Twitter war about bike lanes defused with face-to-face conversation

An online disagreement about the value of Calgary’s separated bike lanes was settled in a civil and unfortunately all too rare manner. A heated Twitter exchange which lasted a couple of days was settled by sitting down and talking in person as CBC News originally reported.

.@TheBelvedereyyc it seems we have differing opinions re bike infra. Would you mind sitting down for a drink to discuss?

— Darren Mazzei (@DarrenMazzei) February 6, 2017

Clayton Morgan is a Calgary restaurant owner and Darren Mazzei is a bike advocate who had a disagreed that turned bitter through online exchanges on social media. The two men agreed to meet in person despite their disagreement to discuss the matter. The sit-down had a positive impact and resulted in a more constructive conversation than the two men were able to engage in online.

Mazzei, who is vice-president of Bike Calgary, was the one to iniatiate the meeting after seeing the overwhelming negative discussion that was taking place on social media. He told the CBC that the passionate response of the bike community had gone overboard and had begun to do more harm than good for the causes they advocate for.

“Bike people were jumping on him and I thought it was pretty aggressive,” Mazzei said to the CBC. “I wanted to hear his perspective on it and see if we could come to some common ground.”

Morgan was Tweeting from his restaurant’s account which led Mazzei to suspect the anger towards the views expressed were amplified as is frequently the case on social media when users forget there are real people behind the accounts. The conversation at first was a little awkward but after some small talk the two men were able to take on the substance of their disagreement.

“We talked like two civil individuals,” Belvedere Restaurant owner Morgan said of the in-person meeting. “He is not my enemy. I am not his enemy. We have different views. So be it.”

Morgan had become increasingly frustrated by the response he received on Twitter but the coversation they had was much more pleasant. He also defended his use of his business account saying, “If the policy affects the business, why should I not express those views?”

Muzzai for his part said the conversation they had was constructive. “I found it pretty interesting and very civil compared to what the social media side of it was,” he said.

.@TheBelvedereyyc thanks for meeting. You have gained another loyal customer by taking the time to have an open and respectful conversation. pic.twitter.com/1W1pP6DSmD

— Darren Mazzei (@DarrenMazzei) February 7, 2017

After the in-person meeting, the two individuals continue to disagree on bike lanes but the meeting left them with a better understanding on each other’s points of view. Perhaps more disagreements between road users, cyclist, and other urban city dwellers could be easily diffused with face-to-face conversation.