According to Mayor Wagner, some business owners may be up in arms because they no longer enjoy the preferential parking that they have had before now. He says that business owners should also know their customers.

Bernard Wagner, Mayor, Belize City Council

“I know there have been some complaints from business owners, I don’t see what the complaint may be, but I do know that the preferential parking that those business entities enjoy may be one of the reasons there is this complaint. But the businesses have to be able to define who are their customers. Are your customers commuters that walk to your store or are they commuters that drive to the store and want parking to conduct business. You have to be able to define who is your customer and if your customer is a customer who catches the dollar van or lives in the area and walks to the store, you will not lose any business. If your customer is a customer who wants to drive, lives out of town and wants to drive to Brodies, wants to drive to Downtown Plaza, now they have the opportunity to park right in front of your business to conduct business. So I am still wondering how there may be this out there that they are losing business. The only business that the entities out there are losing right now is the preferential parking for the owners of the business and that is how I am seeing it right now.”

Channel 5