He can hate it, he's also got to do what's best for the city as a whole.
Is removing a statue more important than keeping local libraries open for example?
Ideal would have been a private company offering to remove it free of charge, or those (rightly) opposed to it, raising funds for it's removal. I am sure they'd get more than 10,000 people putting money in, many, many times more.
Just because he didn't tear it down doesn't mean he didn't hate it.