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Christy Mastry - Project Director - STP
"Then we really wanted to create a significant portion of the park to really commemorate the Memorial that had always stood there, with the granite memorial and the top of it was there for several year that had been damaged. We wanted to restore that and the namesake."

Darrell Bradley - Mayor of Belize City
"They really spent a lot to preserve the character of this park to be Memorial Park - memorializing our veterans who have served Belize and others in war and so I'm very pleased that they managed to maintain that character."

Christy Mastry
"Then we really wanted to enhance the stage for public events and all of the original traditional events that we have in September - so we created a big plaza in front of it for ease of putting up chairs and tens as you can see today. We're standing on what is the flag pole where we will the 20th raising and it is the tallest flag pole within the country right now which can house the largest flag. Then we took an edge of the park which is roughly 3/4 of an acre and we really added the Kiosks to really take care of all of the public vending that used to happen on the public side walks - so that's what you're looking at. That becomes the sustainability element along with the paid bathrooms that are at the park today."

Jules Vasquez
"Those same stalls have come under criticism - they look like 'panades shacks' it's been said - how do you answer that criticism that it's sort of befouls the overall aesthetics of the park."

Christy Mastry
"I know there's been a lot of comments of the design of the Kiosk, understanding that the kiosks sit underneath the trellis and I think people are used to seeing these kiosk with the traditional pinched roof and we did go with the more slanted flat roof which very much involve certain images of other things over the water, at certain times - we've gotten the comments. I mean once they're open on a day to day basis - they open from both sides and they're serving the population and people are engaged around the kiosk - I really believe that the 'panades' will sell and it will maintain the grass."

Jules Vasquez
"But at the same time this is a hurricane zone, this is a waterfront and it will just blow away - how do you answer that?"

Christy Mastry
"Well, basically what we looked at very much were things that can be potentially damaged during a hurricane - we do have the posts and all of the structure for the trellis work, secured into the concrete that we don't anticipate those blowing away. Maybe we do loose a few slots around the stage, a few of the trellis pieces or components - that is always a danger in any environment."

Jules Vasquez
"Is it responsible building to use that material?"

Christy Mastry
"Yes, there roofs are not going to randomly fly off - they are still bolted down during high winds, any more than any other roof of any private building around the area would be flying off itself or any pieces of a dock - per se - in the occasion. The reality is that these are very well put together structures and the openness through them is that they won't be picking up wind lift - there will actually be breeze flowing through."

Jules Vasquez
"How will the city maintain this park - I know that there isn't a love more of concrete than you but this park, a lot of it is built on wood. Obviously you can see that this part is already weather beaten - how will the City Council make sure that it can maintain it so that it doesn't start looking decrepit."

Darrell Bradley
"Well that is one of the beauty in our agenda items and strategy - we are really seeking partners and in this project, our important partner is really the BTB and the Ministry of Tourism so the park has officially been handed back over to the city today but what we had agreed on going forward is - of course you know the budgetary constraints of the city and our limitations of maintaining public spaces including public spaces of this quality. We will execute a co-management agreement and through this we have committed in maintain a physical space - they have a lot more resources than the City Council has and you've indicated that it's a lot of green and it's a lot of maintenance and so they will maintain the park for us for a minimum period of 5 years."

Christy Mastry
"The only thing that we're installing now is traffic signs that you will see that will take place on the actual street themselves, trash cans that still need to go into the park and then other signage for the country as far as way-finding and other activities and events that will happen throughout the park itself. "

Jules Vasquez
"But you all had said 16 months,"

Christy Mastry
"The reality is that we completed all the construction at the end of th 16 months which was around April - there were other things that we were adding."

As the mayor noted, the Ministry of Tourism will co-manage, meaning pay for the maintenance of the park for the first five years.