06/15/2026
On June 11, AIA Brooklyn AIA Brooklyn Housing and Urbanism Committees co-sponsored a great event at Van Alen Institute and I was lucky to co-moderate with Casandra Jones. The event was a screening of documentary Changing Lanes & Panel Discussion featuring Director Ben Wolf and advocates from
Make McGuinness Safe Make McGuiness Safe - Bronwyn Breitner
East New York CLT East New York Community Land Trust Debra Ack and Boris Santos
Paseo Park - 34th Avenue Partnership - Jim Burke
Here are some takeaways from the event-lessons for advocacy and community in life.
· Telling your community story and advocacy for visionary change such as street safety, public spaces, and community land trusts – needs filmmaking to be part of it to amplify your message, tell your history, and help new volunteers see the value in all the work being done to inspire them to be involved too
· Put people first and talk to them about what they need – such as East New York CLT’s example with Jewel Streets where city infrastructure is critical. Or Paseo Park events made possible with volunteers such as the ‘cooling center’ with mist and baby pools in the street for all - the same day as the panel discussion
· Twists and turns – you must put in the time and the energy and keep going - as highlighted in Changing Lanes documentary to bring good change as finally resulted from Make McGuiness Safe advocacy
· Architects have the skills to help interpret and present and develop ideas with communities
Images here from screening of documentary Changing Lanes & Panel
AIA Brooklyn Housing and Urbanism Committees co-sponsored the event and it was hosted at Van Alen Institute at 303 Bond St in Gowanus on Thursday June 11! Van Alen Institute
AIA Brooklyn Urbanism Committee Casandra Jones (Co-Chair of Urbanism Committee) and Julie Torres Moskovitz (Chair of Housing Committee) - co-moderated the event
