As part of our BocaFirst Vision Zero Project, we took our Boca Matters video series out of the studio and onto the street to talk to people about what it’s like to bicycle in Boca Raton. These are real world uses of Boca Raton’s pedestrian/bike infrastructure. In this episode, we profile “Better Bike Friendly” advocate Dr Louis Merlin. Dr Merlin moved to the BRIC area of Boca Raton so he and his family could walk and ride to various places such as FAU, Spanish River Library and Don Estridge Middle School. As a professor of Urban Planning, he provides insight on why Boca Raton is falling short of being “Bike Friendly”.
Better Bike Friendly Advocate Dr Louis Merlin
PROFILE: Commuter Cyclist DESCRIPTION: Dr Merlin is a professor of Urban Planning at Florida Atlantic University where he commutes by bike from his home in West Boca. NOTABLE QUOTE: “We have a lot of bike lanes. Most people don’t use them. If we want infrastructure that people will use, it has to have what’s called ‘Low Traffic Stress'”
You can watch all our Better Bike Friendly Advocate interviews on the BocaFirst YouTube channel here. Or, sign up to be a Better Bike Friendly Boca Advocate and make your voice heard here.
With 35 years experience at IBM in simplifying complex statistics, systems and data for executive decision making, Les Wilson does research, analysis, video production, graphics and editing at BocaFirst. He is a retired IBM Senior Technical Staff Member in product Research and Development. He has a BS Degree in Computer Science from Rutgers University. Les has lived in Boca since the early '90s, raised a family in several neighborhoods and is an expert resident of South East Boca. He is one of several Bike Advocates at BocaFirst.
