LOUSIVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) — Louisville Mayor Greg Fisher took some time to look back — and to the future — Tuesday morning, days before his term ends on Jan. 2.

Speaking to WDRB in the Morning anchor Sterling Riggs, Fischer reflected on a term faced challenges that included the COVID-19 pandemic, the police killing of Breonna Taylor and protests in downtown Louisville.

“People would come in and say, ‘The protesters are out of control, they’re irreparably damaging the city, we’re never going to recover,'” Fischer said. “The very next meeting, people would say, ‘You need to defund the police immediately. They’re out of control.’ And that, in a snapshot, was what was going on in our city. No matter what you do, people were not going to be happy. So I focused on getting to the truth and holding the people accountable that did any wrongdoing. And we had to take the time to do that.”

Fischer also talked about some of his accomplishments during his 12 years in office and what he’s most proud of.

“We have grown the wage base in our community in a significant way,” he said. “Twenty-thousand people moved out of poverty, 20,000 people moved into the middle class, $24 billion of investments in the city. So we changed the skyline, created a new concept called ‘bourbonism.’ $117 million in affordable housing. It’s a lot in 12 years.”

Fisher could not run again because of term limits.

The outgoing mayor took time to answer additional questions about his time in office, as well as his future:

QUESTION: If you could go back in time, what would you do differently?

ANSWER:  Well, downtowns across the whole world are a fraction, if you will, because of the pandemic. It’s got nothing to do with the protests. It’s people working from home. Because at nighttime, you know, it exceeds where it was in 2019. And, of course, tourism is beyond where it was in 2019, as well. So the impact of the pandemic in terms of where people are working and not coming back downtown, is a significant issue that’s going to take time to see how America and the rest of the country is going to resolve that issue. So what we did was, focused on tourism. That’s why we created urbanism — way back in the day, created a whole new concept around that, that shows the envy of the country right now. And you’re seeing the results on the streets of America. But you’ll recall, Sterling, back then people said Louisville will never recover from this. We are past 2019 economic results, and tourism results as well. So we’ve done that. Well, it’s a real testament to the resilience of Louisvillians.

QUESTION: What’s the biggest issue Mayor-elect Craig Greenberg will face during his first day in office?

ANSWER: The interesting thing about being mayor is something happens every day, you just don’t know what, when or where. So it changes rapidly, rapidly. And sometimes big things happen like a pandemic, terminal or an explosion or some type of episode that is not on your plan at all. So the key to being a good mayor is, Number One, have the head of a chief executive officer, have the heart of a social worker. If you’re not — like running a business. It’s a lot more difficult than running a business. But then have a plan. So you can always improve and deliver great services, but then be able to react when something goes off schedule as well. So that just means having a great team around you that’s got experience managing and leading and just leaves with good values.

QUESTION: What are you most proud of during your 12 years leading this city?

Louisville is in a whole different spot in terms of global conversations. [It] is a competitive city that can go after big deals, that can dream big. We have grown the wage base in our community in a significant way. Twenty-thousand people moved out of poverty, 20,000 people moved into the middle class. $24 billion of investments in the city. So we changed the skyline, created a new concept called ‘bourbonism.’ $117 million in affordable housing. It’s a lot in 12 years. So we’ve changed the city. And it’s in a much stronger position to hand off to the next mayor.

QUESTION: What’s next for you? Will you run for public office in the future?

ANSWER:  Well I don’t know what that would be. I can tell you I’ve — I’ve always liked making a difference in serving. That, to me, was the purposes of the businesses that I ran. And I said, ‘Can you do that as a city — as a city, a platform for human potential to flourish? That’s the whole compassionate concept. I like building organizations, I like helping people. I’m going to take a little time off and just kind of assess things. But I’ll never say no. If there’s an opportunity to help, I’m going to step into that. I think that’s why we’re born: to make a difference.

Mayor-elect Craig Greenberg will be sworn in during a private ceremony on Jan. 2.

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