hometown of Chicago has recently seen an epidemic of cyclist deaths in traffic.)
That’s the issue that the 2025 documentary film Changing Lanes addresses. Directed by Ben Wolf and featuring David Byrne and Janette Sadik-Khan, it explores street design and how it can be altered to make it safer for all users. It revolves around the issues raised when a beloved community member is killed in a hit-and-run crash in Brooklyn, when a citizen group advocating for protected bike lanes on a dangerous street faces backlash from business and government. “Changing Lanes situates this local struggle within broader historical, environmental, political, and social contexts through interviews with politicians, activists, urban planners, entrepreneurs, and cultural icons including musician David Byrne and legendary urban planner Janette Sadik-Khan – a compelling call to action for democracy at street level,” the film’s promotion tells us.
The film will have a special screening at the Cleveland Institute of Art Cinematheque in partnership with Bike Cleveland. The screening will be followed by a discussion featuring Cleveland Director of City Planning Calley Mersmann; urban planner/transportation expert Angie Schmitt; and Families for Safer Streets NEO chapter leader Patty Knilans, moderated by Bike Cleveland Executive Director Jacob VanSickle.
Go here for tickets.