Mayor Gregor Robertson visiting the tomb of Dr. Norman Bethune, at the Huabei Martyrs' Cemetery, China.
Mayor Gregor Robertson is proud of his accomplishments in 2010: helping put on a successful Olympics, reducing street homelessness by half, managing the city's finances in tough economic times.
The mayor also has no qualms about his forays into the year's controversial issues, such as putting the Olympic village into receivership and creating separated bike lanes through the downtown.
But if there's anything he could change about 2010, it would be the one minute in July that overshadowed much of everything else he did. That was when the mayor, believing the microphones were off after a contentious public meeting about West End development had ended and speakers had left, grumbled to his council colleagues: "Who are all these fuckin'… who are these hacks man? Are they NPA hacks?"
Those comments were picked up by the council's recording machine and discovered the next day when the West End protest group listened again to the video of the meeting.
The comments exploded in the media and kicked off the beginning of a difficult second phase of his term, marked by much more criticism, opposition and lower poll numbers than he had seen earlier.
Now, Mr. Robertson, who spent time reflecting back on the year for The Globe and Mail, said that's the one thing he regrets in the year, because the comments fractured his council's trust with the community and hurt their plan to create rental housing through developer incentives.
"I wish I hadn't sworn. That was really unfortunate. It created more challenges for our rental-housing agenda. It was a blow to give people the impression that I didn't care, that I didn't respect their opinions. That would be the worst part of the year for me."
The moment actually caused him to rethink how he is working.
"It woke me up to the personal impact of our decisions and that we need to be respectful of differences of opinion and work through that. You can't just be relentlessly attached to our position regardless and dismissing other views. There's a long history of problems and mistrust of the city and our ambitious agenda has maintained that challenge."
In spite of that, he said he has no second thoughts about championing separated bike lanes through the downtown. Polls show that the issue has divided the city into two camps, one strongly enthusiastic, the other strongly opposed.
It's so divisive that the Vancouver Board of Trade, whose membership has split 45-55 pro and con on the issue, is organizing a task force to try to foster a more rational discussion among the various parties.
But the mayor said that people in an uproar now over the bike lanes "didn't study our campaign platform."
The lanes, along with everything else his council has pushed for, were all part of a well-publicized plan that he ran on.
"A lot of work went into preparing that and we're rolling it out. That's what I'm sticking to."
Mr. Robertson's checklist approach to his term in office has kept him and his staff busy. He said his one personal regret is that his time with his family is suffering, as the demands of his agenda have kept him working long hours and travelling more than he had expected.
But that isn't slowing him down, as he pushes to finish off his campaign to-do list in 2011, the final year of his term. Nor is the increased criticism that he's facing going to deter him, he said.
"It's not ideal to see opposition and resistance hardening but it's certainly expected in politics," said Mr. Robertson. "But I was elected by a strong majority that did support the priorities." And he'll be carrying out those priorities.
The focus for 2011: More work on homelessness. "We've made good progress but there's still a lot of work to do." Also, he wants to continue bringing green businesses to the city and target gang violence - there was even a gang-related shooting near the mayor's house earlier this month.
"We've got to up our game on that," said the mayor.
Mr. Robertson's campaign team had always highlighted its candidate's similarities to U.S. President Barack Obama: the sense of hope and change; the focus on green jobs; the community garden on the grounds of City Hall.
The team has been referring far less to Mr. Obama in recent months as he, like Mr. Robertson, has had to face a disillusioned and sometimes angry public.
Mr. Robertson thinks he's in better shape than the President.
"I don't feel as beleaguered as Obama looks. We're fortunate that Vancouverites are far more progressive and balanced politically than our American cities."
He's also received praise from some quarters. Business groups commend him for sticking to his budget plan, which has meant a dramatic reorganization at city hall and shifting taxes from businesses to residents.
"We have to give them kudos for that," said the Board of Trade's chief economist, Bernie Magnan. "It's a hard decision in tough economic times."
But there's a question in the air about whether that kind of support is enough to overcome the public anger over some of the mayor's other initiatives.