Susan Aitken has denied Glasgow's reputation was tarnished by a long-running cleansing row and insisted "the world likes what they see" in the city.
The SNP council leader defended her time in office ahead of next week's local elections and said residents were already seeing improvements as services resume after lockdown.
Aitken became the first ever SNP leader of Scotland's largest local authority in 2017 by ending decades of Labour rule at the City Chambers.
And she is confident voters will return her to power when they head to the polls one week from today.
In an interview with the Record at a city centre cafe, she pointed to Glasgow's reputation for hosting international events as proof of the high esteem it is held in.
"During COP26 the world came to Glasgow and they liked what they saw," Aitken said.
"Delegates - some of whom were veterans of 15 COPs - were raving about this place and the welcome they received from Glaswegians."
The councillor pointed to a review from Dutch politician Frans Timmermans, the European Commissioner for Climate Change.
"He described Glasgow as a miracle city," she continued. "He talked about having visited the city before and looking at it now.
"He said what has been achieved in the city is amazing.
"Next year, we have the UCI World Cycling Championships - a massive event - and the year after that, we have the World Indoor Athletics Championships.
"These big event organisers are not coming to Glasgow and saying 'we've heard it's rubbish' - quite the opposite.
"They're coming here and seeing a vibrant city - yes, with its challenges, but ones they recognise from around the world.
"They want to host events here as they know Glasgow will bring added value to it.
"The world likes what they see in Glasgow and they are coming back time and again."
But the SNP's time in office has been marred by a protracted and at times bitter industrial dispute with refuse staff and street cleaners.
Members of the GMB union striked ahead of last year's international climate conference in a dispute over pay and conditions.
One union official accused the council of "constantly goading our members" before a deal was eventually agreed last November.
Aitken admitted "the GMB definitely had some legitimate complaints" as a result of a long-term failure to invest in cleansing depots compared with other local authorities.
She added: "We have a £20m depot investment plan underway that will transform workplaces for that particular workforce.
"Another issue was they were having to lift old ash cans from back courts - they have been replaced in their entirety by modern green wheelie bins.
"We have also replaced all street bins. There has been a lot of investment.
"We cannot pretend Covid was not a factor in this. It was probably the single biggest factor.
"There was historic underinvestment which we had started to address. Everything was set back by Covid."
Asked if Glasgow's reputation had been tarnished by the cleansing row, and the overall condition of the city, Aitken said: "I know it hasn't as I speak to people from elsewhere all the time.
"I know our political opponents like to claim that - but I have to say, they are the ones who are constantly going around saying Glasgow is a dump.
"I don't believe Glasgow is a dump.
"I do acknowledge - and have always acknowledged - that we did have significant cleansing challenges during the pandemic.
"We are not alone in that. All cities faced those challenges.
"They are not unique to Glasgow."
Aitken said the council's pandemic response had involved pulling some cleansing staff off the streets so domestic bin uplifts could be prioritised.
"So we have catching up to do," she added.
"We have invested in targeted measures to get the service back - not just to where it was, but to better than what it was before the pandemic.
"The vast majority of the problems, that we have seen in the past two years, have been because of covid.
"We are now emerging from that.
"I don't want to sound overconfident - but we are seeing improvements already, and we are months from seeing some quite significant transformation in the cleansing service."
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