The biggest local newsmaker in 2007 was Mike Quattrociocchi - the little developer who attracted some big attention from native protesters.
Quattrociocchi was chosen as Newsmaker of the Year by Expositor reporters, editors and photographers from a substantial list.
On the one hand, Quattrociocchi spent much of the year reacting to things he had little control over - native protesters turned up at his small housing project on Grand River Avenue about six times, bringing work there to a grinding halt and causing a cumulative delay of several months.
But Quattrociocchi became the newsmaker in September when he refused to pay what he called "extortion" to the Six Nations Confederacy. He had been asked to front $48,000, plus a $7,000 application fee, to the Haudenosaunee Development Institute in order for his $1.2-million housing development to move ahead.
"If a bunch of Italians asked for $48,000 and then said you can go ahead with your project, it would be called the Mafia," Quattrociocchi told The Expositor at the time. "What I experienced was not negotiating. It was extortion."
That angered some native parties.
A few days later, television cameras were on Quattrociocchi when he got in the face of Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty in Hamilton and demanded, "What are you going to do about the natives on my site?"
"I got sucked into something that had nothing to do with me," said Quattrociocchi during an interview on Friday. "That's a tough pill to swallow."
While some accuse the developer of lapping up the publicity the protests have brought him, Quattrociocchi says nothing could be further from the truth.
"If I could wave a magic wand, I wouldn't be involved in it. Being "against native claims" is not how I want to be remembered, because I'm not. I just feel as if I'm a pawn being used to get attention from the federal government and I resent that."
The developer supports the idea of resolving native land claims and says he understands the frustration natives feel at being ignored for centuries by the government which nonetheless quickly moved to pay off affected developers and businesspeople in Caledonia.
"A lot of natives work for me and have educated me on a lot of the problems they have faced in the past. Natives have legitimate concerns that have to be addressed, but by the government, not individuals."
A former city councillor and an in-fill developer for the last 20 years, Quattrociocchi says circumstances could have conspired to shove him much further into the spotlight. He said he's had plenty of offers of solidarity each time the protesters have visited his site.
"A vast number of people have supported my position - even some people who normally wouldn't spit on me if I was on fire have called to say, 'I support you.' I think they believe, 'today, it's Mike but tomorrow it could be me.'"
Quattrociocchi has declined offers from those who want to respond to the native protests in kind.
"The last thing you want is confrontation," he says.
But, at the same time, he's highly suspicious about how, in a city raging with development this year, he has been such a frequent target of the mini-protests led by Ruby and Floyd Montour. He notes massive developments, including Brookfield Homes, Empire Homes, First Gulf Development and other projects on Gretzky Parkway, have received few, if any, visits.
Quattrociocchi said the developers have either paid or compensated the newly minted Haudenosaunee Development Institute in some way or the protesters have decided not to fight big developers with deep pockets and good political connections.
"If I had to choose, I'd say the large developers have somehow compensated the Confederacy because I don't think the natives are afraid to protest against anybody."
The six work stoppages have cost Quattrociocchi months of delay. Each day the work is stopped can slow things for up to a week as subcontractors are booked for other work and have to be rescheduled. "Every time it happens my blood pressure rises to the point I think I'm going to pass out," Quattrociocchi said. "I did this project 100 per cent by the book and it came back to bite me in the ass. I have a family and financial commitments and resent being sucked into this mess."