Pedaling Towards Frequent Floor: A Dialogue on E-bikes | Houses & Life-style

The Westmont Center for Dialogue and Deliberation (WCDD) takes on the new button difficulty of e-bikes at its subsequent dialog, Thursday, Oct. 23, on the Community Environmental Council’s (CEC) Environmental Hub, 1219 State St.

The occasion, E-Bikes: Balancing Freedom, Safety, and the Spirit of Santa Barbara: A Community Conversation, is free to attend although reservations are required at tinyurl.com/ebiketalk or by emailing WCDD@westmont.edu.

“It’s incredibly relevant,” stated Deborah Dunn, Westmont professor of communication research and director of WCDD. “Social media, letters to the editors of our native publications, metropolis council conferences, the Grand Jury of Santa Barbara — this is a matter on the minds of many Santa Barbara neighbors.

“There is a need for community members to come together to hear each other, to deliberate together about what kind of city we want to be.”

The occasion format options college students in Dunn’s Facilitating Ethical Communication course, who facilitate a neighborhood dialogue at a desk of different neighborhood members, who vary in age, contexts, occupations and views. Participants interact in an precise dialog, utilizing a structured difficulty information.

“As an example, some people complain about the younger teenagers riding at unsafe speeds, popping wheelies, and riding without helmets,” Dunn stated. “These are legit considerations. It’s additionally true that these children are having fun with recent air, exercising, hanging out with pals and never glued to their units and video video games.

“As another example, some folks express the desire to have a vehicle-free, pedestrian only corridor, while others point out that this limits freedom for some and accessibility for others,” Dunn stated. “In this conversation, neighbors look at a number of priorities and deliberate together the best choices for the community moving forward.”

Not solely are the scholars studying tips on how to facilitate wholesome conversations, the middle’s purpose is to empower all of our neighbors to talk and hear nicely collectively, one dialog at a time.

“We’d love to get community members involved in this work — showing up for conversations, but also learning some skills themselves,” stated Dunn, who co-created this system in 2018. “Stay tuned, we are also hosting a workshop late winter/early spring, focused on these kinds of skills, using improv.”