And today Mayor Wagner held his ground, and he's also holding his breath to find out what will happen next week. But today we asked him what he thinks his legacy will be. For the former mayor, Darrell Bradley, in their two terms, they paved over a hundred streets and began the construction of the new City Hall building.
Wagner said for him, it's all about the people… but he's also been tested by a pandemic and a hurricane.
Bernard Wagner, Mayor of Belize City
"My legacy has always been about the people. It's it has to be about a mix. It can't be one side. Only physical infrastructure. It has to be about building this social infrastructure, building inclusive societies and physical infrastructure is a part of the whole whole formula. But I don't want to be tied in into just physical or social. My vision for this city is to build a smart city."
"And every day that is what we live, to live in a smart, safe city where opportunity abounds for all. If you take our vision, that is our vision and so everything that we do is tied into that vision and legacy. Come and go. My thing here is to build on past legacies and to continue the work. There's a masterplan that really drives the city and the previous mayor before me went on that masterplan and we continue to work along with that masterplan."
Reporter
"What elements would you say you implemented that would be considered part of having a smart city, so far?"
Bernard Wagner, Mayor of Belize City
"The E-Mobility project, our parking meters. A smart city is anything you want it to be. Being smart is is utilizing innovation and technology to make life easier for residents. So our E-Mobility program, the ecosystem we are building with the e-taxes that is all a part of the smart city. And years down the road you will look back and say Mayor Wagner started the smart city. I believe that I've been tested right? I've been tested in 2018, I was tested. But I believe the greatest test for for myself and my council was the COVID tests right? And the Lisa test. Those are events which will go down in history that this Belize city council led by Mayor Wagner faced COVID. That will never change. And when you go back in the history books hundred years from now, they ask who was the mayor, who was the city council at that time when COVID came and it was us and we we performed. We never fired anyone. We we kept the city running. We have just continued to persevere."
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